Grand Central Publishing, New York, Nov 2014
There are a lot of similarities between Lee Child’s Jack Reacher and David Baldacci’s John Puller. Both are military (or ex-military) – Reacher is an ex-MP and Puller is an active CID investigator. Both are tall, lean and mean. Both make women swoon. Both are brilliant at outwitting their adversaries. Both are fun to read.
And they are apparently fun to write, too, as both Child and Baldacci have produced a long series of novels featuring these heros. I probably favor the Reacher series overall as the plots tend to be more jaw-dropping, but Baldacci’s Puller plots are not far behind.
At the start of The Escape, Puller’s brother Bob is incarcerated in the max security military prison at Leavenworth KS, convicted two years earlier of espionage. Had it not been for that small blip in his career, Bobby might have been one of the youngest one-star generals ever, so fast was his star rising. John never really believed that his brother was guilty, but neither did he have any evidence to the contrary. He was pretty much resigned to having his older brother live out his days behind bars.
Until the night the lights went out. And the backup generator failed. And the prison doors, which were supposed to lock automatically at the loss of power instead popped open. And 132 soldiers had to respond to restore order.
All quite unexpected, but no harm done once everything was stabilized and the lights were back on. But then a corpse was found in Robert Puller’s cell. And it wasn’t Robert Puller – or anyone else that anyone could identify. Which was the second mystery. The first was: where was Robert Puller and how did he get out, totally undetected, from the most secure military prison in the US?
Who better to figure it out than Robert’s brother? Yes, he was qualified to investigate this escape and had the escapee not been his brother he might have been a logical choice. But why, in heaven’s name, would the military allow the escapee’s brother to be anywhere near the investigation? The explanation was pretty thin and I never really bought it, but it made for an interesting story.
So the rest of the book is devoted to answering questions. How did Robert Puller escape? Why did the backup generator fail? Was Puller wrongfully convicted? Was there a conspiracy afoot to kill him? If so, why?
The answer to “was there a conspiracy afoot to kill him” is “yes.” But I won’t spoil the fun. Suffice it to say that the conspiracy involves more than Robert Puller and he wasn’t the only one that the conspiracy was aiming to kill. But thanks to John Puller, all ended with most safe. Just a few more deaths along the way.
Anyway, it is a fun read though a bit implausible. If you like either John Puller or Jack Reacher you will like The Escape.
8 out of 10.