Hachette Book Group is a leading book publisher based in New York and a division of Hachette Livre, the third-largest publisher in the world. Hard-working and honest to a fault, he cannot be bought but is willing to circumvent procedures and policies that he believes would prevent justice from being administered. ESCAPE meets all the James Patterson tests --- clear, sharp writing; an entertaining plot; and 121 chapters in 400 pages.

I enjoyed Billy Harney as a lead character, his side bar comic moments on the bar stage, and his hope for a potential romance. It was a detective story of Billy Harney, who survives a shooting with his girlfriend and partner while investigating corrupt government officials and police officers in Chicago. With the loss of his partner fuelling him, Harney strengthens his resolve to find her killer - and to make sure the body count ends there. The big kicker is that the mystery was well thought out, had multiple layers, and even more important (for those of us who confidently feel that we can figure out the guilty party before he/she is revealed), the outcome was surprising and extremely well-delivered!It looks like the ending of this book sets up another book in the series and I for one will be picking it up. After five teenage girls are abducted in Chicago, all eyes turn to CPD Detective Billy Harney to find them. Following a few key leads, Harney and his partner travel to a rural home, where they hope to find the girls and solve the case with little issue. As Chicago’s special-ops leader Detective Billy Harney knows well, money is not the only valuable currency.

Now, in 2022, Patterson and Ellis have brought back Harney for a third thriller, changing the book type title lingo to “Escape” and setting up Detective Harney’s hunt for a child kidnapper. This was my first James Patterson book with co-author David Ellis —not realizing it was Book 3 of a Billy Harney series. Ellis, who served as legal counsel to the Illinois legislature, garnered public attention for leading the impeachment proceedings against former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich.

Though started (and continued almost till the middle of book) like a juggler juggling too many balls, managed to salvage the position and handled things much better towards the end. This was one of his best books (along with the list of his many co-authors) that I had read in a long time.

Even when things appear to be clear-cut, there’s a twist and the story reaches a tense climax, with Harney in the middle. Billy Harney is a new addition to my roster of Favorite Detectives in Literature and book 3 did not disappoint.The cast of villains includes a sadistic sexual predator and an evil billionaire who believes his money makes him invulnerable to the criminal justice system. Harney’s sordid past and willingness to bend the rules help grease the wheels to ensure that nothing will keep CPD from catching the accused, once they are identified.