"Marcius writes with genuine narrative power. Her depth of research
provides insights into this historical escape that we can't get anywhere
else." (Anthony Flacco, New York Times and international best-selling
author)
A gripping true-crime debut of imprisonment, escape, and survival from
New York Daily News crime reporter Chelsia Rose Marcius.
On June 6, 2015, inmates Richard Matt and David Sweat escaped from
Clinton Correctional Facility, New York State's largest maximum security
prison. The media was instantly obsessed with the story: aided by a
prison seamstress who smuggled hacksaw blades, chisels, and drill bits
inside the facility via a vat of raw hamburger meat, the two convicted
murderers sliced their way through steel cell walls, meandered through a
maze of tunnels, climbed out of a manhole, and walked off into the
night.
Only a handful of inmates had successfully broken out of Clinton since
the facility opened in 1845, and not many had made the attempt. Barbed
wire, stone walls, and the wilderness of the Adirondacks have all served
as physical and psychological barriers to freedom. This seemingly
impossible Shawshank-esque escape had the makings of a Hollywood film,
and the public hung on to every twist as the story developed.
After nearly three weeks on the run, Matt was shot and killed by US
Customs and Border Patrol agent Christopher Voss on June 26, 2015. Two
days later New York State Police Sgt. Jay Cook shot Sweat twice in the
back. He survived. While we have come to learn how Matt and Sweat pulled
off perhaps the most elaborate modern-day prison break, no reporter
except Chelsia Rose Marcius has talked directly to Sweat to ask the most
important question in the case: Of all the inmates who dream of escape,
why was he the one who could make it happen?
"The details Marcius has amassed are comprehensive and stunning and
serve to heighten the impact of her story. This is first-rate
journalism, written about a crime and a criminal from the inside out."
(Stephen Singular, New York Times best-selling author)
