Escape: One killer. Five victims. Who will be next? (A Black Book Thriller 3)

Product Information

Harney and his partner, Carla, follow a lead to a remote house, only to find themselves caught in a deadly trap. Take it with you on vacation and enjoy it as you wait for his next book, which you know will be right around the corner.

Although the suspense and mysteries weren’t bad, there were some actions and outcomes that didn’t really make sense to me and hurt the plotting. I am late to the series, but quite a bit has happened to Billy in the first two entries, THE BLACK BOOK and THE RED BOOK.But there are more villains added to the mix as Billy juggles more cases and I wasn't into the rest of the story. After five teenage girls are abducted in Chicago, all eyes turn to CPD Detective Billy Harney to find them.

Chicago PD Detective Billy Harney was on the trail of a kidnapper, who as far as they knew, had a victim in the vehicle as they followed him. As Chicago PD’s special-ops leader, Detective Billy Harney knows well that money is not the only valuable currency. The narrative flow works well for this piece, which has moments of greatness and others that link two larger plot lines together. I enjoyed Billy Harney as a lead character, his side bar comic moments on the bar stage, and his hope for a potential romance. I was especially disappointed that so much unnecessary nasty language was used in this middle school story ~ I know middle schoolers hear and use profanity all the time but I see no reason for a popular author to encourage it!

Jericho Hooper is built up pretty big in the beginning but plays a smaller role than expected, and also comes across a bit stiff and one dimensional. I loved the super short chapters, the way all the moving pieces slowly came together, and the likeable hero of the story. No spoilers here, my friends, but it was an impactful and sad event that kicked the plot forward in a way that invested the reader emotionally into the outcome of the story.

It looks like the ending of this book sets up another book in the series and I for one will be picking it up. One key rule to reading Patterson is that you really have to suspend your sense of reality and disbelief to enjoy the adventure. While I have had some issues with James Patterson and his writing, he has certain collaborators who coax out some superior writing to which the popular author is attributed.

He’s mind candy – simple, fast-paced, detective and mystery-oriented adventures that can be read in about two to three days and easily left behind.