Harlan Coben’s Run Away Recap ‘Breaking Point’: Secrets, and More Secrets

Run Away Episode 3

Before Simon left the hospital to go on another day of searching for Paige, he asked Ingrid’s sister Yvonne for some reassurance that this was what Ingrid would have wanted him to do, instead of hanging around her hospital bed waiting for her to wake up. Yvonne gave it to him, but as we learned that Ingrid reached a breaking point with Paige after she stole some of her jewelry, I wonder — Would she really have wanted her husband to do all that for Paige? Granted, she was all in on trying to find Paige after Aaron’s murder, but it was also looking like Ingrid, like the rest of Simon’s family except for Anya (so far) had secrets that she kept from Simon. 

Ingrid keeping secrets was becoming clear through two avenues: CCTV footage, and her friend Jay who was pretty terrible at lying to the police. Though there was no footage of Ingrid returning to the hospital after she left on the night Aaron was killed, the police checked the staff key cards, and isolated a 60-minute window when Ingrid was not in the hospital.

Was she at the Mexican street food place called Busy Burrito where hospital staff frequently gathered? She went there to place an order for the staff, but rather than wait for the food, she asked for it to be delivered, then went out through the back door. Why? When the police reviewed the footage, they saw a man follow Ingrid as she walked out of the restaurant. Was that Jay? 

Episode Three rather quickly solved a mystery from the last episode, on what Sam and Yvonne were up to. Sam admitted that Paige came to see him after that incident with Simon beating up Aaron on video. She stayed with him for four days. When a string from her guitar broke, Sam went to get it fixed, and came back to his dorm room that had been stripped of valuables, including his laptop. Paige stole from other students at the dorm as well. Sam told everyone he accidentally left the door open, and offered to pay back the damages. That was what those eight thousand dollars were for. He told Yvonne what happened, and Yvonne apologised to Simon for not telling him immediately.

Sam was forced to confess because Elena traced the email Paige sent Henry from his university. Elena worked for Henry’s father, but when Simon introduced her to his children and sister in law, he made it seem like she was looking for Paige. She did make a helpful suggestion, when she told Simon about the memorial that Aaron’s family had prepared. She suggested that Simon go there in case Paige showed up.

Simon’s meeting with Aaron’s father Wiley was tense as expected, but when he followed Aaron’s stepmother Enid, who drove away from the inn after getting a phone call, he got more information. Aaron’s father claimed he met Aaron’s mother Bruna in Italy, but Wiley had never even had a passport until they married. Why Enid told Simon this (Simon reminding him of her first husband who was good in bed could not have been the reason… Or could it?), it was not clear. Simon confronted Wiley, who told him he had it all wrong. Aaron and Paige did not meet at the university. Paige came to the inn; she pursued Aaron. Simon relayed this information to Elena, then realised that he had seen a trailer in the Corval property. He went to check it out, and found Paige’s Lanford jacket inside. 

Whilst Simon tried to get information from the Corvals, Elena went to check out Tattoos While U Wait. She found the police already there, with two bodies. One, the target of the hit, was Damien Gorsch. The kid, Robin Bailey, was collateral damage, as Elena explained to DS Talbot after she used her past connection as a police officer to get inside the investigation. Elena showed the flyer to Damien’s devastated husband, who identified the handwriting as Damien’s.

So far we have the following clues:

🪷Paige went to Aaron’s parents’ property; that was how they met. They eventually ended up living together.

🪷Paige gave Henry the address to her and Aaron’s flat. She later rescinded the invitation and told him not to come.

🪷Damien gave Henry a flyer of his tattoo parlour and his phone number.

🪷Aaron and Damien were both dead. Henry and Paige were missing. 

🪷Aaron’s stepmother cast doubt on Aaron’s origin by telling Simon Aaron’s father could not have met his mother (who supposedly later died) in Italy.

🪷Elena found Discovered Ancestry in Damien’s browser history. 

🪷Henry was adopted, as his father told Elena.

Isn’t puzzling over mysteries fun? Something connected these four young people. And, since at least one of them was killed by Ash and Dee, they were connected to these two killers as well.

Ash and Dee did have a childhood connection, they were orphans in the same foster homes, until they were separated, apparently because Dee kept getting Ash into trouble. The Mrs. O’Hara Dee insisted they visit at the end of the episode could be a past foster mother. Let’s stick a pin on this for now.

So far, Elena has not gotten wind yet of the assassins, or their first victim. She was still doing whatever it was she was doing with Maria (who had Lou’s photo?). Elena broke into Maria’s house on a night she knew Maria would be out with her daughter, and did these little things to make sure Maria would figure out someone had been in. She drank from an orange juice container in the refrigerator. She rearranged a couple of books in the colour coordinated bookshelf. She spritzed some perfume. Maria almost caught her inside, and later, Maria saw her in the CCTV footage. 

This was a packed and well-paced episode, and outside of a couple of scenes that felt a little off, it mostly flowed smoothly, laying out the clues without overwhelming the viewer. We are at a stage when we have more questions than answers, and I am very comfortable with that. 

Rating: B+

Strays

🪷Did we really need to see that Elena met her future husband in a police operation, then a minute later got shot in the arse? Maybe not, but I didn’t find it too distracting, and the transition to her visiting his grave was done well. 

🪷DS Fagbenle was nice to exactly one person, and that was his partner and lover Ruby.

Episode Title: Breaking Point

Episode Writer: Amanda Duke

Episode Director: Nimer Rashed

Original Release Date: January 1, 2026

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