Publication Date: July 16, 2026
From the acclaimed author of The End of Mr. Y comes a blend of dark humor, international crime, and romance in this literary thriller about a man fleeing a decades-old contract on his life—and the woman who may change everything.
He’s running for his life. And he’s running out of time.
Jay has been hunted since he was twenty years old. A contract on his life has been traded like a commodity, rising and falling with Bitcoin for decades. On the run once again with no passport and airmiles as his only currency, Jay will have to choose between love and survival, and run for his life.
While staying at an all-inclusive resort, surviving off of the points he accrued in a previous, more successful life, Jay meets Ellie, a beguiling fellow runner who may even be faster than he is, and is harboring secrets of her own. When an assassin appears poolside, Jay is on the run again, but this time with Ellie, as they find themselves on a catamaran helmed by a sinister and reckless crew.
The Runner is about high-finance, con artists, the Book of Jonah, ultramarathons, and how falling in love can change everything. Darkly funny, sexy, and exciting, Scarlett Thomas—author of the “work of gonzo genius” (The New York Times), The Sleepwalkers—transports readers from the sun-drenched roads of Cyprus to the rain slicked streets of Kent in this high-concept literary thriller.
A man on the run from professional assassins learns a lot about life, love, and Bitcoin in Scarlett Thomas’s absurdist thriller, The Runner.
For the past fifteen years, Jay (aka Robert Farmer) has been running for his life—quite literally. Ever since inadvertently stumbling upon a crime scene at age twenty, he has had a contract on his head, one repeatedly bought and sold on Bitcoin and now worth millions to the assassin who can deliver proof of his death. When another hitman tracks him to a Greek island, Jay escapes aboard a catamaran with a suspiciously colorful crew of would-be religious exorcists en route to a dictator’s mansion for a spiritual cleansing. A stopover in Cyprus brings an unexpected complication: Ellie, a fellow runner whose beauty, imperfections, and selfless morality begin to penetrate Jay’s carefully guarded, emotionally isolated world. But Ellie knows far more about the contracts on his life than he realizes—and may hold the key to his survival.
The story is a sprint from start to finish, with Thomas using the running motif as a pointed commentary on contemporary society’s obsession with perpetual motion, productivity, and, of course, making money. The premise is wonderfully inventive (who ever heard of an appreciating Bitcoin-funded assassination contract?) and its supporting cast seems plucked straight from central casting for oddballs. Sandy, Rafe, and Olivia, Jay’s hosts aboard the catamaran, are clearly not who they claim to be. Through this eccentric trio, Thomas introduces the parasites of capitalism: opportunists who con, defraud, and otherwise fleece their unsuspecting victims.
Living off airline miles and loyalty points, Jay trains for a local marathon in Cyprus, hoping to collect the prize money, while embarking on a romance with Ellie. Yet the contract on his life looms over any prospect of putting down roots or building a genuine relationship. Complicating matters further, Jay isn’t entirely sure who Ellie is or whether her feelings for him are sincere. Within this quirky love story, Thomas explores some fundamental questions about what makes life worth living: Is existence merely about survival, or is there room for beauty, grace, and compassion for those less fortunate? She takes aim at our modern-day fixation on money, wealth, and liquidity, transforming it into a deft morality play about the choices we make, the motivations behind them, and what we value most.
The outlandish plot twists and increasingly improbable developments occasionally strain credulity, but the hilarious dialogue and colorful cast of characters keep the story lively and entertaining. Thomas’s philosophical musings lend an intellectual dimension to the thriller framework, though they sometimes slow its narrative momentum.
Ultimately, the connection between Jay and Ellie—and the secrets they harbor—is what holds the story together. An unconventional romance, to be sure, but also a delightfully offbeat and unapologetic ode to falling in love with the “wrong” person who turns out to be right for you in every way.
The Runner blends charm, creativity, and non-stop movement into its quirky postmodern take on love in a time of capitalism.
Scarlett Thomas was born in London in 1972. Her other novels include Bright Young Things, Going Out, PopCo and The End of Mr.Y, which was longlisted for the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction 2007. She teaches creative writing at the University of Kent..
