Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson
on May 13, 2025
Genres: Fiction / Family Life / General, Fiction / Literary, Fiction / Southern
Pages: 256
Format: Audiobook
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads 
As soon as I saw the cover of Run for the Hills featuring a PT Cruiser, I knew I had to read it—my daughter’s first car was a PT Cruiser, after all. But the fact that it’s written by Kevin Wilson, who never fails to deliver clever, witty stories with heart, sealed the deal.
The premise grabbed me right away: Madeline (or “Mad,” as her long-gone father used to call her) is living a quiet life on her Tennessee farm when Reuben, a man she’s never met, shows up claiming to be her half-brother. He’s on a mission to track down their mutual absentee father—and the string of other half-siblings he’s left scattered across the country. Reuben convinces Mad to join him on a chaotic, cross-country road trip to find them all, and what follows is both hilarious and deeply moving.
Along the way, they gather Pepper and Tom, two more half-siblings with their own stories and versions of the man who abandoned them. What’s fascinating is how their father, though absent, has managed to leave a profound mark on each of them—whether through encouragement of their passions or unexpected life lessons. Still, he remains a mystery: who is he really, and what kind of man are they about to find?
The group dynamic is what makes this novel shine. Each sibling brings a unique voice and energy to the journey, and I found myself imagining what it would actually be like to ride in that car with them—equal parts chaos, comedy, and catharsis. Wilson balances the zany hijinks with moments of real emotional depth, exploring themes of identity, abandonment, and what it means to create a family when the one you’re born into is fractured.
This is a quintessential found-family story with the heart of a road-trip movie—I could absolutely see it playing out on the big screen. Run for the Hills is weird, warm, and wonderful, and yet another example of Kevin Wilson’s gift for turning the oddest situations into heartfelt magic.
English (US) · 