Escape from New York

by Mike McQuay

Call Him Snake. 1997. New York City is a maximum security prison. A master criminal's mission: to rescue the captive U.S. President.

Genres: Science Fiction, Post Apocalyptic, Adventure, Fiction, Dystopia, Media Tie In, Novels

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Michael Dennis McQuay was an American science fiction writer. He wrote for several different series. His work in that field includes Mathew Swain, Ramon and Morgan, The Executioner, and SuperBolan. The Book of Justice series he wrote as Jack Arnett. He also wrote the second of the Isaac Asimov's Robot City novels. His non-series novel Memories was nominated for a Philip K. Dick Award for 1987.

McQuay taught creative writing at the University of Central Oklahoma for more than ten years, and died of a heart attack at the age of 45 in 1995.

Reviews

[Ethan · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Vice President," Prather answered, and rested his hand on the red phone. "He's waiting on the other end of this line to hear from us."
"Will he be cooperative?"
"What have you got in mind?"
Hauk stopped pacing and stood, staring at the map, his hands at parade rest behind him. "We could never get in there with troops," he said over his shoulder.
"We'd never even find enough of him to bury."
"Then, what?"
"One person could get in," he said. "One person could move around unnoticed."
"Have you got someone in mind?"

If you follow my reviews, you no doubt will have seen that I sometimes read movie novelizations. By extension, you've probably also thought: "Why does Ethan read movie novelizations sometimes? Aren't those complete garbage and of no literary value whatsoever, pumped out in ten days by washed up authors on a shoestring budget at the behest of some massive movie-making conglomerate to shamelessly make a few more bucks off the movie they're releasing?" In many cases I would say that yes, that's exactly what they are. Many are nothing more than the film's script, copied and pasted, tidied up a bit, and put into the past tense to form a "novel".

But some movie novelizations are more than that, and can be quite enjoyable and worthwhile to read. As novels, they are longer, and have the opportunity to flesh out characters and events from the movie in more detail, to add character backstories and additional context that didn't make it into the finished product. Some are even based on an older version of the script than was used to produce the final film, resulting in the novelization being slightly or even wildly different than the movie, its own unique experience, and at the very least this often results in some "deleted scenes" that didn't make it into the movie being present in the novelization, which is pretty cool if you're a fan of the film and want something more.

In this light, Escape from New York is one of the most notable films I can think of that could benefit from a good movie novelization, because it is a lean movie. Very little is revealed to the viewer, and there are an absolute plethora of references to events and character histories that are never explained. Further, things just happen in this movie that make no sense, and why these things are happening, and more broadly why certain things are the way they are in the world of this film are also never explained. This left me with the disorienting and disappointed feeling that I had just watched a sequel, for which the original does not exist. It's still a great movie, but there was a lot to be desired in fleshing everything out.

The thing that puzzles me the most about this is that the movie was only ninety-nine minutes long. Carpenter could have added fifteen or twenty minutes to it and explained everything in that amount of time. Some of the obscurity could be explained in a single additional scene, or even a few extra lines of dialogue in an existing scene, making the final result even more puzzling. One has to imagine it was budgetary; the average film budget at the time this movie was made was $16 million, but Escape had a budget of $6 million.

All that being said, I've had a copy of Mike McQuay's movie novelization of Escape from New York on my bookshelf for a while, gathering dust, and I decided to finally give it a read and see which type of novelization it is: a script, shamelessly copied and pasted and put into past tense by some hack to help a studio make a couple bucks, adding nothing to the movie, or a rich accompaniment to the film, adding character backstories, additional context, and explanations of everything confusing in the movie. I had my doubts, as I always do with movie novelizations, but luckily I was well-rewarded with this one, because I now consider it the best movie novelization I have ever read, surpassing Curtis Richards' excellent novelization of Halloween.

