4.5 Stars rounded up to 5

CW: brutal murders, references to heinous crimes committed by criminals such as rape, terrorism, murder of family among others.

Well I am finally writing this review after spending 3 days outside in the freezing cold watching netball!

I had an absolute blast reading this fast paced and fun book! It was a dramatic, high-stakes prison break story with the worst of the worst terrorising the poor unsuspecting public. I had to laugh a few times because there were some totally ridiculous situations in there, however I loved the book all the more for them. The female main characters were fantabulous (go away red line, it's a word!). They had a gutsy take-no-prisoner approach to their jobs... ( )

The creative plot of The Chase begins with an astonishing and successful scheme to break out every prisoner from the (fictional) Pronghorn Correctional Facility in the Nevada Desert. 653 inmates in all were set free. Right away, some 291 were rounded up on the roads to Las Vegas, Utah, or Arizona, but the most dangerous were still at large.

Trinity Parker, a US Marshal, is spearheading the team effort to contain the damage and re-arrest the escapees. The team quickly ascertains there had to be someone inside helping orchestrate the escape plan, and they were able to narrow down the culprit pretty quickly. But that didn’t help get the inmates back inside.

Celine Osbourne, who is the supervisor of death row, is determined to get her charges back, because the thought of what these dangerous men might do when back out in the world terrifies her. She is especially obsessed with recapturing John Kradle, sentenced to death for the murder of his family. Celine is focused on him because when she was 17, all the other members of her family were killed at a Christmas gathering by her grandfather. In her mind she has equated Kradle with her grandfather, and harbors a keen hatred for him.

In alternate chapters we follow what is happening with several of the escapees, including not only Kradle, but the truly frightening serial killer Homer Carrington; Abdul Hamsi, a failed terrorist; and Burke David Schmitz, a neo-Nazi white nationalist killer. Most of the men who got out were interested in either stealing money and making new lives, getting revenge, or finishing the crimes they were prevented from carrying out before they were incarcerated. But Kradle was determined to prove his innocence and find out who killed his family and why it happened. He starts calling Celine to enlist her in the effort. Celine in turn asks for the help of Walter Keeper, called Keeps, a con man who doesn’t hesitate to add Celine to his victims.

In a tension-filled denouement, we find out the truth about all of the characters and about their guilt or innocence.

Evaluation: Candice Fox excels in writing tense thrillers with nuanced characters, in which it is never clear who may or may not survive. This makes for very entertaining reading. ( )

The hunters and the hunted, the friend and the foe, all are running for their lives.

“The Chase” starts with an event that citizens who live near the Pronghorn Correctional Facility constantly fear – a prison break, and this one is worse than they could ever imagine. Inmates in every cellblock rush toward the front gates; it is a mass evacuation, a sea of denim flooding out into the unsuspecting and unfathomably big world where even the air tastes different. The chase is on.

The hunters:
• Warden Grace Slanter: warden. She struggles to maintain order, determined to bring the prisoners back, to save face, and to save her job. She needs to find out which inmates knew about the plan, who organized it, and the identity of the inside connection.
• US Marshal Service major case director, Trinity Parker Trinity: She knew she might be witnessing the greatest failure of privatized incarceration in history.
• Death row supervisor, Captain Celine Osbourne: She knows who is truly dangerous, who is the biggest threat of all. She knows where to look, and she gets some help from an unexpected source.

The hunted, the convicts, the escapees:
• Abdul Hamsi: He is an ISIS terrorist who walked into the Las Vegas Flamingo and deposited a bag of explosives right at the edge of the blackjack area. He will have a good lawyer and will claim responsibility for everything whether he did it or not.
• John Kradle: He slaughtered his family, killed the people he loved most.
• Homer Carrington: He is “The North Nevada Strangler,” a serial killer with confirmed kills in several states.
• Burke David Schmitz: A white nationalist neo-Nazi terrorist, he is responsible for fifteen deaths and eighteen injuries.
• Anthony Reiter: He crushed a woman’s skull against a concrete step after a few too many cheap tequilas.
Some let no one stand in their way to “freedom,” and there is one who lets nothing stand in his mission to prove his innocence. The narrative follows them all, the things they do, starting with the escape and continuing as they fan out across Nevada and into the unsuspecting world. Readers get to know them well -- the hunters and the hunted; the friend and the foe; the good, the bad, and those who cross between categories changing identities like a chameleon. All are running for their lives.
I received a review copy of “The Chase” from Candice Fox, Forge Books and Macmillan Publishing. “The Chase” is now available in print, e-book, and as an audiobook from independent bookstores, online booksellers, retail stores, public libraries and everywhere books are sold. ( )

Celine has been forced into a situation she never thought she would be in. All of the dangerous prisoners have been released due to a unique blackmail situation. But, the only one Celine is interested in catching is Kradle. It is very personal for her and she is going to capture him if it is the last thing she ever does.

Talk about a unique story with some very strange happenings. I don’t know how the author thought up this scenario AND pulled it off convincingly through out this novel…but she did! This is my first Candice Fox novel. And I am on the hunt for her others. How I have missed her I do not know. This is about to be remedied and quickly!

The narrators, Lisa Negron and David de Vries did an ok job. I absolutely hated Celine’s voice. It was way too harsh, in my opinion. But, that was just a minor annoyance. The story itself moved along quickly and is pretty intense. So, this is what kept me listening to this one. Not necessarily the narrators.

Need a good thriller for a car ride…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today!

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review. ( )

600 criminals are released after the staff at Pronghorn Correctional Facility are threatened. They are ordered to release all the criminals, or harm will come to the staff's families. The largest manhunt in history begins, and one death row escapee, John Kradle, decides to use the opportunity to prove his innocence and get justice from the person that put him in prison. Celine, who worked as a death row supervisor with a particular obsession with Kradle, goes after him, intent on bringing him back in. We shift POVs from Celine, Kradle, and Trinity - the US Marshall tasked with recovering the criminals back to Pronghorn.

I overall enjoyed this story, but there were times where it would just not hold my attention. I would realize that I had been listening but hadn't really been taking any of the story in. However I did really enjoy the ending.

This was a 3.5 star listen for me.

Thank you Macmillan audio for giving me an "advanced" review copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. I'm a little late with the review, but hopefully not too late! ( )