Great story lines, with some interesting curves and the ending is a perfect setup for another installment of this character. The ending was also set up like there might be a book 4 in the future so will definitely keep an eye out for that. Multiple plotlines ran parallel until most of them connected in interesting ways and surprising ways; although there was some convoluted and far from realistic situations happening.

I have been a big fan of James Patterson for perhaps thirty years having read over a hundred novels but have been disappointed with the nasty language in the more recent stories.The big kicker is that the mystery was well thought out, had multiple layers, and even more important (for those of us who confidently feel that we can figure out the guilty party before he/she is revealed), the outcome was surprising and extremely well-delivered! Now, in 2022, Patterson and Ellis have brought back Harney for a third thriller, changing the book type title lingo to “Escape” and setting up Detective Harney’s hunt for a child kidnapper. As Chicago PD’s special-ops leader, Detective Billy Harney knows well that money is not the only valuable currency. He has twenty-year-old advanced mathematics prodigy, Mason Tracy, that takes care of his books and keeps everything under the IRS thresholds for investigation.

Their arrival at the abandoned farm house began a chain of events, including the death of Carla, that kept Billy forging forward, determined to find the kidnapper and cop killer. Escape” starts off with Harney and his partner tailing a potential kidnapper of a teenage girl, and ends in a devastating outcome that surprisingly caught me off guard. Among his creations are some of the world's most popular series including Alex Cross, the Women's Murder Club, Michael Bennett and the Private novels. This was my first James Patterson book with co-author David Ellis —not realizing it was Book 3 of a Billy Harney series. It appears that the mom has found out horrible things about her husband, enough to drive her to leave and divorce him.Harney’s sordid past and willingness to bend the rules help grease the wheels to ensure that nothing will keep CPD from catching the accused, once they are identified.

The narrative flow works well for this piece, which has moments of greatness and others that link two larger plot lines together. Full of sarcasm and great narrative flow, Patterson and Ellis provide readers with a great deal of entertainment throughout the reading experience. He has written many other number one bestsellers including collaborations with President Bill Clinton and Dolly Parton, stand-alone thrillers and non-fiction.

I loved the super short chapters, the way all the moving pieces slowly came together, and the likeable hero of the story. 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!