The Escape Artist

I read the entire book, just waiting for an explanation of why the plane crashed. Who was behind it? Why did they do it? No answers. It was like the entire series of Lost.There was minimal character development and the "aha" moment of who was helping Houdini was simply gratuitous. Sure, the book moved along at a good pace but there was no story arc. It felt like the publisher forgot to include the first two chapters or the last two chapters. This book came highly recommended but I cannot recommend it.

This is the most poorly written novel that I have read in several years. Brad Meltzer’s writing style is sophomoric at best. His character development is weak. After reading two-thirds of the book, I have a tough time visually picturing the main characters...actually any of the characters in the book.The story line is overly simplistic, yet often relies on impossible outcomes. Houdini gets shot in the esophagus, yet somehow gets away? Wouldn't the bullet severe the spinal cord on the way out? Caesar gets shot by a gun pressed to the back of his head and somehow miraculously not only later crawls to his office, but is able to later speak to Zig and look him in the eyes. A bullet from a gun placed at the back of his head would expand and take his eyes and face with it as it exited the front. The storyline is predicated on unrealistic outcomes and undermines the veracity of the tale.I found it difficult to continue reading because I was constantly questioning the premise of the storyline.Unfortunately, this book is so poorly written that after a month of picking it up and reading a chapter or two I just couldn’t finish it. Hard to believe that this is a #1 best selling author? Give me DeMille, Sanford, Silva, Connolly, Kellerman (not Faye), Childs, Lescroart, Burke, Grisham...need I continue?

Besides the totally implausible story lines (you can't jump from a crashing plane to save yourself - and surely, neighbors/teachers/somebody would have noticed a small child suddenly living with a deranged derelict), the rest of this book can be summarized as follows: killing, fighting, stabbing, shooting, punching, explosions, vomit, car crashes, fart jokes, blood, dropped guns skittering across the floor, more killing. And everybody has a cliché nickname. I thought I was lost in an action movie geared for 16-year-old boys.

I gave it two simply because there actually WERE a couple of paragraphs that sounded rather profound. Otherwise this is the kind of story you would have expected to be written in the 1930's or 40'sas the screenplay for a really bad B-Movie. The kind that would be part of a Saturday matinee double-feature, at best. More likely it would never leave the Drive-In theater Double Feature night.It is simply embarrassingly awful!

I thought there was a nice surprise at the end of this book so I kept on reading. Nope!This is the only Brad Meltzer book I didn’t really understood’ I had no idea what the story line was. No idea what the relevance of Houdini and Blue Book. I finished the book not understanding what the whole story was! And that is so weird! Wasted money on this book!!!

This is definitely a page turner! I couldn't stop reading, every moment I could spare! A mortician working for the military on our fallen heroes pours his heart and soul to his work. He comes across a soldier who was vitally important in his daughter's younger years. But wait a minute...is it her?!?Brad Meltzer always finds a way to make characters critical to his stories deep and rich enough to make you feel you know them. The way Nola was unfolded, one layer at a time, masterful! Allowing you to absorb one major development at a time.

This, for me, was an unusual book. A page-turner, to be sure, but not the cookie-cutter brand of thriller novels I’m used to enjoying.For starters, the two protagonists in the plot are anything but the kind of heroes I’m used to seeing. One, a mortician who keeps bees on the side, is a 50+ year old sad man with a killer sense of humour. The second is a tough-as-nails young girl who has seen more than her share of the ugly side of life.As the tale of greed and graft progresses, we get to see the girl’s backstory; about how she got to be the person she is.All of it - the plot and subplot - is engaging and provocative. I heard a hard time putting this book down.

There is more than one escape artist in the novel. Life is an art and death is the final escape. The two main characters are artists literally and escape death after many escapades. Using Dover Air Force Base mortuary as a backdrop bringing facts into fiction is brilliant. It was a fast read for mystery novel buffs.

Excellent read. True to Meltzers other books. Fantastic dialogue and keeps you waiting until the very end for the answer.

Not one of Brad Meltzer's best - interesting but not great. The plot was good, the true facts were well-researched & interesting, but somehow it just didn't "hang together" well. The main characters weren't developed as well as they could have been, and therefore didn't engender any attachment to them by the reader. I ended up feeling at the end like, "That's all there is?"

Mix in the magic of morticians, a few Houdini history references, Dover Air Force Base and a high-level government cover-up, a US Army “artist in residence” who is also a lethal assassin and you have the perfect recipe for a Brad Meltzer mystery. Fans will enjoy the way Meltzer moves the story quickly from one tense incident to the next while he unveils government bad guys getting busted by the good guys. Lots of twists and turns and though it’s occasionally a bit of a stretch, it’s fun and fast reading.

Mr Metzler thanked a lot of people who spent their valuable time helping him “create” this book. My thoughts go out to them. Surely, by now, they must know that their efforts were in vain and I truely feel sorry for them. This is one the worst books I’ve read in the last few years. Poor character development and a terrible storyline. I read up to 65% of the book before finally giving up. And no, I don’t want to know how it ends. i just read the other reviews: It’s not worth it.

Author is fantastic, read all his books and comics but this one fails to deliver a compeling story.Predictable from beggining to end.