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Escape!
Danny wasn't a bad kid at heart, but the government put Danny in prison for a long list of crimes, with no end to his sentence. He had to get back to his girl. He had to get back to Laurie. Watched over at all times by a Big Brother-like sentient computer, there was no way out of the escape-proof prison except to... Escape!
"Escape! ... has generated more mail from readers than any other single story I have ever written."
—Ben Bova
"I think this was the only book I read in one sitting."
—Goodreads.com
"Escape! ... has generated more mail from readers than any other single story I have ever written."
—Ben Bova
"I think this was the only book I read in one sitting."
—Goodreads.com
- GenresScience FictionFiction
122 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1970
1 person is currently reading
50 people want to read
About the author
Ben Bova
715 books1,039 followersBen Bova was born on November 8, 1932 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1953, while attending Temple University, he married Rosa Cucinotta, they had a son and a daughter. He would later divorce Rosa in 1974. In that same year he married Barbara Berson Rose.
Bova was an avid fencer and organized Avco Everett's fencing club. He was an environmentalist, but rejected Luddism.
Bova was a technical writer for Project Vanguard and later for Avco Everett in the 1960s when they did research in lasers and fluid dynamics. It was there that he met Arthur R. Kantrowitz later of the Foresight Institute.
In 1971 he became editor of Analog Science Fiction after John W. Campbell's death. After leaving Analog, he went on to edit Omni during 1978-1982.
In 1974 he wrote the screenplay for an episode of the children's science fiction television series Land of the Lost entitled "The Search".
Bova was the science advisor for the failed television series The Starlost, leaving in disgust after the airing of the first episode. His novel The Starcrossed was loosely based on his experiences and featured a thinly veiled characterization of his friend and colleague Harlan Ellison. He dedicated the novel to "Cordwainer Bird", the pen name Harlan Ellison uses when he does not want to be associated with a television or film project.
Bova was the President Emeritus of the National Space Society and a past President of Science-fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).
Bova went back to school in the 1980s, earning an M.A. in communications in 1987 and a Ph.D. in 1996.
Bova has drawn on these meetings and experiences to create fact and fiction writings rich with references to spaceflight, lasers, artificial hearts, nanotechnology, environmentalism, fencing and martial arts, photography and artists.
Bova was the author of over a hundred and fifteen books, non-fiction as well as science fiction. In 2000, he was the Author Guest of Honor at the 58th World Science Fiction Convention (Chicon 2000).
Hollywood has started to take an interest in Bova's works once again, in addition to his wealth of knowledge about science and what the future may look like. In 2007, he was hired as a consultant by both Stuber/Parent Productions to provide insight into what the world is to look like in the near future for their upcoming film "Repossession Mambo" (released as "Repo Men") starring Jude Law and Forest Whitaker and by Silver Pictures in which he provided consulting services on the feature adaptation of Richard Morgan's "Altered Carbon".
http://us.macmillan.com/author/benbova
Bova was an avid fencer and organized Avco Everett's fencing club. He was an environmentalist, but rejected Luddism.
Bova was a technical writer for Project Vanguard and later for Avco Everett in the 1960s when they did research in lasers and fluid dynamics. It was there that he met Arthur R. Kantrowitz later of the Foresight Institute.
In 1971 he became editor of Analog Science Fiction after John W. Campbell's death. After leaving Analog, he went on to edit Omni during 1978-1982.
In 1974 he wrote the screenplay for an episode of the children's science fiction television series Land of the Lost entitled "The Search".
Bova was the science advisor for the failed television series The Starlost, leaving in disgust after the airing of the first episode. His novel The Starcrossed was loosely based on his experiences and featured a thinly veiled characterization of his friend and colleague Harlan Ellison. He dedicated the novel to "Cordwainer Bird", the pen name Harlan Ellison uses when he does not want to be associated with a television or film project.
Bova was the President Emeritus of the National Space Society and a past President of Science-fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).
Bova went back to school in the 1980s, earning an M.A. in communications in 1987 and a Ph.D. in 1996.
Bova has drawn on these meetings and experiences to create fact and fiction writings rich with references to spaceflight, lasers, artificial hearts, nanotechnology, environmentalism, fencing and martial arts, photography and artists.
Bova was the author of over a hundred and fifteen books, non-fiction as well as science fiction. In 2000, he was the Author Guest of Honor at the 58th World Science Fiction Convention (Chicon 2000).
Hollywood has started to take an interest in Bova's works once again, in addition to his wealth of knowledge about science and what the future may look like. In 2007, he was hired as a consultant by both Stuber/Parent Productions to provide insight into what the world is to look like in the near future for their upcoming film "Repossession Mambo" (released as "Repo Men") starring Jude Law and Forest Whitaker and by Silver Pictures in which he provided consulting services on the feature adaptation of Richard Morgan's "Altered Carbon".
http://us.macmillan.com/author/benbova
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 9, 2017
This was a quick enjoyable read. It you know someone who likes to read, but needs to take it slow, this is a good story to suggest.
