cover image The Escape

The Escape

David Baldacci. Grand Central, $28 (432p) ISBN 978-1-4555-2119-7

In bestseller Baldacci's clever third John Puller thriller (after 2012's The Forgotten), the chief warrant officer faces his most difficult and most personal assignment yet. Puller's older brother, Robert, a former major in the USAF, is a convicted traitor serving a life sentence in Leavenworth. A seemingly impossible chain of events ends with Robert escaping and a corpse left in his cell. A trio of high-placed officials, Army, Air Force, and National Security, go against normal protocol, and charge Puller with finding and arresting Robert. Puller has to figure out the identity of the dead man found in his brother's cell, as well as who enabled Robert to escape. To add to his problems, he's not sure he can trust the Army Intelligence agent assigned to work with him, Veronica Knox. The Puller brothers are in deep trouble, and it will take all their ingenuity and skills just to survive. Baldacci handles the complex plot with consummate ease as the Pullers navigate nearly endless surprises. (Nov.)