An Administrative facility is not full of white-collar criminals, a fact the citizens of Gilchrist chose to ignore while their school and library were revamped, the water and septic systems modernized, and a new municipal golf course and country club were built at the edge of town. Instead ADX Gilchrist houses 312 of the most dangerous, violent, or escape-prone inmates in the federal system. Hardened criminals, psychopaths, like the survivalist to whom rape and murder is second nature and “the warrior,” a charismatic and evil man whose followers treat him like a god. To the inmates ADX Gilchrist is hell on Earth, to the townspeople this technological marvel, one of the most secure facilities ever built, is the industry that saved them from obscurity. But one night as snow comes down in blizzard force; the horns at the prison sound a warning. The inmates of ADX Gilchrist are rioting.

Peter Collinson has given us an exciting book filled with a huge cast of villains, plenty of action, a few brave heroes and a body count higher than the Gulf War. Action and villains abound, relevant details do not, and we’re asked to take too much on faith. It is clever for instance that the “warrior’s” followers, ex-cons from his days at another prison, are able to drug the guards so they pass out at an appropriate time. But while arrogantly revealing his methods to the bruised and bloodied warden, this mastermind neglects to mention how his cronies ever got into the prison. And, if the convicts had taken over the Command Center, how did the warden and the resident FBI troubleshooters get out? Fewer details of the interior of the Gilchrist Country Inn and more detail about the escape plan wouldn’t have slowed down the action; it would have improved the credibility of the plot.

As the snow continues to fall, 50 or so escaped cons are out and about blocking all means of egress, overrunning the town and rounding up the citizens. The townspeople are eventually released, but where they went and how they got there remains a mystery. It’s also a mystery why so many of the cons stayed behind in the prison - not enough boots and parkas to go around? Whatever the reason, the guards and a lot of prisoners are left inside the walls of the facility to die a horrible death from a toxin the “the warrior,” the mastermind, left behind.

But Gilchrist is not yet lost. Some of the residents and guests at the Gilchrist Country Inn manage to elude the criminals. A successful author of thrillers, visiting Gilchrist to interview one of the inmates for her next novel, and a mysterious man lead the group around town, tormenting the criminals, as they rush in and out of places the convicts have yet to control.

The Northeast Kingdom is an engrossing book despite weak character development and murky motivation. Why the survivalist has singled out the “heroine” as his primary target remains obscure, but there’s a certain amount of gratification when, throughout the chase, he kills other prisoners in order to get to her. Nor is it clear why she has the same effect on “the warrior”, the mastermind behind the prison break. The mastermind himself is a bit of an enigma -- we know he has an especially vivid fantasy life as the leader of hordes of ancient Nubian and Egyptian warriors - but other than a vague reference to his issues with closets, why was he incarcerated? Then there is the mystery man leading the “rebels” in their attempt to take back the town. If Collinson hadn’t made this guy ex-CIA, the reader would be hard pressed to distinguish him from the other psychopaths.

Although the reader is asked to make any number of athletic leaps over plot holes, The Northeast Kingdom is an exciting, fast-paced read. With a little bit of tweaking, it would make a good action-filled, shoot-‘em-up film, one with lots of guns and noise and a body count that requires a calculator -- but no award nominations.

--Carla Pulasky