RUN HIDE REPEAT

“For years I was warned that writing about my family would be dangerous for me and for those I loved; that exposing our bizarre story would bring all hell raining down upon us and put lives at risk. That's a chance I'm now willing to take.”

Twice when she was growing up Pauline Dakin and her family disappeared, quietly slipping away from all that makes up a life—friends, extended family, schools, jobs—without any goodbyes. Both times they moved thousands of kilometres away to start again. It wasn't until she was a young adult that Pauline learned what was behind the strange, secretive behaviour. Her mother finally revealed they were on the run from the mafia, and that they were receiving help and protection from a covert government-based anti-organized crime task force.
When her mother eventually decided to go into protective custody in a secret location, Pauline agreed that she too would make a final disappearance to a safer place. But before this could happen she made a horrifying discovery.
Complete with hit-men, body doubles, and undercover agents, RUN, HIDE, REPEAT is a memoir about a childhood steeped in unexplained fear and bizarre behaviour. It's also the story of Pauline's discovery that the years of running were based on a spectacular and complex hoax, manufactured by those she trusted the most.

Like Mary Karr's The Liar's Club or Jeanette Walls' The Glass Castle, RUN, HIDE, REPEAT explores coming to terms with a lost childhood, and betrayal by those most loved and trusted. Ultimately, RUN, HIDE, REPEAT follows a profound path of personal discovery—one that is paved with the redemptive powers of love and forgiveness.