An engrossing spy-cum-sci-fi thriller

Runner by Patrick Lee

Penguin. Pages: 405. Price: £6.99

Thrillers are becoming increasingly sophisticated. New ideas. New plots. New ways of treating the story. The Guardian had come up with lists of thrillers with a wide range of themes like spy thrillers, locked room thrillers, teen thrillers, maverick mysteries, etc. Of course, sci-fi thrillers, pioneered by the likes of Aldous Huxley, became a rage way back, spawning an entire range of themes.

Runner falls in the category of spy-cum-sci-fi thriller. Sam Dryden, an ex-soldier who lives in El Sedero, had worked for specialized spy agencies in the United States. Suddenly, he develops an irresistible urge to go for night jogging by the seashore. This becomes a routine for him. On one such nocturnal jog, Rachel runs into him. She is a young girl and is being pursued by a gang of killers. Instinctively, Dryden decides to protect her. Thus begins a series of events and incidents involving murders, secret scientific tests on human beings, and entry into a scary world where mind reading and control are becoming increasingly the norm.

Dryden is unable to know a friend from foe. He discovers a nasty nexus between giant corporate houses and secret government agencies. When he learns the real reason behind the attempts to kill Rachel, Dryden knows that he is fighting impossible odds.

The storyline is well thought out, and even out-of-the-world scientific and psychological “facts” and situations look plausible. Such is Patrick Lee’s control over the narrative. His treatment of mind games played by different characters is masterful.  What I personally like is that Lee has avoided using heavy jargon. There is not a dull paragraph in the entire book. Once you start reading it, it becomes impossible to put the book down.