There were so many confusing aspects to the film:

- Why is the penitentiary full of insane people, who have become dehumanized to the point that they're basically feral, rabid, wild animals, even committing cannibalism? This especially makes no sense given that there are regular food drops into the prison...so there's no obvious reason they should be eating each other, besides pure insanity and a very advanced state of dehumanization.

- Why does everyone and their mother know who Snake Plissken is, and why did most of them think he was dead? Every ten minutes in this movie, someone's eyes light up with realization and they say: "Hey! Aren't you Snake Plissken?!" or "I didn't know you knew Snake Plissken!" or "So, you're Snake Plissken. I thought you were dead." It's never really explained why he's such a big deal and such a household name.

- What is on the cassette tape that is in the briefcase that is handcuffed to the President's arm?

- What happened on the past job with Brain, Snake, and Fresno Bob that caused Snake to almost kill Brain when he saw him again years later in the library scene?

- Where did Plissken get the name "Snake"?

- Why does Snake wear an eyepatch? What happened to his eye?

- Why, during the deleted bank robbery scene in the movie (the Collector's Edition Blu-ray of the movie has this scene on it as an extra, and I think it can be viewed on YouTube as well), does Snake show such uncharacteristic compassion and risk his life to go back for his wounded accomplice?

All of these things and more are fully explained in this book, and Snake and Hauk are given extensive backstories that are incredibly well-done. The book also contains additional scenes not present in the movie, and offers interesting changes to and extensions of existing scenes. It is thrilling and moves along at a breakneck pace, is superbly written, and is overall an excellent accompaniment to and enhancement of the film. I think I will enjoy the movie a lot more after another viewing, armed with the additional knowledge and context this book has given me. This book is what I wish Carpenter had filmed. If you're an Escape from New York fan, this is absolute must-read material.

Highly recommended!

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once upon a time, as an adolescent, I wasn't quite of age to go to movie theaters on my own--especially R-rated movies--so I read movie tie-in books, and with those, I got to experience movies vicariously.

I read these movie tie-in books often in my ninth grade English class, so when the time came to describe the book to the teacher to verify that I had actually read the book, I always got the same question: 'Have you seen the movie?' And whether I had or I hadn't, I always answered honestly. But when I said I had not, I'd still get that skeptical gleam from the teacher's eye, wondering if I had cheated by seeing the movie instead of reading the book.

And I was much too honest to cheat when it came to books, anyway. I liked books, especially movie tie-in books. They were a lot of fun to read when I was younger, and I could easily pile up dozens of pages read per hour.

This is one of my favorites from that era of the early 80s. Imagine a future world where the United States and the Soviet Union had already waged a third world war, and chaos led to the repurposing of New York City as a giant Alcatraz, a prison city where no inmate can escape. Then imagine Air Force One, with the president on board, crash-lands somewhere in NYC, and the president could be taken as a hostage, or worse.

Enter Snake Plissken, disaffected war veteran who has just been nabbed after robbing a national bank in Colorado. Volunteered into this by NYC's hardass warden, Plissken's mission will be to enter New York City, find the president, and then escape where no one has ever escaped. And under penalty of a time-release death capsule, introduced into his body to hasten his mission, Plissken has 24 hours to find the president and escape NYC, or else he'll die.

It's a rollicking book, and the movie is just as good. It's from director John Carpenter's heyday, when his movie worlds were richly imagined and fun to watch. Plus, at the time, Kurt Russell was just stepping out of his Disney persona. This became his breakthrough role, with Snake Plissken imagined as a hissing, post-Dirty Harry badass, certainly one of the most potent protagonists of the era. I read the book with already a good idea of the movie character in mind. I think I read this book several times, even after seeing the movie, and I probably still have my copy.

If the TV series '24' has a spiritual lineage, Escape from New York is its godfather.

This rocks hard, like the movie. If you're into movie tie-in books, this is recommended.

