Format: Hardcover, 434 pages
Release Date: March 6, 2018
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Source: Library
Genre: Thrillers
Nola Brown, the U.S. Army's artist-in-residence--a painter and
trained soldier--sees something nobody was supposed to see and earns a
dangerous enemy in this novel as powerful as "a launched torpedo
slashing through 400 pages of deep water before reaching impact...one of
the best thrill rides ever" (David Baldacci).
Who is Nola Brown?
Nola is a mystery. Nola is trouble. And Nola is supposed to be dead.
Her
body was found on a plane that mysteriously fell from the sky as it
left a secret military base in the Alaskan wilderness. Her commanding
officer verifies she's dead. The US government confirms it. But Jim
"Zig" Zigarowski has just found out the truth: Nola is still alive. And
on the run.
Zig works at Dover Air Force Base, helping put to
rest the bodies of those who die on top-secret missions. Nola was a
childhood friend of Zig's daughter and someone who once saved his
daughter's life. So when Zig realizes Nola is still alive, he's
determined to find her. Yet as Zig digs into Nola's past, he learns that
trouble follows Nola everywhere she goes.
Together, Nola and Zig
will either reveal a sleight of hand being played at the highest levels
of power or die trying to uncover the US Army's most mysterious
secret--a centuries-old conspiracy that traces back through history to
the greatest escape artist of all: Harry Houdini.
Released in 2018, The Escape Artist is the first installment in author Brad Meltzer's Zig and Nola series. Jim "Zig" Zigarowski works at Dover Air Force Base. He's a civilian mortician for the US government. He handles the most top secret and high profile cases. Cases that include 9/11 terrorists, victims of the USS Cole terrorist attack, Space Shuttle Columbia astronauts, plus thousands of US soldiers, and CIA operatives who lost their lives in the line of duty in Afghanistan, Vietnam, Iraq, and every secret location in-between.
Zig is a master at what he does. Some call him a genius, because he can repair significant damage to a body, making it possible for families to view their loved one and not have any idea just how badly the body really looked. After a military plane crashes in the Alaskan wilderness with some important VIPs on board, Zig knows Dover will be getting the bodies. And while the victims include the head of the Library of Congress who is a friend of the current President, it's one particular victim that catches Zig's attention—Sergeant First Class Nola Brown. Nola knew Zig's daughter when they were younger, and saved her from a potentially life-threatening injury one night, but she disappeared shortly thereafter.
When the body is intercepted at Dover and the actual Nora emerges, Zig realizes that there is a significant mystery surrounding the plane crash and those on the passenger list, including three individuals whose names have ties to the famous Harry Houdini. Zig is determined to do right by Nola. So if Nola is alive, what happened to her? And why is everyone ready to believe she is dead? Zig can't stop from digging into the truth, especially when he finds a clue that Nola might have known what was happening that fateful day in Alaska.
But the more he investigates, the more he finds himself entangled in a web of conspiracy, crime, violence, and potential scandal, which can be traced back to some of the highest positions in the U.S. government. And the more he digs, the more danger he puts himself in, as well as those around him, because those looking for Nola are always one step ahead. The kicker of this story is that there is an Operation Bluebook, no, this has nothing to do with aliens, but goes back as far as Harry Houdini and his obsession with immortality.
Nola's story is mostly told in flashbacks that go to where she's being shuffled around to different foster families, and finds herself being sold to a man who treated her more of a slave, than a human being. One could say that her alleged father really did a number on her to the point where she doesn't trust anyone. She has an almost a photographic memory of what she's seen. Her job as Artist-In-Residence is to capture the essence of the American soldier and bring it to life. She's also apparently got a keen eye for things nobody else can see, which has saved dozens of American lives at the expense of being constantly harassed by her senior supervisors.
Meltzer is an author who I began reading his books around 20 years ago with The Tenth Justice. He has a way of writing a remarkably action packed story filled with curious characters. Zig is an older character which is remarkable. He's nearly my age. He's spent the past 10 years thinking about the day he not only lost his daughter, but how his actions may have contributed to what happened. Nola is a girl who wasn't given the nurture that she needed and was shocked when teachers saw her true talents in what she could draw. Since I liked this story, I requested the sequel called The Lightning Rod.
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