I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The nightmare is just beginning.

Ricky Desmond has been through this all before. If he could just get through to his mother, he could convince her that he doesn’t belong at Brookline. From the man who thinks he can fly to the woman who killed her husband, the other patients are nothing like him; all he did was lose his temper just a little bit, just the once. But when Ricky is selected by the sinister Warden Crawford for a very special program—a program that the warden claims will not cure him but perfect him—Ricky realizes that he may not be able to wait for his mom a second longer. With the help of a sympathetic nurse and a fellow patient, Ricky needs to escape now.

Short and Sweet Review

Brookline isn’t the first place Ricky’s parents have sent him to try to fix him, but Ricky knows something isn’t right with Brookline. He’s seeing and hearing things, and now the Warden has taken a special interest in him, and even chose Ricky for a special program. Ricky realizes that he needs to get out of Brookline he just doesn’t know how he’s going to do it.

Escape from Asylum takes place before the trilogy and we actually get to see Warden Crawford at work. Ricky is placed into Brookline after being caught with a boy and attacking his stepfather. Ricky becomes friends with another patient Kay, and he’s not sure if he can trust nurse Ash, she makes it seem like she’s playing both sides. I liked this story, I’ve already read the other three books in the series and this book sheds a light on what the asylum was like when it was open. It was interesting seeing Ricky figure out things by snooping around, it was unfortunate that he even ended up at the asylum in the first place. Ricky and Kay were good characters, I wish we saw more of Kay though, but they were kept apart once the warden realized that they were friends. The second part of the book was great, we see more of the mystery unfolding and what the warden has planned.

Overall this was a good book, it can be read as a standalone or a prequel. I honestly love this series and the pictures that are included really add to the creepy vibe.