Escape Clause by James O. Born

From the Publisher

FDLE agent Bill Tasker's boss is worried about the stress Tasker's been under, but he has a solution. The governor wants somebody from the outside to take a look into an inmate homicide at Manatee Correctional Prison, and the boss figures he can do the state a favor and give Tasker a break at the same time. Some break. Turns out there's a whole lot going on at Manatee. The prison captain likes to enforce discipline by fairly unorthodox methods. The psych ward has been known to misplace a mental patient occasionally. A trustee named Luther has far more on his mind than working in the prison library-though the rods holding up the shelves do make very nice shivs. The prison inspector is carrying a number of very uninspector-like secrets. And something very bad is about to happen to Tasker's next-door neighbor.

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, after all.

Publishers Weekly

In Born's occasionally flat but mostly rewarding third crime thriller to feature Bill Tasker, the dogged, genial Florida Department of Law Enforcement agent looks into the murder of Rick Dewalt, a privileged inmate at the Manatee Correctional Prison in rural Gladesville, Fla. Tasker is nearing burnout after a couple of intricate, dangerous cases (presumably those chronicled in the first two novels in the series, Walking Money and Shock Wave), and after shooting a bank robber while off-duty (this shocking scene opens the book and is one of its best). The correctional officers at Manatee guard their turf with predictable jealousy, but it becomes apparent that Dewalt's murder is part of some much larger scheme. Tasker finds himself both hunter and hunted as he delves deeper. Born is good at characterization, notably the refreshingly modest Tasker, and the story line is reasonably plausible, but some awkward plotting and extraneous detail suggest Born is still learning his craft while retaining his "day job" as a special agent in the FDLE. (Feb.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Authenticity and authority are not issues that Born (Shock Wave) has to worry about with his mystery series featuring Bill Tasker. Like his lead character, Born is a special agent with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. His background, which includes time with the DEA and the U.S. Marshals Service, helps him add a high level of intimacy to this third police procedural revolving around Tasker. This time, Tasker has been assigned to investigate the death of a prominent inmate at a state prison on the outskirts of the Florida Everglades. It sounds like a simple case, but things are quickly complicated as the lines of authority at the prison prove to be as murky as the surrounding Florida swampland. Tasker learns that some of the people outside the prison bars are just as dangerous as those on the inside. With Born's knowledge of police procedures and his talent for drawing genuine characters, including the refreshingly humble protagonist, Born has planted the seeds for a long-lasting and promising series of crime fiction. Recommended for most fiction collections.-Ken Bolton, Cornell Univ. Lib., Ithaca, NY Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Returning for his third (Shock Wave, 2005, etc.), Bill Tasker is positioned as usual: under a cloud. While foiling a bank heist, the Florida state cop has gunned down the would-be perp. It's a righteous shoot, but because Bill Tasker keeps attracting the notice of influential people who live quiet lives, he finds himself reassigned to the boonies, investigating a murder no one seems much interested in solving. The site is Florida's Manatee Corrections Institute, the victim a young miscreant named Rick Dewalt, the usual suspects numbering around a thousand. Go through the motions, says his immediate boss, the one authority figure who has remained stubbornly well-disposed, and think of it as a semi-vacation. Going through the motions, however, is as natural to Bill as speed is to a snail, and before long he has a whole new set of best enemies, especially Captain Sam Norton, who runs Manatee like a private fiefdom. Bulldog Bill settles to his task, and then suddenly there's another murder to solve, and another, and a nasty conspiracy to penetrate. On the other hand, prison Inspector R.A. Chin does offer aid, support and comfort. And Bill does like comfort from the ladies. A strong, colorful cast does wonders with average material, demonstrating once again that in contemporary crime fiction, whodunit matters less than who's-in-it.

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