Summary
Run Away erupts into chaos in “Sliding Doors”, as well it might. With most of the answers having been revealed now, there are only a few more matters for the finale to address.
The penultimate episode of Harlan Coben’s Run Away is… about what you’d expect, really. A lot is revealed, albeit not everything, a bunch of people die, and the stakes are set for a clarifying finale that will – hopefully! – give us the answers we seek about everything. Episode 7, “Sliding Doors”, is the obligatory point when everything just erupts into all-out chaos. You love to see it.
Things are really knitting together now, for what it’s worth. Almost everything makes sense. There are only a couple of key details left lingering, and they’ll be for the finale to sort out, giving that climactic episode a more reasonable assignment. Killing off half the supporting cast certainly helps, too. But we’ll get to that.
Simon IS the Father
We begin with a flashback to three weeks earlier, a redo of the scene that opened Episode 5, with Dee Dee receiving her kill list from the Shining Truth. This time, though, we see things from Mother Adiona’s perspective. After Dee Dee leaves, she visits a very confused man named Nathan and warns him that he’s in danger and someone has been sent to kill him. Naturally, he thinks Adiona is nuts and ignores her, but we’ll return to the significance of this later.
Point being, Ash and Dee Dee are on a rampage, and now, thanks to having killed Elena in the previous episode, they have her phone. This is important, since Simon messages her after paying a guy named Randy ten grand for the DNA test results to tell her that he’s the father of all three of his children. Ash and Dee Dee start messaging him back, though, and the latter requests permission from the Shining Truth to add him to the kill list, so he evidently knows more than he should.
But they don’t message in the same tone as Elena would, which makes Simon suspicious. Lou is feeling the same way after receiving a similar message. They link up to share these worries, and Lou mentions she has asked her contact to ping Elena’s phone, since she deleted the tracking app. In the meantime, it’s a waiting game.
A Secret Rendezvous
Lou goes to Isaac and Ruby to report Elena missing, and they go to see Sebastian Thorpe. The timing is fortuitous, since he reveals there has been a development. Henry received a letter, which he opened, containing a note from a woman named Victoria suggesting a time and a place to meet – again. And, conveniently, the meeting is scheduled for that day.
The location is a bit more secretive, but easy enough to figure out. It’s the Lookout, a cafe in the park. There are two of them, problematically, so Isaac and Ruby split up to stake each out. Pretty quickly, Isaac identifies a waitress as Victoria.
And Victoria has some answers. She’s Henry’s birth mother. When she fell pregnant, she was a member of the Shining Truth. Henry’s father is Caspar Vartage, the One. After giving birth, though, she was told her child was stillborn. After leaving the cult, Henry tracked her down through an ancestry site, and she explained this to him. She also revealed it to the leaders at the Shining Haven, which must have been what tipped them off in the first place.
The Cost of Doing Business
It’s a good job Simon is a financier, or this plot wouldn’t work. Having already paid ten grand for the DNA results, he’s also on the hook with Rocco for £50K. And Rocco wants to meet him, since he claims to have discovered something about Paige. For some reason, Luther, who has been released on bail, also wants to meet and wants $10K of his own.
Simon and Cornelius get the £60K from Yvonne and prepare to meet Rocco. In more personal news, Simon also tells Yvonne about Paige being raped, and not only does she reveal that she already knew and helped her get private counselling, but she also reveals that Ingrid knew too. Simon was the only one being kept in the dark.
The Shining Truth’s Motives
Throughout Run Away Episode 7, Ash is becoming very disillusioned with Dee Dee and the cult, especially after the note he received from Ariona. When he shows Dee Dee this note, though, she explains everything. Here’s the gist:
The One is dying. In the Shining Haven, male blood is the purest, so when he passes, the Visitor and the Volunteer are due to take over and inherit the cult’s sizeable fortune of private donations and God-knows-what else. However, the One was sex mad and sired a bunch of illegitimate children with women in the compound. According to the cult’s own rules, all of those kids would have a claim on the inheritance, which would destroy the Shining Truth.
As a result, the One and his sons authorised the murder of all the bastard offspring, including, worryingly for Ariona, her own son, conceived with Vartage.
Bloodbath
“Sliding Doors” ends with chaos.
Simon’s assassination is approved by the Shining Truth, but first, Ash and Dee Dee decide to go after Aaron. This, of course, proves that they didn’t kill him, even though they intended to, which means someone else did. They discover this for themselves when they get to his flat and find it empty, crime scene tape on the ground, and his mattress covered in blood.
Luckily – for them – they spot Simon outside, heading with Cornelius to meet Rocco in the basement. So, they follow. Rocco isn’t a great negotiator, but in exchange for the cash, he’s willing to reveal that Paige got on a bus to Brackmere. He also points out that Luther shot Ingrid specifically – but why?
Before any more can be revealed, Luther himself arrives and spots Ash and Dee Dee, who are hiding nearby, planning to kill Simon. They shoot him and Rocco. Cornelius gets nicked in the arm, too. But when Simon tackles Dee Dee, Cornelius shoots Ash in the neck. Dee Dee, pretty earnestly devastated, cries over his body, giving Simon and Cornelius time to flee. They don’t get far, though, as Dee Dee pursues them through the estate. Simon lures her to one of the higher balconies, where she eventually shoots and corners him. However, just as she’s about to kill him, Mother Adiona appears out of nowhere and throws her from the top balcony to her death.
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