Run with the Hunted, Part 3
by Jennifer R. Donohue

Reviewed by Galen Strickland
Posted October 31, 2026

7. The Casino Job / 8. Neural Howlround / 9. Extraction Point

Buy The Casino Job from Bookshop or Amazon. Links are for paperbacks, but e-books are also available. A purchase through our links may earn us a commission.

I held off reading the first two titles here until the third was published. There has been a year gap between the last adventure and this one, both in-story and in the publication schedule. Dolly has been in Hong Kong, with her husband Butler, who does not like Bristol, especially when she comes to Hong Kong without notice, trying to recruit Dolly for another job. Bristol narrates again, and in spite of the number of times she has to repeat "It's not really a casino job," the job is inside a casino, just not related to the money in the casino's vaults. Their targets instead are numerous sculptures throughout the building, part of a art installation, not casino property. All of the statues are of endangered or extinct animals, and all are jewel-encrusted. As with the first of the trio's capers we read about, Bristol got word of the statues, and a potential buyer, from her friend Marquis, who I thought was in New York with them that time, maybe not. Now they are in Paris, where the small casino is. There are several other associates in on this job, holdovers from the previous story, one of whom knows a somewhat shady cop who can help detain the regular crew that moves the sculptures every night. The job goes smoothly, with only one statue left behind.

It is a relatively anti-climactic job, but some character interactions alter the dynamics, although it isn't clear how long the changes might last. One involves Bristol and their one-time nemesis, perhaps now an ally, Will Scarlet. The other is between Bristol and Dolly, who always seem to be antagonistic towards each other, although with Dolly's sarcastic attitude it is hard to tell exactly how she feels. Bristol is finally apprised of what went down in Morocco, when Dolly retrieved Will. No matter how many times Bristol thanks her and apologizes, Dolly just waves it off as "that's my job." It is hard to say which of the three is the brains of the operation, but Bristol usually acts as if she is the boss, with Dolly the muscle, and Bits in charge of security and infiltration, digitally speaking at least. One other thing; the sculptor is apparently pleased with the heist. He was already extremely wealthy, and the installation had been all about animals disappearing from the world..

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Buy Neural Howlround from Bookshop or Amazon. Links are for paperbacks, but e-books are also available. A purchase through our links may earn us a commission.

I'm confused about this title. I know what the word neural means, and it fits into all of these stories, even if only in conjunction with implants and VR tech Bits uses. The only result from a search of "Howlround" concerns a theater group at Emerson College in Boston. This adventure does not take place in Boston, or at least I don't think it even begins there. The team is in some beach town, no idea where, looking for clothes appropriate to wear to a wedding, when they get a call from the groom-to-be, Nicolai, who worked with them on jobs 2 and 6. His bride will be Suzette, who maintains Bristol's compound in Morocco when she is elsewhere, which is most of the time. Nicolai's call is not about the wedding though, but rather a request for help retrieving someone thought to be trapped in a cult, and the cult is supposedly controlled by a sentient AI program. Bits narrates this story. She knows as much about computer systems and supposed AI than anyone, and she is positive there has never been a true sentient AI, although she conceeds the posibility of such in the future. If it ever happens I suspect she will be the one to create it.

The cult is supposedly financed by a man with a yacht, and they travel in a random pattern. Bits also has another hacker friend she consults with frequently, sort of a pirate hacker, since they are usually at sea. They help pinpoint which yacht the cult is suspected to be on. Once Bits has that information she can hack into the yacht's digital signature, reading their navigation systems, and back-tracking their normal routes. Pandora's Box is traveling northwest from Sri Lanka, heading toward the Gulf of Suez and the canal, and according to their frequent itinerary their likely next port will be Naples, Italy. They fly there then go to the port, and another sort of serendipitous thing happens. They encounter a couple, they overhear something about the yacht, the lady's phone is on the fritz, and Bits helps her figure it out, cloning the phone at the same time. Sorting through the social media posts Bits is sure they're on the right track. Since it is a cult, it doesn't surprise them to be invited aboard as potential recruits. Long story short; it seems to be mostly a party yacht, but Bits goes seeking computer servers that would be hosting an AI program. It may be a cult, or it may be a rich guy trying to get other rich people to actually do some good works. Or not.

I hope to re-read these at some point, and if I didn't have so many other books on my TBR pile a re-read of this one is in order now. I must have missed something that would explain the abrupt change of pace toward the end. They have found the woman they were contracted to retrieve, and while she initially says she wants to stay on the yacht, other events convince her to reconsider. All four escape the yacht on a computer-controlled helicopter, heading for a hospital. I won't tell you the why and who about that situation, but it surprised the hell out of me, as did a somewhat similar situation in the next story..

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Buy Extraction Point from Bookshop or Amazon. E-books only for now, but it should be available in paperback soon, and probably a hardcover omnibus with the above two stories at some point. A purchase through our links may earn us a commission.

Other than stories in various online or print venues, Jen Donohue self-publishes her work. Each of these novellas have been released on a yearly schedule, every October 31, Extraction Point dropping today. That means I'm caught up until next year. I assume the in-story gap is a year again, since I expected a follow-up to the last story's ending, but no, the person injured then has recovered. The next job they accept is to retrieve an object, a medical device, which has been stolen from the Chinese inventor. Intel says it will be transported by a person or persons unknown on a train from Chongqing to Duisberg, Germany. No such train is operating now, but remember this is several decades into our future. They start out again in Hong Kong, where Dolly still lives with her husband, then fly to Chongqing to board the train departing the next day. Dolly narrates this time, but Bits is as much a part of the planning as either of the others, since her programs can spot most electrical devices, even those not internet connected. They only know the device they seek is to be a medical implant. It didn't occur to them the person transporting it would have already had it implanted in their own body.

Imagine this a bit like Murder on the Orient Express, minus the murder, mixed with Firefly's "The Message" storyline. Once again someone known to one of the trio is involved, which makes things extra taught and perilous, since they need to retrieve the device, but they all agree killing is off the table. Things get even more perilous when Dolly has to go outside the moving train to get to where they are sure bombs have been placed, while Bits frantically tries to disable them remotely. My heart almost stopped when I thought one of the team came to the end of their days, which I figured would be the end of the series. Maybe, maybe not. But the device is retrieved, so I guess someone's bank account is bigger now. Several of their jobs have been relatively tame, others very dangerous. The first diamond caper set them up to the point they didn't really have to keep accepting other jobs, so it must be the adrenaline rush propelling them forward. It won't matter to me if the next story is less intense, or even more intense, I will read it, and also hope to read anything else Donohue publishes.

Related links:
Go back to the beginning with Run with the Hunted, Part 1, the first 3 novellas
Then continue with Part 2, novellas 4-6

 

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