Glenn Haggerty

This was certainly a action book geared for middle school to teen readers. It deals with peer pressure and how a young boy finds his way to do the right thing. I'm sure all of us have been pressured at some point in life to do something we knew was wrong. What happens to Tyler when he gets involved with the wrong kid? There is always that one boy or girl who everyone thinks is cool. They want to hang out with them even though they are headed for trouble.

The story finds Tyler and Dustin first doing something on school campus that brings out the police and other emergency personnel. I was hoping that Tyler would learn his lesson, but no he decides to follow Dustin again into something much more dangerous. The adventure is intense and there are a few scenes in the book that I found the descriptions to be a bit too graphic and some of the story was over the top and hard to believe. The author does have a good story concept and a great lesson about telling the truth and doing the right thing. It did feel like the author abruptly stopped the story and left readers wandering what happened. It didn't seem to be a finished story and there were lots of holes that needed to be explained.

I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion.… (meer)

A novella-sized prologue to Glenn Haggerty’s Intense series, “Escape” fulfilled some criteria of the genre while falling short in others. For the most part, the writing was what I would expect for the target audience (age 10 and up), although some descriptions and situations might be too frightening for the younger end of the spectrum. Bullying and pandering to the “cool” kids was a leading theme that will make this book relatable to kids and teens, and there was a Christian element, illustrated by Tyler’s thoughts and short prayers. This was definitely an exciting story, with many elements thrown in to capture the reader’s attention and keep them turning pages. It was an implausible scenario, but overall it worked for a middle-grade story. The ending, however, was quite abrupt. Prior to that point, there were so many details included about Tyler’s situation and how it was playing out minute-by-minute, and then suddenly it was over. I thought at first that he had been dreaming. I did find the scene with the rebreather fascinating, as I have never heard of such a device and thought that it was an interesting addition. Had the level of detail and explanation been maintained through the ending rather than rushing into a finale that interrupted the coherency of the narrative, this story would have rated four stars instead of three.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through CelebrateLit and was not required to post a favorable review. All opinions are my own.… (meer)