First off, Candice Fox needs to do more research on the penal system. While her book was entertaining, she did not seem terribly familiar with how the system works – or took some wild author’s license with it. Either way, it did get a bit off course at times.

That aside, the story was entertaining – good escapism. It was a fun read with lots of twists and different characters. Fox wove the activities of a number of the escapees into the story, even though they did not further the story in any noticeable way. They did break up the primary focus of the book which actually contributed to the overall enjoyability.

The narrators were a mixed bag. Lisa Negron provided the narration for all the female sections of the book, David Duffries for the male. Duffries did a great job. He brought each of the characters to life – including the women who were part of the male sections. Negron was flat. She was not able to carry off the different characters, read in three word phrases and never injected any emotion. I would not recommend her for narrating anything.

Overall, it is a good read. I would recommend it, though I think the book would be better than the audiobook due to Negron.

After reading the description of this, I was a little hesitant because it's not the typical type of thriller I choose to read and enjoy. However, a prison break sounded intriguing so I decided to give this a try. This had a lot of promise and could have taken so many turns to make this more interesting, in my opinion. I felt like this really fell flat for me in a lot of ways, the main being that there wasn't a single likable character so there was no one to root for. In order for this book to really work and resonate with me, I felt that it should have made John Kradle so much more likable so that we had a reason to root for him and his innocence. However, this was not the case, so it made it difficult for me to really become interested in any of the storylines. There were parts that were quite exciting and I thought they would really rope me back into the story but that simply wasn't the case. The characters were just not compelling or likable enough for me to give this more than 3 stars. I did enjoy the ending and felt like it tied things up pretty nicely.
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for sending me an ARC of The Chase in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first audiobook! The narrators were awesome! I love the differentiation between characters/ voices. I adore this author and this one was no exception. A chilling story sure to turn your heart to ice and send it racing simultaneously. Full of suspense and gripping terror! A great read/listen that should shoot to the top of your list.

Thrilling!!! An innocent man on death row takes the opportunity to escape during a prison break. His mission - to find the true killer of his wife and son. He forms an unlikely alliance with one of the prison guards who eventually believes and trusts him. This one will keep you on the edge of your seat.! Excellent narration by David de Vries and Lisa Negron.
Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for this advanced review copy. In return, I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

The Chase starts off with a bang! A bus loaded with the spouses and children of the prison guards is approaching the remote desert prison. The families are there, as they are the same time every year, to attend an annual event between the prison guards and the inmates.

The action in this crime-thriller story explodes right from the start! A short way from the prison a sniper shoots at the bus and blows out a tire. The bus lurches and the bus driver is mortally wounded. The adults and children on the bus begin to panic not knowing what is happening.

Meanwhile in the prison, the prison staff and guards seem woefully unprepared for what is about to happen as the prison is ordered, by an unknown person, to open its gates and release every single prisoner. And to ensure the instructions are followed, the lives of the families on the bus are threatened.

The immediate result is all the prisoners, numbering more than six-hundred, are released, en masse, out into the desert. The main backstory of The Chase focuses heavily on the character of John Kradle. John has continued to maintain his innocence regarding the deaths of his wife and child. Kradle is determined to use the prison break as his opportunity to prove his innocence.

I thoroughly enjoyed the gripping story/stories in this exciting action-thriller novel.

The Chase by Candice Fox. Thank you NetGalley for the chance to listen to and review an advance copy.
The premise for this novel; a mass break out of a prison in Nevada is an interesting one. We follow several inmates on their violent trip around Vegas. The book is entertaining, but one of those you probably won't quite remember a little while from now.
My biggest complaint is with the two female protagonists - is that really Candice Fox's idea of strong women? Why do they have to be so one dimensional and unlikeable?
2.5 stars rounded up, because I was entertained.

I received this book free from the publisher Macmillan audio through netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

Celine Osbourne is at work when all hell breaks loose, guards open the gates and allow all the prisoners to go free, even those on death row where Celine works. Now she is on a mission to get them back. Her main priority is John Kradle the convicted family annihilator who Celine has targeted from day one. Kradle may not be priority for the people in charge but he is for Celine. However while working with an ex-con she discovers that she is starting to believe in Johns innocence. Her past has been haunting her and clouding her vision but she is unsure if she can put her experiences aside and give him the benefit of the doubt.

This is a fast paced thriller by one of my favorite authors. I have loved pretty much everything I've read by Candice Fox and this is no exception. Celine is not the most likable of characters holding grudges, fighting with her superiors but there is something about her that keeps people working with her. Maybe its her determination, she is actually good at her job but Kradle is her weakness. John Kradle is very sympathetic which give the book some balance.

The prison break itself is unique and the story keeps things moving. However you don't just follow John Kradle's journey as he tries to find the person who really killed his family, you also learn about many of the other escaped prisoners. Some more likable than others. Some just downright scary. When Celine starts working with the Federal Marshalls to help track down the people who arranged the escape and determine what their plan is she still is focused on John Kradle. The head of the team investigating, Trinity doesn't have time for Celine and her side focus and is a no nonsense badass woman. Together they just may be able to solve this and catch Kradle.

