What do you think?
Rate this book
Running from the Dead
"Combining the intense grit of Richard Stark's Parker series with the amorality of Jim Thompson's work, Knowles once again delivers." -- Publishers Weekly, starred review of Rocks Beat Paper
Private detective Sam Jones's six-year search for an eight- year-old boy ends with gunshots in a basement and cold bodies that would eventually lead the police straight to him. Jones had never promised Ruth Verne that he would find her son alive, but he knew deep down that she believed he would -- worse, he had believed it too. Jones wasn't ready to look Ruth in the eye and tell her he had failed. He wasn't ready to admit that he lost everything and had nothing to show for it.
But an unsigned note scrawled on a bathroom door gives Jones a second chance -- a chance for redemption. Thirteen words left by a young girl in trouble give him someone to chase and a reason to keep moving before the cops move on him. Jones follows the trail from an idyllic small town to the darkest corners of the city, running from the boy he failed toward the girl he could still save.
Private detective Sam Jones's six-year search for an eight- year-old boy ends with gunshots in a basement and cold bodies that would eventually lead the police straight to him. Jones had never promised Ruth Verne that he would find her son alive, but he knew deep down that she believed he would -- worse, he had believed it too. Jones wasn't ready to look Ruth in the eye and tell her he had failed. He wasn't ready to admit that he lost everything and had nothing to show for it.
But an unsigned note scrawled on a bathroom door gives Jones a second chance -- a chance for redemption. Thirteen words left by a young girl in trouble give him someone to chase and a reason to keep moving before the cops move on him. Jones follows the trail from an idyllic small town to the darkest corners of the city, running from the boy he failed toward the girl he could still save.
250 pages, Paperback
First published June 2, 2020
3 people are currently reading
123 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
March 2, 2020
“Running From The Dead” begins in a coffee shop where Sam Jones obsesses about every detail from what cup his coffee comes in to the graffiti on the bathroom wall. It is a slow methodical beginning. So detailed that you almost miss the grim details like the blood splatters on his sleeve and his missing arm. There’s a pace to this private eye story quite unusual for the genre.
And, indeed, it’s not really the private eye business that keeps Jones awake at night. When he gets a paying client, he frankly dismissed her concerns about her errant father. Perhaps that’s because Jones has bigger concerns like the missing child case he has been working painstakingly for 73 months, making monthly reports to the bereaved mother. Like the bloodstains on his sleeves that he washes in the coffee shop restroom. Like the hidden meanings and the faint cry for help he finds in the restroom graffiti.
For Sam Jones, it’s about saving someone and he slowly methodically keeps trying. Because there has gotta be some place closer to heaven than it is to Hell. He just hasn’t found it yet.
Interspersed with some comedic moments poking fun at the hardboiled craft of private eye work and ferreting out octogenarian bank robbers are some depth charges. Sam Jones is not exactly Mike Hammer and he’s not exactly innocent, but his posse of hardened tough guys is something different altogether.
This is an enjoyable read, but very different in feel from Tin Men. I’m not sure if the pace here will be for everyone, but it’s a different approach to what sometimes feels like a been-there-done-that genre.
And, indeed, it’s not really the private eye business that keeps Jones awake at night. When he gets a paying client, he frankly dismissed her concerns about her errant father. Perhaps that’s because Jones has bigger concerns like the missing child case he has been working painstakingly for 73 months, making monthly reports to the bereaved mother. Like the bloodstains on his sleeves that he washes in the coffee shop restroom. Like the hidden meanings and the faint cry for help he finds in the restroom graffiti.
For Sam Jones, it’s about saving someone and he slowly methodically keeps trying. Because there has gotta be some place closer to heaven than it is to Hell. He just hasn’t found it yet.
Interspersed with some comedic moments poking fun at the hardboiled craft of private eye work and ferreting out octogenarian bank robbers are some depth charges. Sam Jones is not exactly Mike Hammer and he’s not exactly innocent, but his posse of hardened tough guys is something different altogether.
