Review: RUN YOU DOWN

RUN YOU DOWN by Julia Dahl (Faber & Faber, 2019)

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

Aviva Kagan was just a teenager when she left her Hasidic Jewish life in Brooklyn for a fling with a smiling college boy from Florida. A few months later she was pregnant, engaged to be married and trapped in a life she never imagined. So, shortly after the birth of her daughter she disappeared.

Twenty-three years later, the child she walked away from, NYC tabloid reporter Rebekah Roberts, wants nothing to do with her. But when a man from the ultra-Orthodox enclave of Roseville, NY contacts Rebekah about his young wife's mysterious death, she is drawn into Aviva's old world, and a hidden culture full of dangerous secrets and frustrations.

Julia Dahl adroitly melds mystery and family drama in this second instalment in her very fine series starring part-Jewish New York tabloid reporter Rebekah Roberts. The sequel to Dahl's award-bedecked debut INVISIBLE CITY (which won Macavity, Barry, and Shamus Awards, and was nominated for an Edgar Award) and precursor to the excellent CONVICTION (a book which made Dahl one of my favourite new-to-me authors of 2018), RUN YOU DOWN takes us much deeper into Rebekah's complicated family history, particularly as it pertains to the mother-she-never-knew, Hasidic Jewish runaway Aviva.

While Rebekah is the central character in the series and in RUN YOU DOWN, this tale switches perspectives and timeframes to also offer readers Aviva's perspective, giving us greater insights into why Rebekah's mother made the choices she did all those years ago, and the struggles she faced too.

Dahl is one of those authors who offers not only clever and compelling crime plotlines, but something more too. Her writing is layered and nuanced, whether weaving in small family details or big and broader issues like anti-Semitism, white supremacy, and gender politics. One of many things I really like about Dahl's storytelling is that it never feels soap-boxy or lecturing, even if by the end of her very exciting tales you'll find you've actually learned quite a bit about a variety of real-life issues.

In RUN YOU DOWN, we get a greater insight into the varying ways people brought up in the ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Jewish community may respond to the strictures of their community. Dahl deftly breaks down stereotypes by showing us a spectrum of people and demonstrating how even those who might be easily pigeon-holed from the outside due to their appearance or beliefs can vary greatly too.

Rebekah finds herself again entwined in her absent mother's culture when she's approached by someone who thinks there's more to a death of a young mother in a bathtub than has been decided by the authorities and community. With no autopsy to challenge the 'accidental death', Rebekah is urged to dig deeper by the woman's husband, opening a Pandora's Box of issues as Rebekah comes face-to-face with a distrustful Jewish community, stonewalling local cops who want to sweep it all under the carpet, and even her own unexpected family connection to a local white supremacist leader.

There's plenty going on in RUN YOU DOWN, but to me it never feels overcooked.

Dahl shows plenty of skill to keep the pages whirring while delivering a multi-layered tale that pricks at the heart as well as the mind, and may leave you pondering about family, humanity, and our wider world. There's an intensity to Dahl's storytelling, a richness that goes beyond big set-pieces or exciting twists, that is more about the characters and the lives they lead.

At times confronting, always compelling, RUN YOU DOWN is a terrific read from a terrific author.

Craig Sisterson is a lapsed lawyer who writes for leading magazines and newspapers in several countries. He has interviewed around 200 crime writers, talked about the genre onstage at literary festivals on three continents, and on national radio and popular podcasts, has been a judge of the Ned Kelly Awards, the McIlvanney Prize, and is founder of the Ngaio Marsh Awards and co-founder of Rotorua Noir. You can find him on Twitter: @craigsisterson

The character that is Ranger Sergeant John Quarrie by JM Gulvin

Today I'm joining the blog tour for JM Gulvin's second 'John Q' book, THE CONTRACT. I really enjoyed the first in the series, THE LONG COUNT, last year - it was one of my top reads of 2016.

I'm very excited about the second John Q book, but today for the official blog tour I thought I'd bring you something different, rather than a review - so here is an exclusive piece by Jeff Gulvin for Crime Watch, in his own words, talking about the character that is Texas Ranger John Quarrie.

THE CONTRACT – JM GULVIN: The character that is Ranger Sergeant John Quarrie

When I created John Q, I wanted someone I could relate to personally. Having always had an affinity with the American western landscape I wanted the kind of guy I’d (on occasion) met. He had to be a Texas Ranger because Rangers embody the spirit of the old west: rough, tough, sometimes a little out there in terms of their methods, but the law is the law and they apply it to everyone regardless of colour or creed or whether they’re rich or poor.


With so many fictional cops having issues (I’ve written a few myself) I wanted a man comfortable in his own skin. I didn’t want a lone wolf capable of just about anything, but I did want a lone wolf. Most Texas Rangers still work alone and in Quarrie’s day they always did. That said, he’s an affectionate father, a real man rather than a caricature and that’s as important to me as the plot.


There’s an epithet I use in THE CONTRACT “One riot, one Ranger”. It’s not necessarily all you need (though often it is), it’s because there were never very many of them and there still aren’t and usually only one showed up. They’re the last law enforcement agency in America that embodies the spirit of the old west and that’s why they resonate in such an iconic way, not just with Americans but all around the world. I believe there’s something in all of us that yearns for a simpler kind of justice where right is right and wrong is wrong and whether that’s naïve or not, in Ranger Sergeant Quarrie that’s exactly what you get.

The Contract by JM Gulvin is published by Faber & Faber in April (£12.99)