An Irish Times Bestseller
An Amazon.com Editors’ Pick
Shortlisted for the An Post Irish Crime Fiction Book of the Year 2022
Movie-making can be murder…
The project
Final Draft, a psychological horror, being filmed at a house deep in a forest, miles from anywhere in the wintry wilds of West Cork.
The lead
Former soap-star Adele Rafferty has stepped in to replace the original actress at the very last minute. She can’t help but hope that this opportunity will be her big break – and she knows she was lucky to get it, after what happened the last time she was on a set.
The problem
Something isn’t quite right about Final Draft. When the strange goings-on in the script start to happen on set too, Adele begins to fear that the real horror lies off the page…
Out now in print, ebook and audio
[In] this superior thriller … Howard breathes new life into tired horror tropes.
Publishers Weekly starred review
Catherine Ryan Howard is a master thriller writer and Run Time is up there with the best, as the movie set of nightmares she so evocatively conjures starts to turn on its lead actress. The twisty, ingenious plotting, and the atmospheric location make for a deeply chilling and unputdownable read. I didn’t want it to end!
Sarah Pearse
Catherine Ryan Howard is ridiculously talented.
Chris Whitaker
400 pages fly past … [The] perfect beach read.
Sunday Business Post
Clever, creepy, unique and hugely entertaining, you won’t read another book like Run Time. Catherine Ryan Howard is a crime writer at the top of her game.
CL Taylor
The queen of high-concept crime fiction.
Jane Casey
So clever and creepy … Catherine Ryan Howard is the master of high-concept crime fiction.
Andrea Carter
Tense, taut, gripping and absolutely heart-thumping – read with the lights on!
Sam Blake
Dizzy and dazzling, Run Time offers enough tricks and treats to fill a dozen Halloweens. Movie lovers and thriller fans will devour it.
Riley Sager
A scary, claustrophobic thriller that balances cold creeping tension with cracking wit – Blair Witch meets Fleabag – I laughed out loud then couldn’t switch the light off! A horror about a horror film, set on a set, this is a gem of the genre, delivered with pure mastery.
Janice Hallet
Pure nerve-shredding suspense from the first page to the last. Once I’d started reading I could. Not. Stop.
Erin Kelly
At or near the top of any list of superb Irish thriller writers these days is Catherine Ryan Howard.
Washington Post
A perfect holiday read – suspenseful and inventive. Another great high-concept mystery from Catherine Ryan Howard.
Chris Ewan
A book about a movie about a book: Run Time is so, so clever. An ingenious plot, a fly-through-it pace, and along with the creepiness, lots and lots of humour and delicious cultural references. A roller-coaster ride and fun in every sense, I loved it!
Andrea Mara
A ferociously ingenious suspense thriller … [The] structure is brilliantly conceived and meticulously executed … This is a masterful performance, which I read in two sittings; if I’d started earlier in the day, I wouldn’t have put it down.
Irish Times
A story within a story, within a story. Nobody writes thrillers like Catherine Ryan Howard. I was hooked from the first page. An original, clever and unputdownable thriller. I loved it!
Alice Feeney
A mind-twisting story about the filming of a horror movie. Compelling doesn’t do it justice, this book is flat-out addictive. Catherine Ryan Howard never fails to write something that’s inventive, creative, and captivating
Samantha Downing
Catherine Ryan Howard is one of the best crime writers around.
Sinéad Crowley
Twisty, claustrophobic and totally unpredictable.
Tim Weaver
Twisty, clever, complex, blackly comic and, oh yes, skin-crawlingly scary.
Catherine Kirwan
CATHERINE RYAN HOWARD 