This is an enjoyable read, but very different in feel from Tin Men. I’m not sure if the pace here will be for everyone, but it’s a different approach to what sometimes feels like a been-there-done-that genre.
August 8, 2020
In this story private detective Sam Jones has a problem. Now I can’t tell you what it is, but suffice to say Mike Knowles knows how to tell a story. Jones is a persistent man. For eight years he has been hunting for clues as to what happened to a young boy who disappeared from his home.
The novel has its twists and turns. In a washroom of a coffee shop Jones finds a message on a washroom stall door. How one can connect this message and a lost boy and blend into the narrative an 80 year old man makes this story not only intriguing but a great read as well.
Fundamentally, the story is set in and around Toronto. Local settings are evoked effectively and one location was just around the corner from where I live. Well, I feel safe with Jones in the neighbourhood.
The novel has a definite noir slant. The writing is tight but not unnecessarily sparse. What I enjoyed most is the uneasy ending to this novel. Will Sam Jones be back? I hope so.
The novel has its twists and turns. In a washroom of a coffee shop Jones finds a message on a washroom stall door. How one can connect this message and a lost boy and blend into the narrative an 80 year old man makes this story not only intriguing but a great read as well.
Fundamentally, the story is set in and around Toronto. Local settings are evoked effectively and one location was just around the corner from where I live. Well, I feel safe with Jones in the neighbourhood.
The novel has a definite noir slant. The writing is tight but not unnecessarily sparse. What I enjoyed most is the uneasy ending to this novel. Will Sam Jones be back? I hope so.
August 14, 2020
Canadian PI Sam Jones has had a difficult life, and recently it’s only gotten worse. A forty-two-year-old veteran of the war in Iraq, Sam had lost an arm in the conflict. Returned from the fighting and now a civilian, he is in a Toronto coffee bar trying to come to terms with what he had just seen, and what he had just done. Noticing spots of blood on his sleeve he goes to the washroom to get rid of them. The blood isn’t his, but he knows the police will soon be searching for him, and wanting an explanation for two dead people – one a mere boy – lying in the basement of a house he’d vacated not that long ago.
Sam is also bothered by what he will tell the boy’s mother. Six years earlier he’d set out to find the boy, hoping to bring him back to her alive. But today he realized that he’d failed. That, more than anything else, troubles him greatly.
While he is scrubbing the blood from his shirt Sam notices a piece of graffiti containing a cryptic message near a hinge on the bathroom door: I know you are, but what am I? A belligerent challenge, or a cry for help? Sheena, a twenty-something tattooed Barista with an attitude, is tending the counter. She is unable to help Sam identify the author of the words, so it falls to him. Remorseful over the fact that he failed to find the boy alive and restore him to his mother, he is driven to try to identify the obviously-troubled graffiti writer and try to help her.
Thus begins the odyssey of a good man caught up in an evil world. Before it has ended Sam will enlist the improbable aid of an aging ex-bank robber as he navigates the dark streets of Toronto, where vulnerable young women are easy prey for men who cannot see beyond their own twisted lives, all the while running from the police, who want to question him about the house with two bodies in the basement.
And as if that isn’t enough weight on his already-burdened shoulders, while Sam grapples with a troubled young woman who might not want to be found—and might not want to be helped—there is his looming meeting with the dead boy’s mother. Adding to his woes, Sam also has to care for his 80-year-old father, who is in a residential care home, unable to speak following a stroke.
Running From the Dead is the layered and nuanced eighth novel of Hamilton writer Mike Knowles. It is a highly-charged tale, marked by crackling dialogue, and leavened only by brooding narration and a deft use of metaphor, as in this passage in which Sam compares his race to evade the police with the behavior of sharks:
“Sharks needed to remain in a constant state of motion in order to breathe. It didn’t matter how much water was around—if the shark stopped swimming it would suffocate in the middle of the ocean…[F]or the same reason he was driving across the city on a Monday—it kept him from stopping. If he stopped, if he lost momentum, it would mean confronting the inevitable, and…Jones had a week before the inevitable became unavoidable. Seven days—his own Shark Week—unless he stopped moving.