[Joe Thornton]

As a serious fan of this film.
I found that this book differs from the film in many ways ( As novel tie in's do ) This is one of my favorite books That I also use as a reference to many people that post on the site www.snakeplissken.net
And www.theefnylapage.com and thenamesplissken.webs.com

I'm the moderator of snake plissken . net (As mentioned above )
And I do get asked alot of question's and at times, I do have to "Refresh" Myself with the novel and the film. As to answer the question's in the most informative way.

This novel by Mike Mcquay is the best way to understand the Charater
Of "Snake Plissken" To simply watch the film is awesome in itself
But to read about "Snake" knowing more about him from this novel
bring's that much more to his understanding.

A MUST READ AND BY FOR ANY ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK FAN>


Thanks

JOE THORNTON

[Wayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite action movie from the 20th century. So, this book got five stars before I even opened it up. Even if this was a stand-alone novel, this still would get five + stars from me. There were a few added extras in here. The first few chapters, with Snake in Colorado was a nice touch in setting up why he was sent to New York to begin with. Also, didn't know he was flying high on meth for the whole 24 hours. My first book by Mike McQuay. Sure hope it's not the last.

[Brad · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this before the movie actually came out in the theaters. I was really psyched for it and couldn't wait. It's still one of my favorite films and the only thing that would make it better is if they filmed what was in this book.

It's got a sorts of little things that make the film more logical, but were too out there for its time. Example: Snake takes an interesting pharmacological mix in order to help get the job done in the required time. Considering that Snake is ex-Army and we know the military's history (going back to WWII) of 'enhancing' personnel on some missions, I'd say it fits right in.

Guess we'll have to wait for Oliver Stone to do a remake for that to see the light of day.

[Jason]

I finally found a copy of this book after searching forever. I don't generally read movie novelizations but I kept hearing good things about this one.

It actually turns out to be a lot of fun. I don't need to go into the plot so much because I am sure most people have seen the movie. What the novel does primarily is flesh out the character of Hauk (the warden, played by Lee Van Cleef in the movie) and his relationship to Snake. It turns out they both fought in Leningrad during World War III and share the same nihilist perspective. Hauk dislikes his job but realizes that sending Snake in to rescue the President is his only option and a fortuitous one, at that.

There is also a great sequence at the beginning of the book where Snake has robbed the Federal Reserve Despository and results in a great chase scene and ultimately his capture. The novel manages to capture the darkly humorous tone of the movie but makes the setting even grittier. We learn that out in America a large portion of the land is uninhabitable because of the war and that most people are being driven mad from the nerve gas that was used.

Definitely pick up this book if you ever see it in the store. If not for the fun read, then because the thing is so damn hard to find.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think is a novelization of the screenplay. It's a little darker than the movie, at least the televised version. There are a few differences, but overall it's the same & one of my favorite flicks. It clearly makes the point that the warden's son is one of the subterranean cannibals. (I think Snake cuts off his fingers which have his name tattooed on the knuckles as he tries to move a man hole cover.)

As a book, it's a quick, fun read - if you like action & some horror. Others have compared it to Mad Max & I think that's a good comparison. The hero is more overblown - everyone knows Snake Plisken. He's a legend & lives up to it. Lots of fun.

[Mikepottz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very slippery, war hero is going to be sent to the biggest penal colony now know as New York City. The inmates are the cesspool of humanity and the US President's plane is going to crash right in the centre of this hell-hole. The Snake has 24 hours to rescue the President and is going to get penetrated by an arrow, nearly beaten to death in a ring by Slag a nasty degenerate, dodge a minefield, get smashed by cars but he will be trying to save himself. Great seedy surrounding with very likeable hero.

[Chris Haynes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. It was well written and even though I've seen the movie a million times, it kept me interested and on the edge of my seat. The book did a great job of filling in the history of the world and the backstories of all the characters, especially Plissken and Hauk.

If you're a fan of the movie, do yourself a favor and read this book!

