This is a novel about the screenplay of a book. By now you’re either intrigued or have flipped to the crossword. I was intrigued from the first page.
Adele Rafferty is a 20-something Irish actress currently not acting in Los Angeles after something awful happened to her on the setof a movie back home. It will be teased out as to what this is but it was sufficiently career ending to make her flee. She’s lonely and miserable in LA, working as a receptionist and auditioning for a series of soul destroying commercials.
Adele receives a phone call from a production company who want her for the lead in a horror movie to be filmed in West Cork. If she wants the role, she needs to hop on a plane immediately. She’s desperate. On she hops. She’s also not stupid so contacts her ex-agent, and Googles the hell out of the company and the director, both of which have great reputations.
Upon arrival, Adele is met by an assistant producer who knows little more than she. It’s a low budget affair in the middle of an isolated forest and Adele is immediately struck by how enclosed she feels. It’s dark, it’s raining, she’s the only woman on set and Steve the director is so unwelcoming he barely looks at her.
Adele plays Kate, the lead character in the film, Final Draft. In the film, Kate is on a supposedly romantic getaway with her writer boyfriend Joel. In their cottage in the forest she picks up a self-published book entitled First Draft, the horror story of a couple in a cabin in the forest. The first night of filming goes reasonably well, but it’s the second night on which things start to go horribly awry and Adele finds strange parallels between her fictional character’s experiences and her own: noises, power cuts, every horror movie trope you can think of.
The narrative is mostly first person Adele, with scenes from the Final Draft script. The oppressive, dreary forest environment is enough to give the reader the creeps but the edge of your seat vibe is maintained constantly as Adele assesses and reassesses her situation: is she in danger, or is she in the middle of a psychotic break … like before.
Run Time is thrilling, scary, intricately plotted but easy enough to follow. Catherine Ryan Howard has created a brilliant blend of psychological thriller, drama and what on Earth is going on here. Hugely entertaining.