But there is dark humour here as well, as when Sam is asked how he lost his arm and he replies, “I didn’t lose it. I know exactly where it is.”
Readers in search of an uncompromising chronicle of our troubled times, exquisitely told, will find much to admire in Knowles’ latest work, and will, I suspect, be drawn to his earlier writing. Highly recommended.
_______
Jim Napier is a professional crime-fiction reviewer based in Canada. Since 2005 his book reviews and author interviews have been featured in several Canadian newspapers and on multiple websites. His crime novel Legacy was published in April of 2017, and the second in the series, Ridley’s War, is scheduled for release in the late summer of 2020.
Sam is also bothered by what he will tell the boy’s mother. Six years earlier he’d set out to find the boy, hoping to bring him back to her alive. But today he realized that he’d failed. That, more than anything else, troubles him greatly.
While he is scrubbing the blood from his shirt Sam notices a piece of graffiti containing a cryptic message near a hinge on the bathroom door: I know you are, but what am I? A belligerent challenge, or a cry for help? Sheena, a twenty-something tattooed Barista with an attitude, is tending the counter. She is unable to help Sam identify the author of the words, so it falls to him. Remorseful over the fact that he failed to find the boy alive and restore him to his mother, he is driven to try to identify the obviously-troubled graffiti writer and try to help her.
Thus begins the odyssey of a good man caught up in an evil world. Before it has ended Sam will enlist the improbable aid of an aging ex-bank robber as he navigates the dark streets of Toronto, where vulnerable young women are easy prey for men who cannot see beyond their own twisted lives, all the while running from the police, who want to question him about the house with two bodies in the basement.
And as if that isn’t enough weight on his already-burdened shoulders, while Sam grapples with a troubled young woman who might not want to be found—and might not want to be helped—there is his looming meeting with the dead boy’s mother. Adding to his woes, Sam also has to care for his 80-year-old father, who is in a residential care home, unable to speak following a stroke.
Running From the Dead is the layered and nuanced eighth novel of Hamilton writer Mike Knowles. It is a highly-charged tale, marked by crackling dialogue, and leavened only by brooding narration and a deft use of metaphor, as in this passage in which Sam compares his race to evade the police with the behavior of sharks:
“Sharks needed to remain in a constant state of motion in order to breathe. It didn’t matter how much water was around—if the shark stopped swimming it would suffocate in the middle of the ocean…[F]or the same reason he was driving across the city on a Monday—it kept him from stopping. If he stopped, if he lost momentum, it would mean confronting the inevitable, and…Jones had a week before the inevitable became unavoidable. Seven days—his own Shark Week—unless he stopped moving.
But there is dark humour here as well, as when Sam is asked how he lost his arm and he replies, “I didn’t lose it. I know exactly where it is.”
Readers in search of an uncompromising chronicle of our troubled times, exquisitely told, will find much to admire in Knowles’ latest work, and will, I suspect, be drawn to his earlier writing. Highly recommended.
_______
Jim Napier is a professional crime-fiction reviewer based in Canada. Since 2005 his book reviews and author interviews have been featured in several Canadian newspapers and on multiple websites. His crime novel Legacy was published in April of 2017, and the second in the series, Ridley’s War, is scheduled for release in the late summer of 2020.
April 14, 2020
Sam Jones is a private detective in Toronto, Ontario. For the last six years, he has been hired to find Adam, an eight-year-old who disappeared years earlier ... and he has met Adam's mother every month giving her reports. When Jones does find Adam, it's not the way he had hoped and he takes justice into his own hands. He figures he has about a week before the police connect him.
In the meantime, he finds a couple cryptic messages in a bathroom in a coffee shop and feels that it's from a girl in trouble. He couldn't save Adam so he's determine to find and save this girl ... and he knows he has less than a week to do it. Plus he's been hired to find Willy, the 80-year-old father of a woman who is used to getting her way. Jones thinks the old guy has just taken off for a couple days but the woman is concerned something has happened to him.
