The
Escape Artist by
Brad Meltzer once again proves he is the master of secrets.
His books always delve into the hidden stories of the characters
and governmental conspiracies. He has a knack for finding
out and then writing about interesting topics that are not
widely well-known, incorporating them into a thrilling story.
The book starts off with a bang when one of the passengers
jumps out of a plane without a parachute before it crashes
to the ground. It might have received little notice except
that one of the passengers was the Librarian of Congress and
a good friend of President Orson Wallace. A little tidbit,
this is the same President who appeared in Meltzer’s
previous series.
Following the crash Jim “Zig” Zigarowski, a very
skilled mortician at Dover Air Force Base is assigned to perform
his magic on the bodies of those who crashed. He has unique
reconstructive talents that have made it possible for families
to view the peaceful remains of their lost loved ones, allowing
them to make sure the fallen look the way people remember
them so that their families can have the proper closure they
need. Some bodies have missing limbs, so Zig must sculpt new
ones out of clay. If their faces are ripped apart by shrapnel
or burned beyond recognition, he does his magic with makeup.
It’s a job he does with love, and something he takes
very seriously.
One of the bodies from the plane crash is Nola Brown, a name
Zig recognizes immediately since she saved his daughter, Maggie’s
life and lost a portion of her ear in the process. A year
after Nola saved Maggie she ended up dying in a tragic accident
and Nola had a terrible childhood at the hands of sociopathic
foster parents. Zig’s sadness turns to surprise after
realizing the body in front of him had no ear damage making
Zig positive that it was not Nola. This sparks a personal
mission to find Nola. He is determined to discover who are
the remains he was working on, and unravel the mystery of
the mix-up. Through the investigation Zig uncovers that Nola
is the U.S. Army's artist-in-residence, a painter and trained
soldier who rushes into battle, making art from war's aftermath
and sharing observations about today's wars that would otherwise
go overlooked.
After finding her they work together uncovering a sinister
scheme called Operation Bluebook, based on the magician’s
Harry Houdini secret way of revealing fake fortune-tellers,
separating truth from lies. Zig and Nola must find who is
behind Bluebook before the conspirators can kill them. In
the course of the investigation, they realize that they have
a lot in common. It seems as though Zig and Nola are able
to restore everyone but themselves.
This riveting story is about handling grief, the feeling of
loss, and the ability to recover. But it also delves into
how secrets can be costly to one’s health.
Reviews
of other titles by Brad Meltzer
Tenth
Justice [book]
The Millionaires [book]
The
Zero Game [book]
[audio]
Inner Circle (Culper Ring #1) [book]
[audio]
The Fifth Assassin (Culper Ring #2) [book]
The President's Shadow (Culper Ring #3) [audio]
[book]
The House Of Secrets [book]
The President’s Shadow [book]
[audio]
The Escape Artist [audio]
2004
Author
of the Month
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