[Dave The]

A solid clever setting and storyline with a definite "Character" as the lead. This anti-hero style book is a nice read, firmly along the lines of its movie based screenplay. I must say that John Carpenter's movie brought this story to life better than the book portrays.

[Kevinjwoods · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interestingly the majority of the novelisation takes place prior to the film and deals with the capture of Snake, the background to the prison etc, with the actual film almost an "oh this also happened"

[Snake · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this book from Forbidden Planet in New York City. And now, the book is lost again.

[Max Brallier · Rating 5 out of 5]

a movie adaptation that's better than the movie - and i love the movie

[Ethan · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a movie tie-in, this book was better than average.

[Sofia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Premessa: penso di essere l'unica persona che legge ancora i romanzi basati sui film nel 2025. Ma, in mia difesa, trovo che abbiano il loro perché. Da un lato trovo genuinamente più faticoso guardare un film che leggere un libro, dall'altro la forma cartacea permette spesso di includere scene tagliate ed espandere il worldbuilding/i personaggi, il che generalmente mi delizia.
Seconda premessa: EFNY sarà anche un b-movie ma è un signor b-movie, girato magnificamente, iconico sotto tanti punti di vista, e soprattutto il mio comfort film. Nel senso che ho ascoltato la colonna sonora almeno una volta a settimana per sei mesi perché era una delle poche cose che riuscisse a rilassarmi davvero.
Detto ciò, e tralasciando l'odissea che è stata riuscire a trovare una copia, posso dire che, anche se non lo porrei al di sopra del film, questo è un ottimo libro, anche preso singolarmente. Breve ma intenso, il ritmo serrato e la trama semplice ma efficace lo rendono un'avventura da leggere tutta in un fiato, senza che per questo si rinunci a far brillare i personaggi (anche le comparse risultano piuttosto memorabili) e a far vivere l'ambientazione, che è quasi un personaggio a se stante e che risulta - ovviamente - molto più approfondita rispetto alla controparte cinematografica, svelando un worldbuilding tanto cupo quanto affascinante. Ho anche approfittato della lettura per saggiare lo stile di Mike McQuay, dal momento che alcuni dei suoi romanzi sembrano essere, dalla sinossi, esattamente il mio genere, e l'ho apprezzato parecchio. Non è nulla di particolarmente elaborato, ma in molti punti è davvero incisivo, trasmettendo le emozioni come tante coltellate e seminando immagini ricorrenti che non fanno che impreziosire il tutto. Probabilmente uno degli elementi che ho apprezzato di più.
Qualche considerazione a parte va fatta per i personaggi, soprattutto se paragonati al film:
-Con tutta la mia ammirazione per Carpenter, eliminare la famosa scena tagliata sulla cattura di Snake è stato un errore; qui la suddetta scena è presente (e anzi copre quasi un terzo dell'intero libro) e non solo aggiunge informazioni che rendono più completi tanto il personaggio quanto il mondo in cui si muove, ma, accoppiata a tutto il resto, forma un arco caratteriale praticamente perfetto, rendendo il finale ancora più potente;
-Mentre non sono mai stata una grande fan di Hauk (a parte la superba recitazione), mi sono dovuta ricredere completamente per la sua versione cartacea; il fatto che il POV di metà dei capitoli sia affidato a lui lo rende molto più sfaccettato di quanto non apparisse, trasformandolo in una figura tormentata per cui è impossibile non provare compassione e sottolineando inoltre efficacemente il suo ruolo di controparte di Snake, e la sua sottotrama personale è straziante;
-Esiste il POV di Maggie. Niente da dire su questo se non sul fatto che non me lo aspettavo, mi ha fatto amare ancora di più il suo personaggio, mostrandone a fondo la determinazione e l'intelligenza, e la fine che fa mi ha distrutto più di quanto già facesse, dal momento che viene mostrata dal suo punto di vista, con abbondanza di dettagli toccanti.
In conclusione, ne è valsa la pena. Non si tratta di un capolavoro della fantascienza; solo di un normale romanzo pulp postapocalittico anni '80, crudo ed eccitante. Esattamente ciò che mi serviva in un periodo di stress, e penso che per i fan dell'opera originale sia un gioiellino, e per me in particolare potrebbe entrare nella categoria dei comfort book in caso ne avessi bisogno in futuro.

