
Author: Paul Herron
Published by: Grand Central Publishing on Apr. 6, 2021
Genres: Mystery/Thriller
Pages: 304
Format: Hardcover
Source: Grand Central Publishing
Book Rating: 8/10
Ravenhill Correctional Institute, a notorious, maximum-security prison in Miami, Florida, home to the abandoned military prison, the Glasshouse.
Hurricane Anna: a superstorm made up of two Category 5 hurricanes coming together to wreak unprecedented havoc along the eastern seaboard.
When the superstorm hits, the correctional officers at Ravenhill flee, opening all the cell doors and leaving the inmates to fend for themselves as the floodwaters rise. But Jack Constantine, an ex-cop serving ten years for killing one of his wife’s murderers, isn’t going to just lay down and die. Not when his wife’s two remaining killers are among the prisoners relocated to the Glasshouse to ride out the storm.
Meanwhile, Kiera Sawyer, a Correctional Officer on her first day at work is the only officer left behind when the others flee. Sawyer rescues Jack and offers to team up. If they can make it to the Glasshouse they might just survive the hurricane. But that involves making their way through the prison, fighting off eight hundred blood-crazed inmates as the building fills with water and the wall crumble all around them.
Review:
Dark, propulsive, and gory!
Breakout is a fast-paced, gripping tale that takes you into the life of Jack Constantine, a former police officer who, after killing one of the three men responsible for murdering his wife and unborn child, has been incarcerated at the Ravenhill Correctional facility for the past three years, but when a hurricane threatens to destroy the compound, and all the guards except for one decide to flee, cells will be left unlocked, and the prisoners will be thrown in a savage, bloodthirsty race to not only survive mother nature but perhaps deadliest of all, themselves.
The writing is descriptive and gritty. The characters are feral, ruthless, cunning, and barbaric. And the plot keeps you on the edge of your seat as it immerses you into a malevolent tale full of twists, turns, mayhem, chaos, corruption, cruelty, violence, and murder.
Overall, Breakout is an adventurous, atmospheric, sometimes gruesome tale by Herron that could definitely be made into an excellent Fight Club/slasher-type movie, with my only complaint being I would have loved to have had a schematic of the prison and its surrounding grounds at the front of the book so that I could have easily visualized exactly where all the action was taking place.
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Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.