Escape Plan

by Elizabeth Hein

Kitty Haskell needs help. After recklessly killing her lying, cheating, no-good husband, Kitty turns to her sister, Rose, and her good friend, Stacia Tate Curran to help her cover up her crime. Together, the women concoct a plan to make it appear that Seth died in a boating accident far from home, all while casting suspicion on his mistress. What they don’t anticipate are the dire financial consequences of Seth’s disappearance, the indifferent response of Kitty’s children, and the strain of guilt on their relationships. Kitty’s life is further complicated by the addition of a perpetually drunk heiress, an adorable baby that resembles Kitty’s children, and the intriguing young artist that shows up in Kitty’s life just when she needs him most. As their plan expands to include more and more people, Kitty is less certain she can get away with murder.

ebook

Published April 1, 2016

About the author

Elizabeth Hein writes women’s fiction with a bit of an edge. Her novels explore the role of friendship in the lives of adult women and themes of identity. How To Climb The Eiffel Tower follows one young woman as she navigates the world of cancer treatment with the help of her friends. Overlook and Escape Plan chronicle how a small group of women bands together to free themselves from terrible marriages and forge their own paths in life.

When she is not typing away on her own novels, Elizabeth guides new authors on their writing path.

Reviews

[Mehreen Ahmed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mehreen's review: PDF copy

Escape Plan had a solid plot. However, there were too many characters involved that somewhat distracted my focus. The relationships were not clear at times and events were not sequential. The protagonist murdered her husband, when her daughter received an acceptance letter from Brown University. However, the time of the arrival of the letter and time when the murder took place wasn't clear. Apparently, a boat had reached theirs, either on the dock or on the ocean, not sure, which had brought her unfaithful husband to her who was then subsequently murdered with a champagne bottle on the head - but when did this happen in relation to the acceptance letter?

Otherwise, I thought it was quite an intriguing and well written story.

[Karin A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read after Outlook. This is the follow-up to read how Kitty's crime panned out.

Kitty and Seth appeared to have the perfect life but secrets were already known by many in the community of Outlook, much to Kitty's chagrin. Kitty killed her lying cheating husband and let her sister, Rose in on the crime to help her cover up. Oh what a tangled web we weave. Does crime pay?

Well written. Tightly woven. Loved all the characters. They are well described and the reader is drawn in as if you were living among them.

Love this author's work. I am thirsty for more.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book, the plot was really interesting....and I Loved all the characters!!! =)
I liked how it kept me wondering throughout the book if Kitty was ever going to get caught and...
if Chip was ever going to find out about Bitsy....(you have to read it to know what I am talking about)
If I would have known it was a sequel I would have read the 1st book first.
Now I am going to have to go back and read the 1st book.
So if you want to read this book, make sure to read the book Outlook first,
& then come back to read this to continue the story!!! =)

[Jori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love it! I was wondering how the author would wrap it up, and I was not disappointed.

Takes up where the first left off without skipping a beat. I enjoyed the way the main character evolved and became a badass! Kudos on the ending, and brava to the author!

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Escape Plan is the sequel to Overlook. While it can be enjoyed out of sequence, I recommend reading Overlook first. The two books really make one single story if read in order.

There may be spoilers for Overlook in this review.

Kitty Haskell killed her husband (believe me, if you read book one, you'll think he deserved it and be cheering for her to get away with it). Now what? Not getting caught is only one of her problems. It's the 70s and she doesn't have a job, and Seth left them in debt. There's no insurance money since he's only missing legally speaking, not dead. Heck, she doesn't even own the car she was driving. She's a social pariah in Overlook where appearances are everything. And the mistress, the one her husband threatened to leave her for? You guessed it: pregnant!

I really enjoyed watching Kitty come into her own in this novel. I liked her in Overlook, but now I love her. I was surprised by many of the twists of fate in Kitty's life and truly satisfied by the ending.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, "Overlook", but I liked "Escape Plan" even better. The sense of time and place were excellent, and I liked and cared about the characters. The story was bigger-than-reality enough to be exciting and keep me turning pages - this meant that sometimes character development or realism had to take a back seat to moving the plot forward and keeping all of the strands of the story weaving together. I don't have a problem with that. The only thing that kept niggling at me in a problematic way was the lack of exploration of Kitty's thoughts and feelings about having killed her husband. This story was not about Kitty's mental process - it was about actions and a collection of disasters coming together to result in a positive solution - but the fact that Kitty's state of mind wasn't really dealt with kept surfacing in my mind. Maybe another book in the series will address that? There was definitely foreshadowing in this story that could point to another story dealing with Kitty's thoughts, feelings, issues, etc.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book in the Overlook series and you need to read Book 1 (Overlook) before this book.
Once again, Elizabeth Hein takes us to the fictional NC housing development of Overlook in the mid 70s. This book starts right where Overlook ended, but I can't tell you about that without spoiling Overlook. Kitty and her friend Stacia, work together to cover up a crime that Kitty committed in Overlook. They come up with a plan that will make it appear that the crime was committed by Seth's pregnant mistress (Seth is Kitty's husband). However, their guilt and money problems make covering up this crime more and more difficult.

I'd like to say more about this book but it's difficult to say too much without spoiling Overlook. What I will say is that this is a fun read, I enjoyed learning more about Kitty and Stacia and seeing their friendship grow. It's a fun book about strong women -- what more do you need to make a good novel?

[JH · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the kind of book that you don't want to put down. in fact, you may end up being late to work one day for thinking you can get in just one more chapter before you have to leave!

For the first few pages I had a little trouble remembering which character was which from "Overlook" but then I quickly got up to speed. The twists and turns this book took- I never saw any of them coming! Characters surprised me, they were human, they were also mostly good.

I especially loved the relationship between Kitty and her children, Becky and Bobby. They were fun and feisty, but also realistic.

So glad to finally read this sequel to "Overlook"!

[JoAnne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it!!! I am hoping there's another book! Kitty grew so much more in this story. I was proud of how she held her head high and kept on going.

[Marla Bradeen · Rating 4 out of 5]

ESCAPE PLAN is an interesting look at several women's lives. Hein does a good job describing the characters so you care about them. Although all the women are privileged, they're all facing their own challenges and are the type of people you can picture knowing in real life. A lot of the loose ends in Overlook are resolved in this book, which has its own satisfying ending.

Disclosure: I won a free copy of this book in a giveaway.