[Tom Lucas · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the Summer of 1981, the commercials for the film had my 11-year old brain mesmerized. It looked like the greatest movie ever made.

At that time, there was this man my single mom was dating, who often took me to the movies when she worked weekends. One Friday night, shortly after it hit theaters, he asked me if I wanted to go to the movies and if so, what did I want to see…

The answer, of course, was Escape From New York.

The next day, the movie plans were still on, but he decided that he would rather see the new James Bond movie instead. I proceeded to have a most terrible temper tantrum – crying, screaming, running to my room – all the works. He begrudgingly conceded and took me to see what would become my favorite Carpenter film (although I do love so very many of them, it really is hard to choose a favorite).

The movie was AWESOME. I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT. Upon leaving the theater, he snidely remarked, “well, I hope you’re happy.”

I was. Best temper tantrum I have every thrown. Totally worth it.

Last year I learned about this novelization. Well out of print, I spent a bit more than I usually do for a used paperback.

The book is AWESOME. I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT. Totally worth it.

This novelization follows the film’s plot closely but adds many world building elements that didn’t make it to the theatrical release. And as a big fan, they were all very tasty morsels.

If you collect film novelizations, this is worth the average price you might find.

I’m glad to have it on my shelf.

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fantastic read for a novel based on the screenplay for cult-favorite Escape from New York! Really. While I took my time reading it, the last few chapters were nailbiters regardless that I knew the outcome.

There's so much more backstory to Snake Plissken and Police Commissioner Hauk; shoot, even Maggie, Brain's girlfriend has a well-developed background and motivations for being where she is and who she's with. The ruined New York City is nearly a character itself, frankly, and is much more deadly and dark than even the movie portrayed. Budget constraints forced certain decisions to be made by Carpenter regarding the sets versus the setting created in his world-building, obviously.

No spoilers, BUT there's an interesting side-quest asked of Snake, and a very surprising use for Methamphetamine which was quite unexpected (and, thankfully, scrubbed from the film).

Look, this isn't highbrow lit. If you're reading this novel you're doing so because you want to see if there are differences between the movie and the book. Or maybe, like me, you cherish EfNY as a film? This is an adventure novel, through and through, and an origin story, no more or less. The writing does the trick it's asked to perform.

Would love to see a return of Snake via Carpenter and Russell in a final film. Meanwhile, off to watch the original. The book was fun, and I'm glad to have read it in the end.

[Tim Deforest · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wouldn't have thought it possible, but the novelization of "Escape from New York" makes the story even darker and more cynical than did the movie. Bits of back-story about Snake Plisskin, Hauk (Lee Van Cleef's character) and the the world they live in amps up the feeling of desperation and hopelessness that overlays everything.

It is, though, a well-written version of the story, following the action of the movie very closely in clear, fast-moving prose. There's bits of dark humor scattered throughout and the author gives real emotional impact to the deaths of some of the few sympathetic characters we meet. Like the movie, the novelization has a little bit of thematic depth, but is mostly an unusual and exciting adventure tale.

[Kelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-written adaptation of one of my favorite films. Very interesting to see what was cut from the screenplay. The funniest thing is at the start of being in the prison, Snake is eating chunks of government-issued crystal meth like candy. You also learn more about what’s happening in the rest of the United States.

Content warning: racial slurs, one homophobic slur, plus all the violence from the movie

[Maeve Gallagher · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's just ok. I read it hoping to find out a little more about the President, and while there is some it's pretty minimal. It doesn't hold a candle to the film, but it's easy enough to read in an hour, so if you want to read a more humanized story with Snake being a bit more heroic and less antiheroic, then you can read this easily enough.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's point in reading this unless you're an 'Escape from New York' superfan/John Carpenter completist, but it was entertaining. McQuay manages to bring an additional layer of exploitation sleaze to a story that already feels pretty grungy.

