The Convenient Escape by Robert Downs

310 Pages
Publisher: Black Opal Books, Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members’ Titles
Release Date: November 12, 2016

Fiction, Mystery, Thriller

In Port City, Virginia, Veronica Baird was kidnapped by a masked man. She was kept in a dirt basement. When she got away, she ran through the woods. Pete Nealey has been drinking when he sees Veronica. He thinks he is dreaming. She helps him back to his house so she can get cleaned up. They continue running together while Anthony Whelan’s thugs track them and chase after them.

The story was steady, the characters were somewhat developed, and it was written in third person point of view. This was just an average mystery. None of the characters really stood out to me.

This was all too predictable for me. I got a little bit through, then skimmed to the end, and was correct in saying it was pretty predictable. Sorry, it just wasn't for me at all

I enjoyed this story with its’ realistic and flawed characters. The plot was good and kept me interested, and there was a good bit of action.
Many thanks to Black Opal Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

The convenient escape by Robert Downs.
To Veronica Baird, escaping from an underground dungeon and racing through the woods, is anything but convenient, even as her captor in rubber mask attire proves rather persistent in his continued pursuit. Despite her apparent independence, she considers a partnership, albeit reluctantly, with a former classmate who may still have feelings for her. Pete Nealey still has flashbacks to Iraq and, with the bottle as his eternal companion, tends to fall off of barstools at the most inopportune moments or pass out face down in the tavern parking lot. But what he may lack in cheerfulness, he more than makes up for with his steadfast loyalty to the cause, even when he ends up handcuffed to an air conditioner in a shoddy motel. But unless Veronica can learn to trust Pete for more than just intermittent intervals, the slipshod relationship, and her freedom, won’t last…
A good read with some good characters. I liked the story. 4*.

A mysterious girl and a drunk PI, but the girl has all the moves and kidnaps the PI. They went to the same High School in small town USA and the girl studied to become an accountant, which is where her life went wrong. So just whose accounts did she know too much about? And where has she stashed the incriminating evidence? Or has she? Not quite as original as the beginning would indicate. But some solid story telling.

Loved the action in the storyline, but the plot left something to be desired in my opinion

A good novel, well written just a bit predictable for me. I will read this author again as I liked the writing style, just wasn't too sympathetice to the heroine.

I did not like this at all. The beginning is just down right ridiculous and there's way too much detail. I found myself falling asleep each time I started reading this. I don't think that I'll be reading anything else by this author.

Let's take a minute and admire that cover! It's ultimately what drew me in to this novel. It gave off a creepy suspenseful vibe and that's my favorite.

It literally starts off how it looks on the cover. A girl running through the woods, barefoot. Running from her kidnapper.

This was probably my most enjoyable part of the whole book. the rest was a little too much. In a not so good way. Everything was done so predictable and "easy". the mc had everything at her fingertips and she did it all by herself. I was rolling my eyes more often than not.

I have so many questions, common sense questions. Why didn't she go to the police?! I understand that it's a story but read it and you'll see exactly what I mean. There are many plot holes here that could have otherwise been very interesting. For me it just wasn't.

My rating 2/5 stars

This book could have been executed much better, if the author just took the time to develop the one-dimensional characters a little bit more by telling us their backstories and life decisions that lead them to this point. We start off with with Veronica (our MC) running away from a kidnapper in the middle of the woods and abandoning her heels in order for speed, trying to do anything to escape. Coincidentally, she happens to stumble upon Peter, an old acquaintance from high school. From there she uses force on him, for his cooperation and provision of resources (cars, guns, etc.)

The title has it exactly right, everything was too convenient, too coincidental. As a reader, I knew exactly where this story was going since the first chapters (romantically, thrillery, etc.) Instead of playing it on the safe side of storytelling, Downs could have crafted a shocking twist or a legitimate inconvenience that would prevent it from being relatively easy for the characters.

Multiple things in this book I found to be unrealistic. The fact that Veronica was able to actually hold Peter hostage for such a long number of hours at first; I mean he's a soldier who served in Iraq. I'm pretty sure that he's made of tougher stuff than submission, so if he really wanted to leave, he easily could have.

Another thing, is how Anthony's character was portrayed. He literally goes around hiring secretaries and disposing of them for his disgusting sexual desires, and then uses them to go and seduce the people that he wants to kill. He was by far my least favorite character, the worst of the villians in this story, because he manipulated everyone and made it all seem like such a bore. I had a strong urge to skip all of the chapters with his POV, because every word was physically repulsive to me.

The most frustrating thing about this whole story, was that instead of Veronica going straight to the police station and disclosing all of the information that she knew about her bosses as well as describing the abduction that happened to her; she decides to take unnecessary risks and handle this alone in an unsafe environment to her and the public around her. Almost every decision that she made was completely irrational, and I just couldn't understand what was happening.

