85. Escape

Escape. K.R. Alexander. 2022. 240 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: Escape your troubles! Escape to adventure! It was the same tagline Cody had read a hundred times. But he still felt a thrill every time he read it. ESCAPE wasn't just a theme park. It was an Event. A Happening. It promised everything a kid could want, and more. Want to cast magical spells in cutting-edge VR? Done. Fly among dragons and dinosaurs on a real live hang glider? No problem. Eat all the junk food you can stomach and stay up until four in the morning? Go for it. ESCAPE was built to cater to dreams. Whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted it--the moment you stepped foot within the park's door, it was yours. And the best part? No. Adults. Allowed.

Premise/plot: A new theme park, ESCAPE, will be opening soon. And the tickets are quite exclusive--just a hundred tickets. Unless you are somebody who is SOMEBODY. The first seventy invites go to celebrities. But the last thirty tickets, well, anyone can enter the drawing. It will be completely random. But will Cody, our hero, be one of those thirty???? (Of course, or this would be a very, very, very short book). But will Cody want to escape from ESCAPE? 

My thoughts: I thought this was a good action-packed mystery-thriller. Cody and his new (celebrity) friends will have to work as a team if they hope to survive what is supposed to be the greatest week of their lives. The focus is on the many aspects of the theme park--all the attractions, all the themed sections. There's a good bit of characterization of those three characters--Cody, Inga, and Jayson. The other 90 plus kids not so much. But I wouldn't expect there to be. This is Hunger Games + Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. 

I liked it for the most part. It is definitely a premise-driven, plot-driven thriller. But I think it is entertaining.

 

© 2022 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews