Breakout

Author and screenwriter Paul Crilley has previously written fantasy and science fiction novels, as well as screenplays, which no doubt accounts for two key features of Breakout, his first thriller, penned under the pseudonym Paul Herron. The book's premise has a somewhat supernatural or science fiction aspect. There are only two reported occurrences of the Fujiwhata effect, in September 1933 and June 1959. And the tale unfolds very much like a fast-paced action film with a distinctly cinematic quality.

Jacks' story is related via his first-person narrative. He describes the night he was awakened by a noise. His pregnant wife, Amy, was not in bed and Jack soon discovered her body on the living room floor. He also explains the way he planned to avenge her death by identifying her killers and ambushing them. He only managed to kill only one of the three men. Now he's serving a ten-year sentence in the same prison, Ravenhill, where the other two, Marcus Tully and Luther Wright, are incarcerated. Jack survives prison by breaking the time down into manageable blocks. "That's the only way to survive," he explains. "You push on until you can't anymore. . . . You either push on or you check out." Especially when you have nothing to look forward to. Jack doesn't get visitors because his parents are dead, and he has no siblings or children. He doesn't care because, he says, "My life was over before I even got caught." He spends his days working in the maintenance shed with an elderly inmate named Henry, who knows how to fix everything, and going to the yard for lunch to feel the sun on his face. All of his days follow the same routine. He doesn't see himself as a murderer, even though he took a man's life, because "killing someone who killed your wife -- that's not murder. That's revenge. Justice."

Now Jack faces the biggest challenge of his life: staying alive when two hurricanes bear down on Ravenhill, a sprawling compound that has no chance of withstanding their power. Jack is resigned to dying on this night, recognizing that if he doesn't drown in the rising floodwater or perish when part of the building collapses on him, he will die at the hands of another inmate. Because the inmate population in every prison constitutes a society unto itself, with leaders, cliques, outcasts, and a code of conduct. And three types of inmates are prime targets, preyed on by other prisoners: child molesters, child killers, . . . and former cops.

Jack quickly comes face to face with Malcolm Kinkaid. The day Kinkaid, who was "the top of the criminal food chain in Miami," was acquitted, despite solid evidence linking him to a horrific crime, Jack crossed the line. Kinkaid was well-connected, with city officials "in his pocket." So Jack outlines the meticulous way he called in favors and framed Kincaid, rationalizing his actions as "getting justice, saving future lives." Now, four years later, it's Kincaid who wants revenge. And, naturally, he is still the boss in prison. Five obedient fellow inmates are ready to do his bidding.

Keira Sawyer reported for her first day of work, despite having to traverse flooding roads. As she passed lines of cars headed in the opposite direction -- safety -- she knew it was a mistake, but tells Martinez, the officer who shows her around the prison, that she didn't think she "had a choice. I mean, no one told me not to come in." She's slight -- five feet, six inches tall, weighing one hundred fifteen pounds -- and Martinez sarcastically predicts, "They're going to eat you alive." Sawyer is undeterred as Martinez walks her around the two square mile facility. There's an administrative hub, as well as seven cell blocks. Four house general population inmates in separate buildings connected by sally ports. Ravenhill also has a Transitional Care Unit, Mental Health Unit, and Administrative Control Unit (administrative segregation) in which the most violent criminals are housed. They remain in their cells twenty-three hours per day, and are allowed out only for one hour of exercise. They have no physical contact with staff. The information Sawyer gets during the tour about the layout of the prison soon proves invaluable.

With the hurricane bearing down on Ravenhill, Sawyer, Jack, and his cellmate, Felix, decide that their best chance of surviving is to make their way to the Glasshouse, the adjacent former military prison that hasn't housed inmates in thirty years. After all, it was going to be used to temporarily house evacuated inmates, so it must be safer than Ravenhill and able to withstand the hurricane. It's located on the highest ground in the area, shielded on one side by the bank of a hill. But they can't go outside to get there -- they will be ripped apart by the force of the wind and rain. And to get to it, they have to pass through all seven inmate housing units where all of the cell doors and sally ports were left unlocked when the staff (except Sawyer) fled, leaving the inmates on their own. Now chaos has broken out inside the prison. They can hear screaming and yelling as rival gangs and mentally ill inmates engage in warfare, using anything they can find as weapons while water continues pouring into Ravenhill. The sound of the hurricane is deafening, and the walls and floor shudder ominously.

The story unfolds at an all-out, unrelenting pace as the hours tick by and the trio encounter one dangerous situation after another in their quest to navigate the monstrous prison to the exit so that they can cross the grounds to Glasshouse in about five hours when the eye of the hurricane is forecast to pass over Ravenhill. They encounter violent gangs, most raced on face or ideology, including the one led by a deranged inmate called "Preacher" who has set up a mock courtroom in which he is passing judgment on his fellow inmates. And imposing lethal consequences when he decrees them unworthy of redemption. There are gladiator wars, and Kincaid and his henchmen are forcing inmates to play Russian roulette. He insists that Sawyer and Felix join the game. During the night, the inmates breach the armory, which only increases the tension and death toll, and Jack and his companions face the prospect of their imminent deaths numerous times.

Herron effectively portrays the brutal scene inside the prison, as inmates who cannot simply escape take out their pent-up anger and aggression on their fellow prisoners. The depictions are realistic and gory, with Herron sparing no detail in order to set the scene and make it believable. The prison is itself a vital character, crumbling piece by piece as the hurricane lashes it throughout the night while Jake, Sawyer, and Felix wade through flooded corridors in their quest to get to safety. Of course, Jack has an agenda. Once he knows that Tully and Wright are there, he is determined that they will not be alive in the morning, and his goal spurs him on.

Jack is a compelling, empathetic character. He was a police officer, then served his country honorably in the Middle East and returned to his law enforcement career. He was happily married to Amy and excited, if understandably nervous, about becoming a father. Amy and his unborn daughter were his whole world, and they were taken from him suddenly and savagely. He no longer cares about himself or his life. All he wants is for justice to be meted out to Amy's killers . . . and he wants to be the person to render it. But Jack has crossed the line into illegal and immoral behavior on at least two prior occasions, and continues to justify his behavior as being for the great good. Herron injects surprising plot twists and complications that elucidate the presumptions upon which Jack has based his course of action, forcing him to re-evaluate his decisions.

Sawyer is equally complex and fascinating. She appears naive and gullible, but is actually smart, tough, and rational, able to reason effectively with out-of-control inmates and keep Jack focused on what matters most as they fight to stay alive. Neither Jack nor Felix suspects that there is actually more than one reason she was so intent on reporting for duty, despite the hurricane. Nor will readers until Herron reveals the truth at an expertly-timed junction in the narrative.

Because Breakout is Herron's first thriller, and he so convincingly sets the scene and effectively compels the story forward, the lapses into somewhat stilted, repetitive dialogue can be overlooked. (It is highly unlikely that so many characters actually use the word "reckon" every time they ponder something aloud.)

Breakout is a highly entertaining, inventive, suspenseful adventure that will keep readers furiously turning the pages to see if Herron's characters make it out of Ravenhill. It is an impressive debut that will leave readers clamoring for more heart-pounding tales from the talented Herron, including, perhaps, a sequel.

Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book and Grand Central Publishing for a physical copy of the finished version.