Rosemary Tulle has come to Halcyon Hall after receiving a call from her sister, Genevieve, begging her to come and get her. The former mental asylum holds many secrets of former residents and the atrocities they faced there, but now, some of those secrets are coming to light and not everyone wants them to. While looking for her sister, Rosemary crosses paths with her former boyfriend, Judge Whit Lawrence, who is running for governor. For years, she has blamed the judge for something that happened to her when they were kids, but now she must face the fact that what she thought about him might not really be true.

The Runaway is a mishmash of secrets held by an abundance of characters in this first book in the Bane Island Trilogy. There are moments and events in this book that had promise, but multiple subplots and underdeveloped characters overshadow what might have been a better story. Even though Rosemary is a psychologist, she runs around screaming and yelling with very little plan in mind. Many of Whit's actions are illogical and the romance between the two just isn't believable. Even though Genevieve is the center of the story, we never get much about her until the very end of the book. Overall, The Runaway contains many elements of a good suspense romance but never delivers on the execution that might have saved this story. ( )