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

~sticking it to the man~

Snake Plissken is undoubtably a badass, and this is one crazy story. I don't know if I ever really "got into" this book. I pushed myself to completion. But the last two pages took this book from 3 to 4 stars. It gave the whole story meaning.

[John Karr · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite action novels.

[William Sariego · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent pulp fiction but this is one of the rare cases when I'll take the movie over the book.

[Diane Aubry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly badly written at times but some pages are thrilling. Well worth reading if you want more details than the movie shows.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I never use to have any interest in novelizations; what's the point of reading something based on a movie you've already seen (It's a different story when the book came first)?

But upon realizing that very few stories out there suit my tastes, I've revised my attitude towards novelizations and will be reading a few in the future.
This one is my first.


Escape from New York is one of my absolute favorite movies and I was curious how such a B movie story would read as a novel.
Just like the movie, this book is to the point and an effortless piece of entertainment.

It follows the movie's plot very closely with some major exceptions: the first third of the book recounts Snake Plissken's bank heist and following arrest.
These earlier chapters also give more backstory about Plissken and Bob Hauk, who share some loosely related past in the military.

In many ways, the book is darker than the movie.
It's more graphically violent. All the violent scenes are the same as in the movie, only with more bloody detail.
There is also consistent mention of Snake's physical pain, mainly in his bad eye, but also what he gathers on his mission in New York City.
Most interesting is the inclusion of nerve gas as a weapon against the Soviets which is turning the population Crazy. This explains the sewer dwellers in the movie.

Escape from New York is not great fiction; it's not great literature.
But it's an admirable book for its lean content which adds to the movie, without altering your ideas and feelings about it.

[Stefan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is pretty much on par with the movie. There are some things the movie does better and there are some things the book does better.

The world where the story takes place and Snake`s background is much better explained in the book although just hearing all the characters in the movie say "So you are snake? I heard you where dead." without any additional info does have its charm. Cabbies death in the novel has much more impact in the book as well.

Certain characters in the movie on the other hand have more impact due to their appearance an some good performances by the actors in question most notably the character of Romero which in the movie just gives me the creeps. The Duke`s death with the president screaming "you are A number one! You are the Duke!" has much more of a impact and gives the film a better ending.

The only flaw both the movie and the film have is that I do not buy the premise of the tape with top-secret info. It would be much easier to just fly in the person that made the tape. Or just using the weapon that is supposedly the product of the research.

All in all a quick enjoyable read.

[Victor Orozco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice adaptation. The writer truly developed the story better than the movie. Basically working the whole ideal why the United States is one giant police state.

A dystopian future where WWIII happens, though its odd that we'd be fighting China given our trade treaties as well as their bad relations with Russia. Instead of nuclear war its wide-scale chemical war, with the chemical agents effecting almost everyone on Earth in a insanity Pandemic that turns cities into prisons.

I have to admit this was really cool and made the story more interesting. I guess the director wanted to ignore this and just enjoy the semi-silliness of a prison city.

The story begins with what I'm told is a massive deleted scene that was taken out of the film which showed why Snake was arrested and of course knowing why exactly the President was really planning for the summit. This is ignored somewhat as Donald Pleasance depicts him more sympathetic that what the novelization depicts. He's even given a name, John Harker, an Alabaman senator with a major ego. Kind of makes that scene in the end with Snake more appropriate.

Nice writing of a classic film. B-

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

there was a small bookstore right by my house when I was a kid, I thought I read this when I was younger, but I must have been 14 if the publishing date is right. This book probably cost me 95 cents.

[Beauregard Shagnasty · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was excellent!Mike McQuay was the perfect man for the job here. Bravo.