Fun Reads Friday: Run: Intense, Book 2, by Glenn Haggerty

I’m a boy. Okay, I’m a boy with six decades of experience, but still, somewhere beneath this white beard, creaky knees and wobbly back, there’s still a boy who likes to read novels that can get a little intense.

Guess what—I also know a lot of girls who love to dive into adventure, jack up the action, and race at the thrills and chills of suspense.

Glenn Haggerty has written a series just for us. It’s called Intense.

I warn you, in Run: Intense, Book 2 (Taegais Publishing, 2015; Freshwater Publications, 2019), there’s gunplay. There’s a crime to solve. People are willing to kill to keep their secrets. Thirteen-year-old Tyler Higgins, who is at the center of the story, realizes he must draw the danger to himself to protect his family—squabbles and all—from some serious villains who are occupying a broken-down house deep in the woods.

(“The man rotated a huge hand, and the blade glinted in the moonlight. ‘If I catch you out here again at night, I’ll kill you. See? I’ll slit your belly and feed your guts to the fish.’ The gleaming blade flicked toward the river.”) 

Tyler isn’t the most likable kid early in the story. He’s moody, difficult to deal with, and manages to push away anyone who could help overcome the horrors of being the “new kid” in the neighborhood. So no one, it seems, has his back when he’s bullied, and when he’s unfairly punished by school authorities.

Facing up to real danger puts a lot of life and spiritual truths into perspective. And just like happens in the Bible, some of the most unlikely people are called on to be heroes—because if God’s for us, no one can stand against us, even when things get a little intense.

What I just found out is that Glenn Haggerty has also released Companion Bible Study for Run: Finding Friends & Handling Bullies (Freshwater Publications, 2018).

The publisher has this to say about it: “This companion study explores where Tyler went wrong, where he went right, and how teens and preteens can develop real relationships. It also delves deeply into the issue of bullying which continues to trouble kids and teens. Because of the complexities of bullying, three sessions are devoted to this subject, including, Ten Biblical Tips for Dealing with Bullies, and why no one deserves to be disrespected.”

I need to check this out. And there are the other two novels in the Intense series, Escape and Chase. Because sometimes, you want to feel your heart pound with the intensity.

Oh, yeah, don’t forget to leave comments on blog posts this month for entries into the August giveaway. You can go back and read about that here: https://storytellersquad.com/2019/08/02/whats-happening-in-august/