Book and Audio Review: Run, Hide, Fight Back by April Henry

Run, Hide, Fight Back
Author: April Henry
Narrator: Amy McFadden
Publication: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) (August 27, 2019)
Length: 248 p.; 5 hours and 15 minutes

Description: Six teens must band together to survive after a shooting breaks out in this high-stakes thriller by New York Times-bestselling author April Henry.

When a deadly shooting breaks out in a Portland shopping mall, a diverse group of teens ends up trapped behind a store’s security shutter. To her own surprise, seventeen-year-old Miranda finds the others looking to her as their leader. But she’s hiding a big secret—and she’s not the only one. The group has only three choices: Run, hide, or fight back. The wrong decision will have fatal consequences.

In her masterful style, April Henry crafts an unrelenting thriller with empowering teen heroes. For fans of the breakout YA mysteries This Is Where It Ends and One of Us Is Lying.

My Thoughts: Six random teens are caught near the Fairgate Mall's Food Court when the shooting starts. They need to work together when domestic terrorists begin killing people. 

Miranda Nash was in the Mall shoplifting to support her Oxy habit. Javier Ramirez was working cleaning the tables. He's an undocumented alien. Amina Abdi was working at Culpepper's. She's Muslim, American by birth, and wears a hijab. Grace Busby is there with her mother who is among the first to be shot. Grace and her mother were fleeing to Mexico for medical treatment for Grace's lymphoma. Parker Gray was there hanging out on a day off school and loosely supervising his 7-year-old sister. Cole Bond is also there and keeps thinking that the whole thing is a like a video game that couldn't be real. 

While Miranda, Grace, Javier, and Cole take shelter in the storage room of Culpepper's, Parker is too busy looking for his little sister Moxie and is rounded up by the terrorists. 

Interspersed with accounts from the teens are 911 calls and other information about what is happening outside the Mall including a truck hijacking of a truck carrying gold and silver on its way to jewelers. 

The story was very intense. The narrator did a great job keeping the tension high as the kids need to decide if they will run, hide, or fight back. I liked that we got to know the characters and get some idea of their motives and states of mind as they dealt with this terrible occurrence. 

I did a combination read/listen with this one. I listened to the first two-thirds of the story and then switched to reading so that I could find out what happened more quickly. 

Favorite Quote:

"I'm just thinking about you. What if things go wrong? What if we never get out of here?" He reaches down and takes her hand. "You've been fighting so hard to live. You don't want to throw that away."

She shakes her head. "You, of all people, should know there are no guarantees. And if we don't fight back, then who will?"

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.