Rating: 
Summary: Run for it!!!
Review: An unbelievably well laid out book that is fun to read and hard to put down.All the hallmarks of a potential movie to be made. The story gives us an insight to an almost forgotten era- the immediate post European war months, before the fall of Japan. Based on a cat and mouse chase accross ravaged Germany by a former NY detective (now army major) who is after Germany's Olympic hero (now a SS war criminal), Reich's idea of using the simmering tension of the Potsdam conference and the mutual distrust of UK/US - USSR scenario is a good one. We must remember that the opinion of the time was a new war with Stalin could break out within minutes and as we all know, the Allies had the hot headed generals that would have gladly used the still intact bloated Allied army and a rearmed German Army to execute the plan. So General Patton is used as the lynch pin in this whole affair, which as it is known, held very extremist views on life and his well known death in a road accident is given that twist historians have theorised all along. Enough spoiling...Read.
Rating: 
Summary: Exciting but flawed
Review: As much as I love both the unusual setting (post-war Germany) and the thrilling tension throughout the book, the multitude of inexcusable mistakes spoiled the enjoyment of this novel somewhat, at least for for me. Even though as a native German speaker I usually couldn't care less whenever international authors use the odd foreign language phrase incorrectly, Mr. Reich (who's presumably spent a few years in Switzerland) does not get a single German phrase right in this book; sometimes it's so bad that the remarks don't even make sense. Sorry, but this gets really annoying once you're past page 100 or so. On top of that, there are some pretty strange factual errors as well, mainly of geographical nature that could've been avoided by simply checking a cheap map. Other than that, "The Runner" is a good thriller, comparable to "The Needle" by British author Ken Follett (who is a much better researcher, though). Next time Mr. Reich should hand his novel over to an editor who knows his business if he intends to venture out into a foreign setting again.
Rating:
Summary: Fast and sleek
Review: Christopher Reich has written a sleek, high-octane thriller with a wonderful historical backdrop. Unfolding amidst the shattered ruins of Europe in the immediate wake of World War II, "The Runner" tells the story of Devlin Judge, an American lawyer working the Nuremberg trial who goes on a vendetta to hunt down the escaped Nazi war criminal who murdered his brother. Judge's personal quest is just part of the story as he gradually unravels a sinister plot that will undoubtedly plunge the world into a third global conflict. Some of history's biggest players make an appearance in the book: Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin. General George S. Patton is a central figure in the story... and a shady one at that. The pace is steady and the narrartive solid. In the tradition of "Numbered Account," Reich has penned a "thinking man's" thriller. His protagonists are real people; not action hero cardboard cutouts. Reich is proving himself a suspense writer of the top order.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent post WWII novel
Review: Disappointed. Plain and simple. Some interesting ideas but... I never really cared for the hero in the book- sort of a wimp. The other characters were just as bad. I didn't really care what happened to any of them. He also seems to bash America a bit. The USA vs. The Soviets? Not even a contest. Russia had already lost 20-30 million people fighting the Nazis. The Motherland didn't have much punch left. She even lost 100,000 taking a defeated Berlin! The ending was rather predictable. I could see it coming a mile away. Clint Eastwood/Line of Fire should sue. I disliked the book so much I left it on the cruise ship we were on. I have not done that with a book since Jurassic Park which I left in Italy. The writer also knows little about firearms. He calls pistol magazines "cartridges", he doesn't understand the difference between single and double action, and he really gets the capacity of magazines wrong. Kind of like Hollywood movies that let you fire without ever reloading. The author needs to read a F. Forsyth novel to learn how to put it together. Try "The Day of the Jackal" or "Dogs of War" for a complete suspense story. Sorry Reich.
Rating:
Summary: Reich Does It Again
Review: I was first introduced to Christopher Reich when I saw him on a morning talk show touting his first book, Numbered Account. I was immediately interested because it was a thriller involving money laundering in Swiss bank accounts. The thing that interested me was that Reich lived in Switzerland for a time so his descriptions of Europe would be first-hand. In his second book, Reich takes us on a tour of post-war Germany. His research is excellent combining actual historical facts with fiction. Sometimes he's so good that I actually get the two confused and start believing that what he has fictionalized is actually true. In this cat and mouse chase, the cat eventually becomes the mouse as Devlin Judge, in his persuit of "The White Lion", Erich Seuss, eventually becomes the hunted. Seuss was responsible for a wartime massacre that killed Judge's brother, a priest and Judge is out to avenge his murder. My only complaint about this book is that Judge is a mediocre protagonist and even when he comes upon his prey, he can't capitalize on it. He is also the worst shot in any of the books I've read. Reich remains one of those authors whose books I will buy the day they are introduced and will read immediately. For those of you who are lovers of Nelson DeMille or my other two favorites, Douglas Kennedy and John Gilstrap, this is a book along those lines.
