Wild Escape - by Chelsia Rose Marcius (Paperback)

About the Book

True crime from a decorated NY journalist digging into a famous prison break by two murderers from the largest maximum security prison in New York. The subsequent manhunt, which riveted media viewers nationwide, left one fugitive dead, the other wounded and recaptured, and uncovered the peculiar relationship they'd had with the prison seamstress who helped them. Ben Stiller is planning a limited series on Showtime about this prison break.

Book Synopsis

"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 bestselling 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, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent Christopher Voss shot and killed Matt 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 bestselling author

Review Quotes

"Wild Escape is [a] remarkable feat of reporting and storytelling. An instant classic." --Matthew Lysiak, author of Newtown: An American Tragedy

"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 bestselling author

"With her exhaustive reporting and extensive interviews with the surviving escapee, Chelsia Rose Marcius is able to construct a riveting, never-before read timeline of the events surrounding the prison break. Wild Escape is one of the best written, most compelling true-crime books of 2018!" --Shanna Hogan, New York Times bestselling author

"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 bestselling author