This is a story about Ricky. He's a teenager. He likes men and women and he has a bit of a temper. Which is why his mom and his step-dad Butch has admitted him to Brookline and Warden Crawford care. At first it isn't to bad. He makes a friend, Kay. She a beautiful dark skinned lady. She's been admitted to Brookline because she was born Keith and her dad couldn't have that. He throws on the charm and humor working to get that phone call home cause he knows once he talks to his mom she will come running back to get him.

It doesn't take long for Ricky to realize his mom isn't coming and he isn't getting a phone call. The Warden has tooken a special interest in him and according to Kay that is very bad. Between the Warden, and him hallucinating people, things are getting very weird. Then his nurse, Nurse Ash, begins acting odd. One minute she is telling him not to trust the warden and the next she's calling him delusional, and in the end he knows he needs to get out of Brookline.

So this was a pretty good book. It was set back in time when the asylum was open and the Warden Daniel Crawford ran it. Although I didn't catch the exact time. (If it ever said it at all) There where appearances from those known from the previous 3 books, and as always great spooky pictures. Its a bit creepy but I scare real easy and it only creeped me out a little at night after everyone else was asleep.

I found Ricky to be a familiar character because it seemed like he was a little bit of all 3 characters from the previous books. He was outspoken and into guys like Jordan, fiercely loyal to his new friends like Abby, and way to curious for his own good like Dan. I don't know if it was meant to be that way or even if its good or bad. It did have me biting the nails at time worried about what happens next. There was a lot about this book that reminded me of season 2 of American Horror Story, but that could just be coincidence.

I did find it predictable at times, mostly because all the books followed a similar pattern. The end I was very dissapointed it. It did wrap everything up, but it left me unsatisfied all the same. It was very anti-climactic. The pace of the book was fast and easy to read. All in all I think its a good fun read. ( )

Overall, the story is a good one. We get a look at what started the insanity in the Asylum trilogy, and get backstory on a couple of the characters mentioned in the main trilogy. The author once again did a good job of setting the atmosphere; sadly she seems to have returned to the abrupt scene changes.

The main reason I read this was in the hope that she would explain how the good doctor was able to do some of the things he did, but alas, that did not happen. She's got a good idea going with that character, but it's like she just can't put it into words, so just hand waves it away.

As usual, the complete lack of explanation on major plot points leaves the story wanting. Read it once, then move on. ( )

The book starts out with a teenager named Ricky, who is being put in an insane asylum by his beloved mom and step dad, who Ricky has a strong animosity towards. Against Ricky's will, he was thrown into a small room with concrete and bare walls, and a bed in the corner. Although Ricky had become dismal, everything had been going normally until he started to hear screams coming from the basement, however he didn't seem all that concerned, it was an insane asylum after all. He didn't start to realize that things weren't quite normal at Brookline until he saw a little girl with long black hair dressed in a night gown wandering around his room. The girl had disappeared in just a blink of an eye. Ricky forms an unlikely alliance with a fellow patient named Kay, who experiences the same abnormal things that Ricky does. They started to work together to find more information about what they were seeing and had realized what was happening was far beyond their control. Beside from the paranormal events at Brookline, they were being watched by the evil Warden who seemed to track their every move. The Warden found it suspicious that the two were always spending time together and were always caught in places they shouldn't be and started being extra attentive to Ricky. Their alliance was then joined by nurse Ash, who also had a bad feeling about the Asylum. the three decided escaping was their only option and had come up with a master plan, which ended up not being necessary when Ricky's mom came back to take him home.

Overall, I thought this book was very off and on. One minute Ricky would be fighting off a ghost and next the book described in great detail how Ricky enjoy the soup and bread he had for lunch for several pages. I think the book would have been much better if the action was more frequent and didn't only last for one paragraph. I really enjoyed the parts of the book where Ricky was experiencing something paranormal or discovering something new but some parts of the book were so extensively boring it was almost hard to read. I gave this book the rating I did because i really did like this book, but deducted 1 and 1/2 stars due what i previously stated about action as well as lack of character development. I never really got to know these characters on a personal level. My favorite part was when Ricky had a dream about his father working in the asylum, and my least favorite part was how Ricky's mom ruined all the action and decided to just come and pick him up. ( )

I liked this book better than the previous books though again, I would mark it more as a 3 1/2 stars. I liked how the book showed that going into an institution can almost make you crazier in a way than you were when you came in. Ricky's decline was portrayed very well. this book felt less rushed than the others. overall, a good series! ( )

4/5 stars

This prequel to the Asylum series continues the story of Brookline Asylum by taking us back to the 1960's and answering some of the questions raised in the other books. While I didn't find the story as strong as the first Asylum book, Escape from Asylum still kept me riveted. Like the previous books in the series, the creepy ghosts, brainwashing and horrific treatment of patients made my skin crawl at times. It conveyed a sense of claustrophobia, of being trapped and helpless. I became wrapped up in the lives of the characters, truly worried about whether they would escape intact, mentally and physically. I was cheering for them to escape.

Summary: Recommended to anyone who likes ghost stories and creepy asylums. ( )