Through strange circumstaces, Brandon Vale a convicted theif, is "helped" to escape from prison. He is handed a cell phone and pushed thru a gate by a prison guard , then sees Daly whap himself in the head and fall to the ground. He considers trying to go back in but decides it's not a good idea when guards start shooting at him. As he trapses blindly through the woods the cell phone begins to vibrate. Upon answering, a disembodied voice tells him to head away from the prison and bear left. He finds a change of clothes and a car waiting for him. He follows the GPS to an old house and entering, he hollers "Honey I'm home!" A bueatiful woman, Catherine Juarez, walks out of the kitchen and tells him she's preparing dinner.

He escapes from her and her henchmen. He then hires a P.I. to try to figure out what is going on. When the name of the man who framed him for a bad jewelry heist pops up he decides to cut and run. Unfortunately, it's to late for that because they've found him.

The characters are quirky and real making them easily understood. The "hero", Brandon Vale is a theif convicted of stealing diamonds, a crime he actually did not commit, and is broken out of prison by the man who framed him. Richard Scanlon is a man married to his work with no wife, no kids, but after the death of Catherine's parents tries to help her and be a father figure to her. Catherine is bright and charming however slightly naive. Edwin Hamdi, Cheif Security Advisor to the President, is a published and well known PhD in Middle Eastrn Culture. He's also a nutcase with plans to "help" the world rid themselves of a huge "problem", Isreal.

I was really impressed with this book. I loved the enigmatic characters, the slighty geeky but charming hero and the naive, know-it-all heroine. I was, however, upset with the fact that while well-written, the plot leapt from completely believable to a Mr. and Mrs. Smith fantasy in the last few chapters. It did have a little bit of everything; a daring prison break, a 2 million dollar heist which was used to buy a dozen nuclear warheads that ended up in the hands of a fanatical terrorist group. It was definitely a wild ride, entertaining and fast-paced.

If your looking for a book with a little bit of everything and is hard to put down then you should definitely read this.

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Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1 edition (August 8, 2006)
ISBN: 031233575X
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