December 17, 2020
This work is primarily for young adults aged 10 to 15, and can frequently be found in middle school libraries. If you are trying to get a youngster interested in science fiction, this book has my top recommendation. When I was that reading age this was my favorite science fiction story bar none.
Ben Bova writes a well-paced story about a small boy of 15 or so who wakes up to find himself incarcerated in a new kind of jail, one where there are no bars on the windows, no fence in sight, and the door opens. His jail resembles a college campus. However, security is run by a new super computer that can see and hear everything, and alerts staff whenever someone attempts a break. The staff then goes out to retrieve the would be escapee. Danny wants his freedom; he has a girlfriend on the outside, and he is not interested in the classes being offered or reforming himself, only escape. The novel is about the way the institution and how a member of the staff work on Danny to try to convince him of the necessity of reform and Danny's attempts to resist and go his own way.
The novel inadvertently brings up profound questions regarding Big Brother, a police state, and whether such a thing as a good, rehabiltative process rather than punitive incarceration is even possible. If it is, this novel is the most sympathetic portrayal of what one would like I can imagine. How feasible is it though? These are the interesting questions this book raises. It's also a highly entertaining and suspenseful read. My bright, precocious 10-year-old daughter gives this novella length novel a 10. I first read the book in the 1970s when a computer such as the one depicted here really was science fiction, but it has now become almost a present possibility. Upon just having reread the story, I find the science and plot line still hold up. I enjoy the story very much.
Ben Bova writes a well-paced story about a small boy of 15 or so who wakes up to find himself incarcerated in a new kind of jail, one where there are no bars on the windows, no fence in sight, and the door opens. His jail resembles a college campus. However, security is run by a new super computer that can see and hear everything, and alerts staff whenever someone attempts a break. The staff then goes out to retrieve the would be escapee. Danny wants his freedom; he has a girlfriend on the outside, and he is not interested in the classes being offered or reforming himself, only escape. The novel is about the way the institution and how a member of the staff work on Danny to try to convince him of the necessity of reform and Danny's attempts to resist and go his own way.
The novel inadvertently brings up profound questions regarding Big Brother, a police state, and whether such a thing as a good, rehabiltative process rather than punitive incarceration is even possible. If it is, this novel is the most sympathetic portrayal of what one would like I can imagine. How feasible is it though? These are the interesting questions this book raises. It's also a highly entertaining and suspenseful read. My bright, precocious 10-year-old daughter gives this novella length novel a 10. I first read the book in the 1970s when a computer such as the one depicted here really was science fiction, but it has now become almost a present possibility. Upon just having reread the story, I find the science and plot line still hold up. I enjoy the story very much.
July 22, 2025
The is the first book I remember reading as a child. I must have been in about grade 5 or 6 because I honestly don't think I was smart enough to read a book like this before that. What I remember was getting into reading at the school's library and being fascinated by the computer in the story and just the adventure.
I couldn't imagine bothering to read this as an adult but I'm curios what children today would think? The only other books I remember from elementary school were the Choose Your Own Adventure books. I would re-read those to follow every path possible trying to hack it so the books would never end.
I couldn't imagine bothering to read this as an adult but I'm curios what children today would think? The only other books I remember from elementary school were the Choose Your Own Adventure books. I would re-read those to follow every path possible trying to hack it so the books would never end.
February 6, 2019
You only get what you learn.
While I typically chase after hard sci-fi, Nova’s book takes an idea that needs just that little extra push of science fiction to create an exceptional setting for a genuine lesson. You only get what you earn.
While I typically chase after hard sci-fi, Nova’s book takes an idea that needs just that little extra push of science fiction to create an exceptional setting for a genuine lesson. You only get what you earn.
August 17, 2021
One of my first Nova books, I read this several times in my teens
September 12, 2016
This short novel is one of Bova's first works, written in 1969. It's about a young juvenile delinquent who is taken to a peculiar prison where there are no cells and no metal bars. In fact, it resembles a college campus more than a prison. The head psychologist who is in charge wants to rehabilitate him, but he only wants to escape. Nevertheless, escaping is extremely difficult, since the prison has a Big-Brother-like sentient computer that is very difficult to fool.
It's a curious book, entertaining and readable although it never gets really deep in the characterization. It makes you think a bit about the prison system and rehabilitation, although probably that theme had more impact at the time it was written.
It's a curious book, entertaining and readable although it never gets really deep in the characterization. It makes you think a bit about the prison system and rehabilitation, although probably that theme had more impact at the time it was written.
January 26, 2011
This appealed to me when I was a teenager. The story is about a young gang member who ends up in a correctional facility with people who cared. It shows what could be done with the right intent and people.
April 9, 2009
I think this was the only book I read in one sitting. This book is about a boys prison and the ways in which the boys learn valuable skills in order to escape.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews