Genre: Thriller
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Wow! Brad Meltzer captured me with this one, and I hated to turn that last page. As always, his characterization is so strong that the reader feels an instant connection. In The Escape Artist, Meltzer offers up two protagonists with backstories that clarify most of their actions. They are both so complicated that peeling back their layers made for one great read.
Nola Brown is an artist. She has spent several years as an artist-in-residence with the military, affording her the ability to go where she pleases and draw what she chooses as long as she also does the assignments that she is given. Could be a nice life, but there is no nice life for Nola. The flashbacks show us a childhood of terror and a little girl who uses torture to grow stronger.
A military plane crashes, and Nola is dead...or is she?
Jim "Zig" Zigarowski, an artist in his own right, rebuilds the dead so their families can have closure. He works in Dover, Delaware, helping to put to rest those who died during top secret missions. When the bodies from the recent crash arrive, and he sees the name Nola Brown, he remembers that she was the member of his daughter’s (Maggie) scout troop and saved Maggie from injury years ago. Zig quickly realizes that the body is not Nola’s, and so the story begins to build.
Meltzer’s historical additions to his thrillers are always a bonus, and this one was especially interesting to me. He references Houdini and his magic and tells the reader how it relates to our government today. The entanglement of politics and magic kept me turning pages well into the night, as the story built to an exciting climax.
Meltzer is a masterful storyteller who really hits the mark with this one. Although I usually want to see a sequel to the books I enjoy, he did such a good job winding it up that I think I would prefer not seeing these characters again. I am having too much fun imagining what they are up to as time goes on and can’t wait to meet the next cast of characters that come from Meltzer’s creative mind.
-Beverly
Publisher - Grand Central Publishing
Date of Publication - March 6, 2018
Nola Brown is an artist. She has spent several years as an artist-in-residence with the military, affording her the ability to go where she pleases and draw what she chooses as long as she also does the assignments that she is given. Could be a nice life, but there is no nice life for Nola. The flashbacks show us a childhood of terror and a little girl who uses torture to grow stronger.
A military plane crashes, and Nola is dead...or is she?
Jim "Zig" Zigarowski, an artist in his own right, rebuilds the dead so their families can have closure. He works in Dover, Delaware, helping to put to rest those who died during top secret missions. When the bodies from the recent crash arrive, and he sees the name Nola Brown, he remembers that she was the member of his daughter’s (Maggie) scout troop and saved Maggie from injury years ago. Zig quickly realizes that the body is not Nola’s, and so the story begins to build.
Meltzer’s historical additions to his thrillers are always a bonus, and this one was especially interesting to me. He references Houdini and his magic and tells the reader how it relates to our government today. The entanglement of politics and magic kept me turning pages well into the night, as the story built to an exciting climax.
Meltzer is a masterful storyteller who really hits the mark with this one. Although I usually want to see a sequel to the books I enjoy, he did such a good job winding it up that I think I would prefer not seeing these characters again. I am having too much fun imagining what they are up to as time goes on and can’t wait to meet the next cast of characters that come from Meltzer’s creative mind.
-Beverly
Publisher - Grand Central Publishing
Date of Publication - March 6, 2018