Rating:
Summary: Move Over Robert Ludlum
Review: Like Daniel Silva, Christopher Reich leads a new generation of intrigue thriller authors. "The Runner" is steeped in historic background that brings the post-WWII period to life at the same time as it provides an electrifying read. What's more it dares to provide a possible explanation of what really happened to General Patton at the end of the war. He was a man who had outlived his time and usefulness, and the convenience of his death has to raise the kind of "what-if" questions that are grist for a gifted storyteller like Reich. Now I must read his other two novels for I have become a fan.
Rating: 
Summary: Weak Beach Reading
Review: Nothing in this thriller distinguishes it from countless other airplane/beach conspiracy potboilers by authors like Robert Ludlum, Ken Follet, Jack Higgins, et al. Hang on, I take that back, it does have one of the most awfully written sex scenes I've ever come across-I wish I had the book here so I could transcribe some of it. Set in July 1945, as Germany is being carved up by the Allies, the story concerns Erich Seyss, an SS officer (and former Olympian) who breaks out of POW camp and embarks on a desperate scheme to assassinate the Allied leaders when they meet in Potsdam. He is pursued by the heroically named Devlin Judge, an American lawyer (and former NYC cop) who's in Germany to prosecute Nazi war criminals. And, as so often happens in these types of books, Devlin's brother happens to have been one of the victims of a mass murder ordered by Seyss! From there, things get pretty paint-by-numbers: villain is always just barely one step ahead, beautiful women enters and becomes caught up in chase, no one can be trusted, tables get turned, hunter becomes hunted, etc. None of the characters rise veer from their basic motivation-they come across as clichés, despite Reich's attempt to provide a detailed backstory for each. Seyss's portrait as the lethally cunning Nazi machine is particularly weak. As noted elsewhere there are a number of minor gaffes in the details that cry out for more rigorous editorial attention, not to mention mangling of spelling and grammar in both German and English. Despite these flaws, Reich manages present a reasonably plausible portrayal of Germany just after surrender. Indeed, the novel's only somewhat intriguing theme is Reich's deliberate portrayal of the callousness of the average American occupier toward German civilians. However readers looking for a more sophisticated and well-written look at postwar Germany might try Philip Kerr's A German Requiem, the last volume in his "Berlin Noir" trilogy. Finally, it should be noted that while this is a work of fiction Reich's use of U.S. General George Patton and OSS chief "Wild" Bill Donovan would be completely libelous were they not dead and thus fair game for fictional reimagining. Those intrigued by Patton should check out Carlo D'este's biography, Patton: A Genius For War. For the story of Donovan and the origin of the OSS, check out Thomas Troy's book, Wild Bill and Intrepid.
Rating: 
Summary: Conspiracies Abound
Review: Now I like a super hero as much as anyone. But I like him to be believable.. I think the character of Devlin Judge moves beyond reality. Much more realistic to me is the character of his foe, the German officer Erich Seyss. This novel is a reasonably good read. But.I think, not compelling.
Rating:
Summary: Well written, expertly researched and very improbable
Review: Runner is Reich's second novel. It takes us to post war Germany, and an intrepid lawyer (Devlin Judge) searching for his brother's murderer. The villian happens to be Erich Seyss--SS Officer who oeprated behind the lines. The book could have stood very easily on the tension of Judge's desire for revenge over his brother'surder. At first glance, it looks like this is what the book is about, but Reich reveals a plot involving Patton, the SS, and German industrialists. Yes, Patton found the Germans preferrable to the Russians, and history has proven him right, but the sinister main plot of the book that unfolds is unbelievable. Just as the solutions to remedy the problem are equally unlikely. Of course, there is a love story, but what has become cliche in thrillers and Hollywood adaptations, is idea that two people eyeball each other and they manage to fall madly in love with each other in a few hours or days. Yawn -- I've seen this a thousand times. As to the research, Reich is dazzling in his command of post war Germany. Certainly, he has spent time understanding the character and bent of George Patton. He obviously went to the trouble of figuring what was and was not still standing in Germany during the time period, and he is correct in his description of the Russians as locusts. Runner is well written, well researched, but improbable. That doesn't make it a bad book, but it leaves it in the middle of the pack.
Rating:
Summary: OUTSTANDING
Review: The greatest compliment I can give a book is wishing it didn't end. Reich writes 3 dimensional characters, No one all good or all bad. Our hero Devlin Judge is very honorable but not beyond breaking a few rules to catch the fugitive SS baddie Erich Seyss.
By the way, Seyss is one bad dude but, still quite human and at times almost symathetic. ALMOST. Action galore with real life historical figures like Patton, "Wild Bill" Donavon, Klaus Barbie,& IKE just add to the spark this novel is charged with.
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