Running on Empty

A contemporary young adult thriller novel, Colette Ballard’s Running on Empty (2013) follows River Daniels, whose life in rural Texas is upended when becoming the victim of a brutal attack, she takes measures to protect herself. River is from the bad side of town, and her boyfriend is a prominent part of their small community—she has no faith that anyone will believe what happened. When River confides in her friends that she needs to leave town, they decide to go with her, leaving their own painful lives behind, too.

The novel opens like a makeshift Cinderella story—17-year-old River Daniels, a poor girl from the wrong side of the tracks in rural Texas, finds herself in a relationship with the high school quarterback. River never imagined she would be popular, never mind romantically involved with the son of a powerful local businessman. After a childhood in the trailer park, it feels surreal and wonderful to River to be involved not only with her rich boyfriend, but also to experience some of the comforts of his family's wealth.

Soon, however, River finds her relationship more hazardous than romantic. Her boyfriend proves to be jealous, controlling, and abusive. He sometimes resorts to violence—a truth which no one believes because of his background. After River refuses to have sex with him one too many times, her boyfriend decides to take matters into his own hands to get what he wants. He attacks her, and though he is a burly man, River is scrappy and fights back. In the brawl, River's boyfriend falls to the ground. She realizes that she has accidentally killed him.



Panicked and unsure what to do, River immediately calls her best friends, Billie Joe and Kat. Both girls know about the cycles of abuse River had to endure, and they trust her recollection of events. River tells them that she is going to leave town to avoid trouble. She knows as well as Billie Joe and Kat that no one will believe a poor girl from a trailer park who accuses a rich, white quarterback of rape.

To her surprise, Billie Joe and Kat decide to flee with River. Both girls, struggling with their own grief and desire, have long wanted to escape the claustrophobic confines of their small town. All three girls have acted as family to each other in moments when their own biological families left something to be desired, and they see this as a way to keep loving and supporting each other, away from the madness of life in rural Texas.

The police soon discover the body of River's boyfriend and immediately suspect River. The girls evade authorities and arrest warrants for several months, though life in hiding isn't as glamorous as they anticipated. Soon, the relationship between the girls becomes strained, as the stress and exhaustion of running take over.



Finally, in a last-ditch attempt to clear her name, River realizes that she has only one choice. She must prove that she was acting in self-defense. River also knows that her boyfriend's death has caused problems for someone else back home—Justice, a local boy whom River loves, and who has been framed for the murder in her absence. Returning home means facing the possibility of life in prison, but River knows that her current life isn't sustainable, even with the support of Billie Joe and Kat. Conveniently, River and the girls meet up with Charlie, a kind, older man who happens to have the right connections to make a case for River, and to clear both her name and Justice's.

Colette Ballard is the author of the Running on Empty series. She grew up in rural Kentucky, moving around the country before settling down in her hometown with her husband and three children. She has written two books, Running on Empty and Temporary High (2016), the sequel to her first novel.