Thrilling Escapes by Night

by Albert Lee

"They talk in that manner of the godly man under our roof! Herman, do you realize Master Tyndale's danger?" "I do, Mother, but we must save him. That man must not find him! And yet, what can we do? What has anyone ever done, when those wolfhounds of the Inquisition were on the trail?" A fictionalized account of a part of William Tyndale's life. Portrays the risks he encountered in his efforts to have the Bible printed in the English language.

251 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1990

About the author

Multiple authors on Goodreads are named Albert Lee.

Reviews

[Abbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t think I’ve ever read words like ‘despair’ or ‘terror’ or ‘darkness’ or ‘thrilling’ so many times in one book. Or ‘caught like a rat in a trap’. No offence to Albert Lee but this book could seriously use a thesaurus, just saying. Here are my basic thoughts on the book:

Pros.
-clean for younger children
-some suspense
-adventure themes
-interesting worldview to observe (though not one I would consider right)


Cons.

-redundant phrases
-weak girl with highly sensitive emotions (and strangely, weak men at points who are so terrified there ‘knees knocked’ and they ‘trembled’
-some grammatical errors including missing out some words that would make the sentence sound better
-no character development in MCs
-Margaret terrified of being alone all the time
-reformers seem to not have any care for others lives only the bible
-characters repeat sentences they or other characters have said
-author has strange over-use of them ‘seeing pictures in the fire’ which I don’t quite understand (were they hallucinating or imagining??)
-enormous overuse of words such as ‘desperate’ followed by ‘plan’ in chapter 15

[♡jewels♡ · Rating 1 out of 5]

not for me. The book was hard to get into and the writing was not enjoyable.

[Greyson Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Albert Lee's Thrilling Escapes by Night seriously deserves a better title. Really? "Thrilling Escapes by Night?" Why not call it something that tells you what's actually in the book? For example... well, I admit I don't have a better idea. Because I must say, although I don't like the title, this book is filled with escapes. By night. That may or may not be thrilling.
So what of the plot? Well, a young woman and her fiance living in the 1500s are thrown into a huge mess involving William Tyndale, the Spanish Inquisition, and... thrilling escapes, by night.
For all of the stupid jokes I've made so far in this review (there will be more), I actually really enjoyed this book! Yes, many of the characters are pretty unimaginative (protagonists included), but hey, it lives up to its title.
It's worth noting that this book is historical fiction, and I strongly dislike most historical fiction books. Thrilling Escapes by Night is a massive exception to this rule, and that's saying something.
If you choose to read this book (and I would recommend it), you'll get a solid (might I say thrilling?) Christian adventure story that doesn't soften the difficult truth of the Inquisition and the horrible acts committed in Christ's name. Overall, the lack of one star is only because of the characters. And, of course, the title.

[Carolyn]

We loved this book; especially our children. They listened spellbound and breathless. Even as adults, it continues to be one of their favorites; probably from memories. In fact, my 34 yo daughter said I could get it for her for her birthday.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing. Simply riveting. A little unrealistic, but we get enough real life just by living, to loosely quote L.M.Montgomery. I do wish it would be called by the name the audiobook has…The Night Rider’s Call. I love the romance between Herman and Margaret. He’s such a gentleman.

[Ron Wiebe · Rating 3 out of 5]

While an interesting and thrilling read, it is filled with dubious facts, and loaded with fiction to the point where I would consider this a fanfic using William Tynadal as the hero. Not a bad read, but not really historical fiction either.