I've read a few of this author's books and have liked them. I liked the writing style ... it's written in first person perspective from Jones' point of view. As a head's up, there is swearing and violence.
I liked Jones ... he is on a mission and knows time is running out. He is straight to the point and no nonsense. Willy and Sheena, the barista at the coffee shop, were amusing and added humor to the story.
Blog review post: http://www.teenaintoronto.com/2020/04...
In the meantime, he finds a couple cryptic messages in a bathroom in a coffee shop and feels that it's from a girl in trouble. He couldn't save Adam so he's determine to find and save this girl ... and he knows he has less than a week to do it. Plus he's been hired to find Willy, the 80-year-old father of a woman who is used to getting her way. Jones thinks the old guy has just taken off for a couple days but the woman is concerned something has happened to him.
I've read a few of this author's books and have liked them. I liked the writing style ... it's written in first person perspective from Jones' point of view. As a head's up, there is swearing and violence.
I liked Jones ... he is on a mission and knows time is running out. He is straight to the point and no nonsense. Willy and Sheena, the barista at the coffee shop, were amusing and added humor to the story.
Blog review post: http://www.teenaintoronto.com/2020/04...
February 26, 2020
Thank you NetGalley and Mike Knowles for being able to get an ARC copy of this novel.
Running From The Dead has a kind-of slow but very descriptive beginning for a private eye novel. Sam Jones has been concerned about a missing child for 6 years, it keeps him up at night, and he can't focus on any other cases properly.
Very different from any other private detective novel I've read, may not be for everyone but I liked the pace and that it's not the same ol' shtick.
Running From The Dead has a kind-of slow but very descriptive beginning for a private eye novel. Sam Jones has been concerned about a missing child for 6 years, it keeps him up at night, and he can't focus on any other cases properly.
Very different from any other private detective novel I've read, may not be for everyone but I liked the pace and that it's not the same ol' shtick.
October 1, 2020
I really enjoyed this book, it’s a perfect combination of crime,action, and thriller. It’s a perfect read if you enjoy crime novels, which I personally really do. I will say, I don’t like how it took a long time to find out important things like characters names, background stories, ect.. One of my favorite things about the novel is it kind of makes you solve the mystery in your head. That’s what I tried to do, at least. If your more into fictional, fantasy, historical, sci-if, ect., I do not recommend this to you. If you like crime and thriller I definitely recommend this.
One thing I personally didn’t like is that it’s very slow paced, and I’m more of get to the point kind of guy. But, I really enjoyed it. One of my personal favorite characters was Norah’s Father. I just thought he had a very good since of humor, because most of the other characters were serious, and he’s sort of like a comic relief. I really like that about him.
“Running from the dead” seemed a bit confusing at first but then I soon realized it said “crime novel”. The novel started off by introducing the the main protagonist, Samuel Jones, who had a big case that he couldn’t seem to crack. I don’t know if I’m the only person who made this mistake, but it just really confused me as first. All that aside it’s a very good crime novel and I definitely recommend it if you are a fan of Mike Knowles (the author).
One thing I personally didn’t like is that it’s very slow paced, and I’m more of get to the point kind of guy. But, I really enjoyed it. One of my personal favorite characters was Norah’s Father. I just thought he had a very good since of humor, because most of the other characters were serious, and he’s sort of like a comic relief. I really like that about him.
“Running from the dead” seemed a bit confusing at first but then I soon realized it said “crime novel”. The novel started off by introducing the the main protagonist, Samuel Jones, who had a big case that he couldn’t seem to crack. I don’t know if I’m the only person who made this mistake, but it just really confused me as first. All that aside it’s a very good crime novel and I definitely recommend it if you are a fan of Mike Knowles (the author).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 12, 2020
Running from the Dead is a story about a private detective set in Toronto. Samuel Jones runs his own private investigation agency. Preferring to be addressed as Jones, Sam is a veteran and lost part of his left arm during the war in the Middle East. Fortunately this does not hold him back but he does make him all that more intriguing.
