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Run from the Hunter
A classic "wrong man" suspense novel, Run from the Hunter is a fast-paced, tightly plotted thriller about a man convicted of a crime he did not commit. While on his way to prison, there is a spectacular train crash in which he escapes and sets out to prove his innocence. This novel was the inspiration for The Fugitive.
142 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1957
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 23, 2014
Another beautiful Centipede Press edition of a too long lost Charles Beaumont novel. Well worth the read for any fan of the great Beaumont.
January 13, 2011
A good little mystery that is written the old classic style
November 26, 2025
Visit JetBlackDragonfly (The Man Who Read Too Much) at www.edenthompson.ca/blog
for a large clean image of the 1957 Gold Medal paperback, and over 900 book reviews in all genres
This 1957 thriller has a solid claim of being the inspiration for the hit TV series The Fugitive. An innocent man escapes a charge of murder, fiercely pursued by law enforcement, desperate to clear his name.
Journalist Chris Adams finds himself on a train to Alabama State Penitentiary, wrongly convicted of killing his girlfriend, the beautiful singer Steffany Fontaine. A fellow convict is a notorious gambling boss who killed his double-crossing first lieutenant. The boss tells Adams that when they cross a certain bridge, an escape plan has been arranged and within minutes, a terrific explosion derails the train into the swamp below. Crawling over the dead, Adams runs towards freedom, pursued by the law. His only chance is to find Felix Kline, a bartender who knows Chris was not the murderer.
Police Lieutenant Howard Carr cannot let this affront slide; he also dated Steffany and is closer to the case than he lets on. Chris finds help along the way from a tough old bayou woman and her sexy young daughter (even knowing who he is), a Cajun medicine man, and a fellow journalist at Adam's newspaper. Under the cover of Mardi Gras festivities from Biloxi to Mobile to New Orleans, the mystery unfolds, leaving a few more bodies in its wake.
This gave everything I wished for in a fugitive thriller, including a dame who is trouble with a capital T and a mysterious package worth over $50,000. Inventive and propelled, we quickly end up quite far from where we began. Solid and recommended.
Keith Grantland is a pseudonym for the team of John Tomerlin and Charles Beaumont. A seminal influence for speculative fiction writers, Beaumont wrote many episodes of The Twilight Zone, and the screenplay for The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao.
Run From The Hunter is so close in plot to the hit TV series The Fugitive (1963-67) and the 1993 hit film starring Harrison Ford that claim can be made it was the inspiration. Writer David Goodis claimed it was based on his novel Dark Passage (1946), made into a film starring Bogart and Bacall in 1947, which also featured a wrongly convicted man, and that litigation continued after his death in 1967.
for a large clean image of the 1957 Gold Medal paperback, and over 900 book reviews in all genres
This 1957 thriller has a solid claim of being the inspiration for the hit TV series The Fugitive. An innocent man escapes a charge of murder, fiercely pursued by law enforcement, desperate to clear his name.
Journalist Chris Adams finds himself on a train to Alabama State Penitentiary, wrongly convicted of killing his girlfriend, the beautiful singer Steffany Fontaine. A fellow convict is a notorious gambling boss who killed his double-crossing first lieutenant. The boss tells Adams that when they cross a certain bridge, an escape plan has been arranged and within minutes, a terrific explosion derails the train into the swamp below. Crawling over the dead, Adams runs towards freedom, pursued by the law. His only chance is to find Felix Kline, a bartender who knows Chris was not the murderer.
Police Lieutenant Howard Carr cannot let this affront slide; he also dated Steffany and is closer to the case than he lets on. Chris finds help along the way from a tough old bayou woman and her sexy young daughter (even knowing who he is), a Cajun medicine man, and a fellow journalist at Adam's newspaper. Under the cover of Mardi Gras festivities from Biloxi to Mobile to New Orleans, the mystery unfolds, leaving a few more bodies in its wake.
This gave everything I wished for in a fugitive thriller, including a dame who is trouble with a capital T and a mysterious package worth over $50,000. Inventive and propelled, we quickly end up quite far from where we began. Solid and recommended.
Keith Grantland is a pseudonym for the team of John Tomerlin and Charles Beaumont. A seminal influence for speculative fiction writers, Beaumont wrote many episodes of The Twilight Zone, and the screenplay for The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao.
Run From The Hunter is so close in plot to the hit TV series The Fugitive (1963-67) and the 1993 hit film starring Harrison Ford that claim can be made it was the inspiration. Writer David Goodis claimed it was based on his novel Dark Passage (1946), made into a film starring Bogart and Bacall in 1947, which also featured a wrongly convicted man, and that litigation continued after his death in 1967.
June 1, 2025
There's a lot that happens in this slim book.
Wrongfully convicted for murdering a young socialite, Chris escapes when the train carrying him to prison crashes. His journey passes through a number of unique spaces, including a swamp, an empty theater, a boathouse, and costumed crowds celebrating Mardi Gras. A number of oddballs and sweethearts help him as he passes through.
Keith Grantland was the pen name of speculative fiction writers Charles Beaumont and John Tomerlin. This was the only book the two of them wrote together. That's a pity, since this was pretty fun and had some lovely, evocative passages between the thrills.
Wrongfully convicted for murdering a young socialite, Chris escapes when the train carrying him to prison crashes. His journey passes through a number of unique spaces, including a swamp, an empty theater, a boathouse, and costumed crowds celebrating Mardi Gras. A number of oddballs and sweethearts help him as he passes through.
Keith Grantland was the pen name of speculative fiction writers Charles Beaumont and John Tomerlin. This was the only book the two of them wrote together. That's a pity, since this was pretty fun and had some lovely, evocative passages between the thrills.
November 18, 2017
Great 50s Gold Medal paperback written by Charles Beaumont under a pseudonym, obviously the starting point for the TV series The Fugitive, for which Beaumont wrote many episodes.
Recommended for fans of Gold Medal paperbacks.
Recommended for fans of Gold Medal paperbacks.
January 19, 2026
This reads very much like it was originally intended as a movie script. I mean that in the best way. It's tightly plotted and entertaining from beginning to end, wasting no space at all, and is jam packed with quirky characters.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews