The 2022 novel Run, Rose, Run is the product of a collaboration between award-winning thriller writer James Patterson and country music superstar Dolly Parton. The New York Times bestseller, which features details from Parton’s long career in country music, follows a promising country music star who is on the run from her past. In conjunction with the book, Parton released an album with the same title, and New York Times writer Alexandra Alter reported how Little Brown publishing house boasted about the project’s “commercial prospects” (Alter, Alexandra. “Dolly Parton and James Patterson Are Working 9 to 5 on a New Novel.” The New York Times, August 11, 2021). Reviews were generally positive; while some reviewers found the plot unbelievably sensational, they unanimously enjoyed the details about the country music scene. Zoe Hodges at Maverick wrote that she found the plot captivating and appreciated how Patterson’s gift for suspense and Parton’s penchant for storytelling combine to compellingly portray the characters and the story (Hodges, Zoe. “Book review: ‘Run, Rose, Run’ by Dolly Parton and James Patterson.” Maverick, March 1, 2022). As of this guide’s writing, Reese Witherspoon is set to adapt the novel into a screenplay.

This guide uses the Penguin Books Kindle Edition.

Content Warning: The guide references passages from Run, Rose, Run that describe sexual assault, abuse, and exploitation.

Plot Summary

Aspiring country singer AnnieLee Keyes is 25 and has been composing music ever since she can remember. She hitchhikes away from a past she can’t bear to face and heads to Nashville, Tennessee, where she sleeps in the park, busks on the street, and begs for gigs at honky-tonks. At the Cat’s Paw saloon, ex-military musician Ethan Blake sees her and insists that his jaded superstar boss, Ruthanna Ryder, take notice. Ruthanna, whom AnnieLee idolizes, hasn’t sung publicly since her daughter Sophia’s tragic death from an overdose.

With Ruthanna and Ethan’s help, AnnieLee soon gets a solid manager and even signs with prestigious record label ACD. Outmaneuvering the corporate music industry’s attempts to turn her into a bland, commercial star, she keeps her faded-jeans-and-secondhand-boots appeal. She rents a cottage and earns acclaim through appearances such as opening for popular country star Kip Hart. When men from AnnieLee’s past pursue her, trying to attack her at every turn, Ethan does his best to protect her. Feelings develop between the two, but they don’t act on their attraction, as they’re both too tied up with the events of their pasts.

AnnieLee is such a hit that she scores a 12-city tour. Ethan drives her van, helps her fend off seemingly anonymous aggressors, and even sings with her after a threatening message—with a picture of a knife lying across her old bed—leaves her nearly unable to sing. After their duet, AnnieLee invites Ethan into her hotel room for a drink. There, Ethan confesses that he was accused of strangling his beloved ex-wife and served six months in jail until he was acquitted at trial. He notes how those around him never looked at him the same way again. He expects openness in return from AnnieLee, but she considers her secret so bad that Ethan would never look at her the same way again. She does, however, tell him that she’s from Caster County, Arkansas, and that her stepfather, Clayton, beat her and her younger half-sisters.

They arrive in Las Vegas, where AnnieLee is set to perform with Ruthanna, who has finally agreed to sing in public again. However, a man from AnnieLee’s past apprehends her in her hotel room, and she’s so terrified of him that she jumps off the balcony. Miraculously, she’s unharmed. However, when the police seek to question her, she flees from the hospital and hitchhikes back to Caster County, Arkansas, vowing to kill the man from her past once and for all. Unfortunately, she stumbles at the last hurdle, and a man named Wade tries to attack her and takes her unconscious body to the house of her ex-lover Gus Hobbs.

Meanwhile, Ethan borrows a truck and goes to Arkansas in search of AnnieLee. A waitress reveals that AnnieLee’s real name is Rose McCord and that she disappeared with a boyfriend a few years ago. She directs Ethan to Clayton’s house. With the assistance of AnnieLee’s teenage half-sister, Ethan learns of her ex-boyfriend Gus Hobbs and goes to his house to find her. There, he beats Hobbs unconscious and rescues AnnieLee, whom Hobbs has handcuffed and gagged.

At the police station, AnnieLee tells her story to a female officer and Ethan. She ran off with Hobbs at age 20 to escape her stepfather’s beatings. Hobbs was initially charming but eventually became controlling and, to punish AnnieLee for disobedience, sold her to a trafficker named D, who set her up in a house with three other women. The narrative implies that D hired them out for sex work. While D was passed out drunk, AnnieLee escaped and headed to Nashville.

Nine months later, D is on the way to jail, while AnnieLee, who now uses her real name, Rose, is performing with Ruthanna and engaged to Ethan. Ruthanna is delighted for AnnieLee—and excited about her new relationship with their manager, Jack Holm.