An exhilarating chase: The Runner, by Scarlett Thomas, reviewed
From our UK edition
Billed as a literary thriller from one of the masters of the genre, Scarlett Thomas’s The Runner is a far denser philosophical novel than readers might expect – albeit one built around a propulsive chase. The author transforms ultramarathons into a metaphor for modern capitalism, using the story of a fugitive runner to question what gives life value in a world dominated by money, surveillance and relentless growth. Capitalism is presented as a race without a finishing line, with running symbolising an economic system that demands endless progression: ‘The whole world is just relentlessly upupup. Why is everything just another hill?