Six years ago Adam an eight year old boy mysteriously vanished from his home. After the case goes cold and the police stop looking Adam’s mother Ruth hires Jones to find him. She hasn’t given up hope that Adam will be found. Jones doesn’t give up hope either and he does find Adam. It isn’t a happy ending.
Jones has taken matters into his own hands and knows there will be a price to pay.
At the same time Jones gets himself involved in the search for a young girl who left a somber message on the door of a coffee shop’s rest room. Jones instinctively knows she is trouble and feels a desperate need to save her.
I thought the story was well told. The writing was crisp. The beginning started off like a Columbo episode. We know a crime of taken place. What we don’t know are the answers to the how and the why. The suspense was well constructed and I thought the story moved along nicely.
Considering the ending I’m not sure if there will be another novel featuring Sam Jones. If there is I will be reading it.
Six years ago Adam an eight year old boy mysteriously vanished from his home. After the case goes cold and the police stop looking Adam’s mother Ruth hires Jones to find him. She hasn’t given up hope that Adam will be found. Jones doesn’t give up hope either and he does find Adam. It isn’t a happy ending.
Jones has taken matters into his own hands and knows there will be a price to pay.
At the same time Jones gets himself involved in the search for a young girl who left a somber message on the door of a coffee shop’s rest room. Jones instinctively knows she is trouble and feels a desperate need to save her.
I thought the story was well told. The writing was crisp. The beginning started off like a Columbo episode. We know a crime of taken place. What we don’t know are the answers to the how and the why. The suspense was well constructed and I thought the story moved along nicely.
Considering the ending I’m not sure if there will be another novel featuring Sam Jones. If there is I will be reading it.
June 3, 2020
Sam Jones is a private investigator. For six years he’s been trying to solve the disappearance of an 8-year-old that the police have all but given up on. He solves it, but with what would seem to be his last week of freedom, due to the choices he made upon confronting the kidnapper, rather than tell the woman who hired him to find her son, he feels driven to save one more person. The person he chooses to save comes to him in the form of a message on the back of the bathroom door in graffiti.
Calmly fast-paced is the best way to describe Running From the Dead as Jones unearths many different characters, each playing a crucial role in solving this mysterious case. Author Mike Knowles does an exceptional job in crafting his writing style around the composed disposition Jones maintains as he races against the clock to save one last person. Highly recommend this story of an unruffled, unique and fascinating PI, Sam Jones.
*Disclaimer: A review copy was provided by the publisher. All opinions are my own.
Calmly fast-paced is the best way to describe Running From the Dead as Jones unearths many different characters, each playing a crucial role in solving this mysterious case. Author Mike Knowles does an exceptional job in crafting his writing style around the composed disposition Jones maintains as he races against the clock to save one last person. Highly recommend this story of an unruffled, unique and fascinating PI, Sam Jones.
*Disclaimer: A review copy was provided by the publisher. All opinions are my own.
April 30, 2021
Fast-paced, but an easy, enjoyable read.
December 14, 2020
I really enjoyed this book, the "3rd person" writing perspective gave it a old school noir feel. I also appreciated the length of the novel, it was what the story needed, not too much. the story kept moving at a brisk pace. Jones is the man.
March 3, 2020
This is my first time meeting Sam Jones, Private Investigator. At first, I wasn't sure whether he was a good guy or on the dark side. But I soon came to realize I really liked this man with a past; he has a big heart, and cares about others. He would be a guy I would like to have on my side. In fact, all the characters were really likeable (except the criminals of course) and had a lot of depth. The descriptions allowed me to envision them in my head, with all of their quirks and foibles. (When reading about Willy, I see Sean Connery!) I also enjoyed the settings, especially the coffee shop and Canadian locales. There were a bunch of neat details that stuck with me, such as how he fixed a broken nose with a straw (ew), and the box of donated books at the bar. As the story progressed, I enjoyed the varied storylines, the interactions amongst characters and the growth of the plot. I was happy to see how it all came together in the end, and the connections that were made. The style of writing was easy to follow and quick to read. At the conclusion, I feel like I need to find out more about Jones' past, as well as to see how he is going to come out of his current predicament!