The narrator is very enjoyable to listen to and keeps you engaged.

Full of action. Deep characters with intriguing back-stories. What's not to love?

The main story is the escape of an entire prison population in the desert of Nevada, but that is just the backdrop for the story of one of the most notorious inmates, John Kradle, who takes this opportunity to try to prove his innocence. Juxtaposed to this is the story of Celine Osbourne, the Death Row Supervisor, who is now hunting Kradle down. She has her own demons and personal reasons for wanting Kradle back behind bars.

A manhunt for 600 dangerous criminals promises non-stop action and really delivers, but what I was not expecting is that this is a very character-driven novel. Even in the midst of all that action, or maybe especially in the midst of it, I really needed people to root for. I needed to care about their plight and I did.

This is the first book I've read by Candice Fox, but I'm definitely going back and reading some more of hers. Unconditional 5 stars!

The Escape

Danger, suspense, thrilling and totally engrossing, this book delivers. I think my headphones were glued to my ears. This was definitely an exciting story.

The story handles the escape of prisoners and follows the ones on death row and how they react upon their escape from the prison. It mostly follows John Kradle a man convicted of killing his family. One prison guard Celine Osbourne especially has it in for John Kradle because of events in her past. Although he professes his guilt she refuses to believe him.

Celine along with the help of a con man minimum security inmate called Keeps pursue John relentlessly. That is until Celine figures out that maybe John Kradle is telling the truth and she has helped him with information which could cause another murder. Can she stop it from happening? Is John Kradle innocent or guilty?

Meanwhile the group that caused the Jailbreak is causing havoc in other areas as are the other escaped death row inmates. Will the town ever feel safe again and how much blood will be spilled in the Nevada desert?

This was a good book, it addressed the inmates personal lives and why some of them were murderers, how they thought and the deadly events they would put in place to ensure their freedom.

It will be thrilling and sad, it will make you think about the correction system. How secure are the prisons and how corrupt some of the officers. How many of the prisoners are innocent? How many are psychopathic murderers and extremely dangerous.

I enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend it.

Thanks to Candice Fox for writing a thrilling story and a great job narrating it. Thanks to MacMillan Audio for publishing it and for NetGalley for making it available for me to read.

After the correction officers at Pronghorn Correctional Facility are forced to release over 600 prisoners or risk watching their families die, US Marshal Trinity Parker organizes a massive manhunt to recapture the convicts, with help from Celine Osborne, the only Death Row supervisor who refused to negotiate--because her entire family died years ago. Even though there are far more dangerous convicts on the loose, Celine's sights are set on one man: John Kradle, convicted for killing his wife, her sister, and his son. But John insists he's innocent, and he's using the prison break as his one chance to clear his name and find the one truly responsible.

The Chase is a taut thriller with tightrope-like tension between Celine and Kradle as they each doggedly pursue their self-imposed missions. None of the twists were shocking, but like most great thrillers the story is more about seeing the characters getting wedged into a corner and wondering who will survive. The characters are vivid, each one standing out clearly and well fleshed-out.

Be warned this book has numerous POV's (at least 10), including chapters written from the perspectives of other escaped convicts and random characters who interact with those convicts. But the main story is told through Celine's and John Kradle's voices. The many POV chapters give the book a cinematic feel, reminding me of the TV series Prison Break, but it may be bit confusing for some readers and this rather lengthy novel could've been more concise if those chapters had been cut, with the outcomes reported by other characters. I prefer it as written, though, and it didn't take long to adjust to the POV changes.

Overall, this was a nail-biting and enjoyable read. Thank you to the author, Bantam, and Netgalley for the chance to read and review.

What a great crime thriller! This book was engrossing from the first pages. Every situation in the story was thrilling. There was no downtime, no extraneous scenes, no filler, no stupid dialogue, no meaningless romance. This was a winner all around.
The premise of the story was fascinating and the characters were all well-developed. I hope this is the first in a new series. The final pages of the novel elude to it. I will definitely read the next installment.
I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys crime drama and thrillers.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this audiobook.

While I am still listening I must say that this book had me from the frosty page. And the performance is among the best of any audiobook I have listened to.

I’d give this one a 3.5 stars. It’s an adventure wrapped up in a prison break. And it’s not just any prison break, but o e of the magnitude that it is way to out there to be realistic… at least I would hope. You get perspectives from all those involved. Prisoners. Guards. Families. Guilty and innocent. It was entertaining but not so believable. Thanks to NetGalley for the advance read.

The Chase is the first stand alone novel I've read by the author Candice Fox. She collaborates with James Patterson but this one is written solely by the author.

It did not disappoint. I love the whole story. Kept me engaged from start to finish. The characters are likable. Yes, even the prisoners and those on death row. They all have distinct personalities that you can both like and hate.

The story is about a prison break wherein there is not just one but all prisoners broke out of the facility at once. It is very interesting because this is the kind of situation you wouldn't want happening in real life. How would people react? How will law enforcement catch all of them back?

As for the narrator, Lisa Negrón, she brought the characters to life. I love her Georgia accent and how she managed to shift from different accents. I also enjoyed listening to the audiobook because there are two narrators - a female voice and a male voice. This is always a big thing for me with audiobooks. And I know these are not cheap to produces but if you are doing something do it right the first time. If you have two gender points of view I would appreciate two narrators as well. It is tough for a male narrator to do a female voice without me cringing at the sound of it.

Once the audiobook is published, I'll get a copy from Audible. I liked it that much. It is a story I will listen to again in the future.

Thank you Macmillan Audio, NetGalley, and author Candice Fox for giving me advanced access to the audiobook that allowed to write this review. All opinions are voluntary and my own.

What a book! I enjoyed the narrators, my favorite audiobooks are when there is multiple, so having two was great. The storyline was intense! I didn't want to stop the book because it was so intense! I also enjoyed that there was more than one twist. I love twisty books.

It was with visions of a 1990s-era Nicolas Cage in a soiled tank top and glorious mullet that I started Candice Fox’s latest thriller, The Chase. Her story of the country’s most violent criminals escaping a maximum security prison in Nevada gave me such nostalgic “Con Air” vibes that it was hard to resist.

The Chase starts with a bang as elaborately-planned chaos results in 600 inmates fleeing their cells to run for freedom. But as the prisoners scatter, so does the story. Through the chase to hunt them all down, readers follow a warden, a death-row supervisor, a con man, a skin head, a serial killer, a falsely-accused murderer, and several other nefarious types.

Had the plot and character list been a little tighter, I would have enjoyed it more. Still, The Chase is a book that begs to be bought in an airport bookstore and binged in one flight. It’s a bit of a mindless read that’ll take your mind off your own worries, and sometimes that’s all that’s required.

This is my first Candice Fox novel, and I listened to it on audio. There are two narrators - one male and one female - and I’m not sure dual narration was necessary in this case. Because there are so many characters being followed, having just two voices was more of a distraction than anything. That’s a small quibble though, so if audiobooks are your preferred format and you’re in the mood for an adrenaline thriller, see if you can chase this one down.

(Oh, and if The Chase ever gets made into a movie, I sure hope the producers have Nicolas Cage's number on speed dial.)

3.5 stars

I received the audio version of this book. This was labeled as a thriller.

I will say that I was hooked initially. Right up until the breakout. For me, it was weird that the officers from the prison were the ones working the case. I also thought the hatred of John Kradle by the Death Row supervisor was really weird too. She just didn't like the guy, no reason was given So there was no way to gauge its validity. Then there was a 70 yr old man who escaped now running around, literally, killing everyone he meets. The narrators made the story even more funny and strange with their cadence throughout. For me, this was a no go. It ended up being too jumbled and odd. I didn't enjoy the characters, the narration, the story was totally unbelievable to feel "thrilled".

On to the next!

The promise of a baseball game in the hot Nevada desert sun ends in terror for the family members of the Pronghorn Correctional Facility guards. Taking matters into their own hands, the guards concede to the demands made and release 650 of the world’s most violent human beings.

For death row inmate John Kradle, this is his chance to prove that he did not murder his wife, his sister-in-law, and his son 26 years before. Will John be able to find the truth before his inevitable recapture? With Death Row Supervisor Celine Osbourne breathing down his neck, will her hatred for Kradle fuel her determination?

Having received the audio version of The Chase for review, I am truly glad that I chose the format. The book really comes to life under the dual narration, giving even the sluggish portions of the novel a bit of a lift. The repetitive nature of the plot is expected, as it would not be easy to chase down 650 inmates. Had I read the book instead of listening to it, I would have taken off a star.

As far as the plot goes, I wish that the author had chosen to focus on John Kradle and Celine's reasons for hating him, instead of adding a whole other major plot line to the mix. This muddies the plot and takes away from the story.

Overall, I enjoyed listening to The Chase and would recommend the audio format to other readers.

Disclaimer: I was given an Advanced Audio Copy of The Chase by NetGalley and the publisher, Macmillan Audio. The decision to review this book was entirely my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ALC in exchange for an honest review.

The Chase... what can I even say? This audiobook left me completely breathless! I loved every minute of this. This is the kind of book with so many twists and turns and surprises that you don't even see anything coming, and nothing makes sense until the bitter end. I was inventing chores to buy myself extra time to listen to this, and I flew through it. From the very first word, this book held my attention in a tight grip - it was all I could think about until I finished it. I LOVED IT!

The Chase (Audiobook)
by Candice Fox
The audible reader has a lot of variation of voice that brings a life the story. He has great character voices and shows a lot of emotion and variation between his narrator and the characters in the book.

The book starts as a jail brake out, but shows a lot of the human nature not only of the criminals, but of the people not only whom they hurt, or the victims that they make in their process. The humanistic look at the prisoners for their emotional motivations of their crimes. The human bias of the police may have caused some innocent prisoners to be sent to jail. The book looks at each step of the investigation, and how politics, crime, and personal problems bring influence of the investigation. The chase is finding not only the person organizing the jail break, and the actions of the white power organization. The need to capture the prisoners, and the investigation of their prior crimes. The personal vendetta, of a guard and her past causing some of the motivation of the search for the prisoners. Its very exciting with many heart racing thriller.