This book had an interesting and complicated plot but the writing was often confusing and, in my opinion did not flow. The ending was exciting but to read 270 slow pages before it grabs you is not worth the time. I have read 5 other novels by this author that I really enjoyed. This one is definitely the weakest.

I read this book in 1994 and in the database I keep for the books I read, I listed "Escape the Night" as excellent. I loved the young "rich boy" who faces his fears and becomes a man in this suspenseful mystery. It is also a love story or rather several different kinds of love story and the bad guy is really bad. It's "not too heavy, not too light" and I enjoyed it. Hope you do, too.

This is my first Patterson book and overall I find it to be a very well-written, if complex, and stylish thriller. The novel opens in the early 1950's and we meet the Carey family, impossibly hard-hearted father John; brothers Charles and Phillip; the self-centered, somewhat demented Allie; and the charming little boy, Peter, who grows up to be the focal point of the novel. The first section has a lot of information in it, and though sometimes hard to digest or keep the many plot mechanizations in context, it sets a very sad and lethal plot for the remainder of the book.
Grown up Peter, having amnesia after the accident that claims his parents' lives, now must face the sale of his father's company and fend off some mysterious and deadly pursuers.
What makes this book work so well is Patterson's handling of the psyche of Peter, and the difficult time he has trusting people. Several key characters are introduced including his girlfriend, Noelle; the crazed killer Martin; two psychiatrists, one a longtime friend of his father; and Ruth Levy, the mistress of his deceased father and also the sister of his psychiatrist.
The plot thickens, secrets are hidden and revealed, and the novel ends in a blazing finish that is more than satisfactory.
Not by any means a brilliant classic, "Escape the Night" is a well-written study in suspense and terror.
RECOMMENDED.

I never received this book from the used book dealer so I can't rate it or write a review of it.Please remove it from my sharedpurchases. Thank you.

If their was a "0" rating, I would give it.

This early novel by Patterson is far inferior to his later works, but I think it stands on its own in kind of a predatory or sadistic way. The whole concept of hostages being negotiated and aired as a t.v. special is all too frighteningly real, considering the nation's obsession with so-called reality television. But the premise is intriguing, and the story has some tense and riveting scenes. My main complaint is that within the novel, John Damone tells Stacy that "the man I hired killed him. Lord just brought it up again.." So i figured Stacy was in on it, but obviously she wasn't. This little confusing issue kind of squelched my overall enthusiasm for the novel, but even then Patterson was writing awesomely, giving us a glimpse of what he's come to do best---trial novels!
RECOMMENDED.