The Woman Who Ran by Sam Baker

The Woman Who Ran
By Sam Baker
Published by Harper Collins (28 January 2016)
ISBN: 978-0007464357

Publisher's description

When someone is under your skin, there is only so far you can run…

She can run.

But can she hide?

Helen Graham is a new arrival in a tiny Yorkshire village, renting dilapidated Wildfell Hall. The villagers are intensely curious – what makes her so jumpy and

why is she so evasive?

Their interest is Helen’s worst nightmare. Looking over her shoulder every day, she tries to piece together her past before it can catch up with her.

With everything she knows in fragments, from her marriage to her career as a war photographer, how can she work out who to trust and what to believe?

Most days she can barely remember who she is…

My verdict
The Woman Who Ran is a psychological thriller about a woman in hiding, following an apartment fire in Paris. The book kept me intrigued until the final pages, as I wondered what or who she was running away from - and why.

Helen Graham can't remember why she was in that burning apartment, and runs off to a Yorkshire village to try to regain her memories of that night. She attempts to stay off the local radar, but the villagers are intrigued about this mysterious woman living in the dilapidated Wildfell Hall. Retired journalist Gil is drawn to Helen and begins to investigate her background. He soon discovers that she's an award-winning news photographer, who was married to a well-known British war journalist who died in the apartment fire. But why is she now in hiding?

The plot moves along at a reasonable pace, as Gil stumbles upon a story of trauma, passion and deception and Helen recovers her memories. You can tell this book is written by a journalist, as the main journalist character is a NICE guy, rather than being portrayed as ruthless and immoral (as in so many other books). I can see this book appealing to fans of other popular psychological thrillers, such as The Girl on the Train and Gone Girl.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher through Lovereading in exchange for an honest review.