April 21, 2020
Sam's a private detective in Toronto who specializes in finding people. Unfortunately, he spent six years looking for Adam, a child, only to discover that there would be no happy ending. And he's sone something that will bring the law down on him as a result. He's on a quest, though, to find a girl he believes was abducted. Oh, and then there's Willy, an elderly man whose daughter is convinced he's come to a bad end. Sam's a hoot in spots but he's also a driven man with a big heart. I liked the setting (and there attention Knowles pays to small details). The characters are terrific- Sam's the guy you hope is on your side. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I'd not read Knowles before but I'm definitely going to look for him again.
March 18, 2025
I bought this book in Hamilton, because I thought I’d give a local author a boost. I didn’t regret the decision
It’s the first time in ages I’ve read a book where a private investigator is the main character. It’s fun to see Jones (the PI) bend the rules and later, stomp them.
Anyone who reads the cover notes knows that a murder occurs before the opening scene, so that isn’t a spoiler. What I found interesting was another mystery kicked off in the opening scene, which ran its course throughout the book.
I enjoyed the author’s style: to the point, providing the necessary details and avoiding excessive blather. Dialog was natural with tongue-in-cheek wit. The characters were great - you could readily imagine them.
It’s the first time in ages I’ve read a book where a private investigator is the main character. It’s fun to see Jones (the PI) bend the rules and later, stomp them.
Anyone who reads the cover notes knows that a murder occurs before the opening scene, so that isn’t a spoiler. What I found interesting was another mystery kicked off in the opening scene, which ran its course throughout the book.
I enjoyed the author’s style: to the point, providing the necessary details and avoiding excessive blather. Dialog was natural with tongue-in-cheek wit. The characters were great - you could readily imagine them.
December 3, 2020
Great PI procedural with a different twist. Jones, an army veteran with only 1/2 a left arm, is a PI searching for a lost child and also an older teenager. If he can’t rescue one, he’ll save the other. Language reminds me of some of Robert J. Parker’s Spenser books, laconic and droll. A cast of characters includes an octogenarian ex-bank robber and an older barista. One point though, on page 157, it stated that “he planted two hands on the table and forced himself to his feet”. Kind of hard to do when he doesn’t wear a prosthesis. Now I’ll have to look for this author’s other books.
October 18, 2021
Really enjoyed this book. It was interesting how it gave away a lot of the ending right at the beginning. He knew his fate and he had so many days to live with it before it caught up. Didn't think I would enjoy it as much as I did.
July 12, 2023
Not sure about the guy Jones. Hero or antihero. Seems like he has demons unrelated to his situation. The secondary characters are very well described and add a lot to the tale. Hope Jones is in another installment.
January 29, 2024
Left after a few pages. The author works too hard at his writing, as if he's trying to fell a tree with a hatchet. If there's a story in all that I don't have the patience to wait for it to show itself.
June 12, 2020
I want a Sheena, Willy and Sam buddy book. Driving cross country, saving random people. The banter would be fun.
September 14, 2020
Well, my first book by this author and it was a good read. Canadian author with a good plot and it kept me entertained.
April 23, 2021
Interesting modern noir.
August 3, 2021
solid P.I. book set in Toronto. Liked the team work with Sheena and Willy. Hope there will be another book featuring Sam.
November 7, 2021
A quick, pleasant read, where the murderer is the detective. An odd approach that sort of reminds me of the Noir movie D.O.A. Aside from the way too fast ending, the story is well paced.
November 4, 2023
Author doesn’t know how to write women
May 7, 2025
This was a good book, I read it in two days. but if we got one or two more chapters, it would've been great. I just needed more from the ending.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews