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We get the motivation for McDowell's escape from prison; survival? But nothing about the how. How did he do it? Was anyone else involved? His assets were frozen; where did he get money from? The author seemed to take these for granted and expect us to as well. Thoughts, anyone?

I was disappointed that there were no details about this. I also thought it was very unrealistic that he would have been able to escape so quickly. I felt like the author was a bit lazy about this.

Coles obviously didn't want to linger on the details of McDowell's escape since that wasn't the book's focus. However, it is rather unrealistic given the fact he was a convicted murderer.

I agree that I would have preferred further details of the escape, and of prison life in general. I know that the story is about McDowell rediscovering himself and changing, but I think the prison aspect is very important to this.
McDowell was very self-assured before going to prison. Some of his confidence had started to ebb away when the dispute about his lab's work came into play, but the thing which really destroyed him was being in prison. It was that which broke him down so that he had to rediscover himself and his place in this world. I definitely think it would have added value to the story to know more about it.

Yes! I really wanted to know how he accessed money. His busking gigs cannot have provided enough to live on...

I thought the same thing as I was reading it. There werent a lot of details about how he successfully escaped. I would have liked to have seen more about that. We knew McDowell was smart and it would have been interesting to see how he figured out how to escape

An excellent observation! I felt like that section was given quite a bit of narrative staging, when it could have been a chapter all its own, with the ways Hiram could have considered escaping and at least giving us a sense of the timing involved Hiram's plan. And considering his crime and the way the book sets to keep public perception as a significant piece of motivation for Sophie and others, I would have liked to see that in the book somewhere. Perhaps a Hiram-focused addendum to this book, detailing more of his travels is in order?

I was thinking the same thing. Coincidentally, a few days ago I was reading a non-fiction book about a fugitive, and I was surprised at how much effort and preparation you had to put to escape the police and build an average life for yourself. I certainly didn't expect Coles to reach such a level of details, but in McDowell the escape was kinda glossed over and unrealistic.

Interesting point. Although it would have been nice to get a little more insight into his escape, I believe that the author did not want to spend time on revealing this information. I believe the main focus of the story centered around the events after his escape instead of the actual events of his escape.

SpencerVo wrote: ↑16 Nov 2018, 01:07 I was thinking the same thing. Coincidentally, a few days ago I was reading a non-fiction book about a fugitive, and I was surprised at how much effort and preparation you had to put to escape the police and build an average life for yourself. I certainly didn't expect Coles to reach such a level of details, but in McDowell the escape was kinda glossed over and unrealistic.

I agree with your statements. This type of details and others within the book seemed hurried and incomplete which did not make the events relatable. Considering his type of personality it would be unreasonable to assume that he would have made friends inside prison who would have helped him escape.

I felt McDowell's prison escape has been portrayed appropriately. It never seemed to affect the depth of the story which mainly focuses on two different phases of McDowell's life. The first one is before imprisonment and the second is after the escape.

Yes. It's one of the few things which could have brought a little more action to the story. In the book he simply walks out without any complications, which isn't realistic at all.

I think the author also didn't know...

Dael Reader wrote: ↑11 Nov 2018, 17:40 I was disappointed that there were no details about this. I also thought it was very unrealistic that he would have been able to escape so quickly. I felt like the author was a bit lazy about this.

I quite agree. It's just hard to complain too much because I am a pretty lazy writer myself.

Life In Books wrote: ↑22 Nov 2018, 03:41 I felt McDowell's prison escape has been portrayed appropriately. It never seemed to affect the depth of the story which mainly focuses on two different phases of McDowell's life. The first one is before imprisonment and the second is after the escape.

You do have a fair pint here, but would you say that the prison experience was too integral a turning point in McDowell's character to be left to our imagination?