Review: Hit the Ground Running by Mark Burley

Hit the Ground Running by Mark Burley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Eric Bakker has just received a cryptic message from his brother, Michael, about the disappearance of their parents. Now Michael is also missing, but who can Eric trust to help him with all of this. Michael says to trust no one. Eric is away at boarding school and hasn't made too many friends. What is he going to do to find his family?

Thank you to NetGalley and Blue Moon Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Hit the Ground Running had me hooked from the start. I read almost 1/2 the book on the first day. This is a faced paced novel that leaves you wanting more. Imagine your parents dumping you in a boarding school in Canada for no good reason and uprooting you from the home you've always known. Eric isn't sure why his family made the move to Canada or why he has to go to this school. He tries to stick to himself as much as possible. But when he needs help to find his family, who can he trust to help him. While contemplating his situation, he runs into Tess another student from the school, and she thinks she may have a way to help him. Can he trust her? Will he be able to find his brother and his parents before it's too late?  Traveling between Canada, California, and Montana, Eric does everything he can to locate his family.  With the help of a colleague of his parents and a couple of kids from school, they travel by plane, boat, motorcycle and RV in order to accomplish the task at hand.

This is the first book in a trilogy. The end leaves you hanging so you will want to read the next book. I can't wait for it to be released.

About the Author:
Mark is originally from Truro, Nova Scotia. His parents were teachers, which means he could have grown up around books, and he did, but mostly he marked biology tests for his dad and dissected whatever they had for dinner (true story). He attended Dalhousie University in Halifax to complete his science degrees and continued to cultivate the writer seed that was planted when he was a kid. Mark has always been involved in high-level sport, as an athlete through university and as a coach afterward, and maintains that sport has given him the chance to succeed in art, something he’s sure he couldn’t have done otherwise. As a result, though, he eats the same breakfast every morning and he always puts his left shoe on first—bad things will happen if he doesn’t. Mark and his wife live outside Halifax with their two children. Books are big in their house; Mark’s favourite thing is Bedtime with Ry (come on, Mom, who can sleep during the Quidditch World Cup?). As a reader, he's always been slow, preferring to savour, which drives his wife nuts —she’s a devourer. He is often drawn to books that are beyond his ability to comprehend, which is only frustrating when the words aren’t beautiful. He also has an unnatural attraction to chai lattes. It’s a problem. He’s okay with it.

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