Lastly, I've read this book before. Not this exact book, but one where it goes like: employee finds some undesirable information about the people that she's working for, decides to take matters into her own incompetent hands, finds a partner/boyfriend who she comes to completely trusts, and goes on a mission to stomp out the bad guys herself. Excuse me, I think that there could be better way of creating a thriller, especially in a world endless with possibilities.

**Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.**

This book was a bit disjointed. It had promise, but I couldn't keep track of things. Past that, the plot feels familiar, really familiar. That's ok, that happens, but it can be irritating. I have many questions that aren't answered. Why was Veronica kidnapped? How did she get into the woods, and why? These glaring holes made me miserable when they were never answered. That drives me up walls in a bad way. ARggggghhh! Is she the worst ditzy blonde ever? How do escape and not get help from the authorities? Duh! Then, no thank you, R or X rated content. This doesn't even fit the genre.

No matter how many major holes I tried to ignore they just grew into gaping caverns and caused this book to fail to work for me. I'm so sorry, but that was my experience.

My copy came from Net Galley. I wasn't required to leave a positive review. My thoughts and opinions are my own.

Not bad but was missing loads out for example what's her background and how she ended up in the woods, I only read certain amount of pages but unfortunately I could no carry on because nothing made sense to me and it was all over the place.

I tried my best to read the whole book, it did not grab me.

This just wasn't for me. The plot is stock, the characters unappealing, and much of it is implausible. Good luck to Downs, who clearly has read widely in the action/thriller/suspense genre.

Have you ever dreamed of being chased? It doesn't matter by whom or what, it is the fear behind it that you are, and that you will try any way possible to get away.
This thriller, THE CONVENIENT ESCAPE by Robert Downs, will keep the reader up all night trying to come up with the best situation to a chase problem that will take the reader along with our main characters down a path of suspense and horror. Are things about to become a little more frightening? Page after thrilling page kept opening up new problems for our victims. Will Veronica Baird and Pete Nealey be able to see their way clear and get out of a sticky situation, or is time winding down for both? Have these two only hours, minutes, or seconds before disaster strikes?
Veronica, still trying to figure out why she was abducted, was also still trying to get away when she saw this man passed out on the sidewalk. Running for her life, and not knowing if her abductors were still after her, and she wasn't about to take any chances, offered to help the man up, who had been lying face down. Then suddenly she realized that he was Pete Nealey, from high school. Will he help her? If so, will both wind up in a deeper, scarier situation? A good problem solver. What will these two have to do to get away from the killers that are so close that Veronica, paralyzed with fear, could actually feel their cold breath on her neck, and see their brutal faces before her eyes. An amazing read!

I did not request this book, nor did I read it so I have no review.

Thanks so much to Robert Downs for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.
The opening scenes of this novel describe a young woman, Veronica, racing through the woods trying to escape a masked man who has been holding her hostage.
Next we meet Pete, an alcoholic who is suffering flashbacks from his time serving in the army in Iraq. Pete is drinking his life away and he doesn't seem to care.
As the two characters are thrown together they end up in a cat and mouse chase with the people who are out to kill Veronica.
My immediate thought on reading the book was why on earth would Veronica not just go to the police to report her captors? She has her reasons.
This novel offers some great characterisation. Both of the main characters are flawed and not particularly likeable. I considered this a brave writing style to adapt as the reader doesn't really root for Veronica's survival. We are gripped ,however as to her back story and why she has a “price on her head”!
This novel is easy to read and will definitely keep you guessing.

If you had just escaped from your kidnapper and needed someplace to go would you hook up with someone you loathed in high school all the while berating them? I wouldn't either.

The book wasn't bad but it wasn't great either. It was a typical crime thriller but what irritated me was the behavior of one of the main characters. Veronica Baird is an accountant who discovered some funny business at her firm and now she's wanted dead so their shenanigans don't get out. Honestly it seemed a bit too much like a recycled version of Grisham's The Firm.

Even though Baird is being hunted and has no detailed background in evasion / defense tactics she somehow keeps up this bitchy attitude that she can still control everything and get back at the bad guys. Even the other main character wonders at one point how someone with her background can have this delusional idea she's capable of fighting back, maybe even killing. You REALLY want to hate this character only a few chapters in because she just never gets likable and I found myself hoping the bad guys would off her.

After being kidnapped and escaping instead of going to the police like any sane person would do she decides to go on the run with an ex-boyfriend she happened to run into as she was literally running away from her captor. And the ex-boyfriend had been in the military. Talk about lucky. There's just a lot more that doesn't seem anywhere in the realm of plausibility or common sense. Like when one of the bad guys sends in his secretary, who has so far been described in extreme detail through many sexually charged scenes as only being good for blow jobs and other plastic surgery enhanced jobs, to act as an assassin to take out the military ex-boyfriend who has found himself trying to keep the irritating accountant alive. You can guess how that went.

At least it helped me pass the time and avoid talking to my mother-in=law so some good did come out of it.