Written collaboratively by the bestselling author in the world and one of music most beloved entertainers, Run Rose Run is a contemporary thriller about a singer-songwriter, AnnieLee, on the rise and on the run and determined to do whatever it takes to survive. Nashville is where she’s come to claim her destiny. It’s also where the darkness she’s fled might find her. There, she encounters ruthless, predatory agents and managers, but she is also taken under the wing of one of the successful artists in country music. Dolly Parton wrote and recorded twelve songs to complement the book.
You have to say one thing about James Patterson. He is prolific! According to his website, he has written 318 books (all written in pencil): adult novels, picture books, middle grade and young adult fiction, comic books, graphic novels, and bookshots (longish short stories). He has had 73 #1 bestsellers and sold 325 million copies. Many are collaborations with other writers. He hires a published writer and gives them a detailed 60-80-page outline. Then begins an intense back-and-forth. Now he is teaming up with celebrities. Bill Clinton in 2018 and now Dolly Parton. He’s also a marketing genius, which, I guess, makes sense, understanding that he started out in advertising.
Run, Rose, Run is a sweet, rags-to-riches fairytale full of kitschy Dollyisms such as, “Ugly as a box of armpits.” And although the plot was silly and predictable, it was highly entertaining. Like most of Patterson’s work, Run, Rose, Run, isn’t stylistic, it is just a great story. That is his sweet spot. I was enamored with the inside scoop on the music industry and the loveable characters.
Incidentally, James Patterson’s first book was rejected by 31 publishers, which gives me hope my bestseller is yet to come. I supplemented reading the books with audio, well narrated by a cast of characters, although Dolly’s voice sounded off. I wish she had sung the song lyrics rather than AnnieLee’s character speaking them. 4 stars.
Published Date: March 2022
Genre: Thriller
Read-Alikes: Your Killin’ Heart by Peggy O’Neal Peden, XO: A Kathryn Dance Novel by Jeffery Deaver, What are the Chances by Kenny Rogers,