The Escape Artist
Who is Nola Brown?
Nola is a mystery.
Nola is trouble.
And Nola is supposed to be dead.
Her body was found on a plane that mysteriously fell from the sky as it left a secret military base in the Alaskan wilderness. Her commanding officer verifies she's dead. The US government confirms it. But Jim "Zig" Zigarowski has just found out the truth: Nola is still alive. And on the run.
Zig works at Dover Air Force Base, helping put to rest the bodies of those who die on top-secret missions. Nola was a childhood friend of Zig's daughter and someone who once saved his daughter's life. So when Zig realizes Nola is still alive, he's determined to find her. Yet as Zig digs into Nola's past, he learns that trouble follows Nola everywhere she goes.
Nola is the US Army's artist-in-residence-a painter and trained soldier who rushes into battle, making art from war's aftermath and sharing observations about today's wars that would otherwise go overlooked. On her last mission, Nola saw something nobody was supposed to see, earning her an enemy unlike any other, one who will do whatever it takes to keep Nola quiet.
Together, Nola and Zig will either reveal a sleight of hand being played at the highest levels of power or die trying to uncover the US Army's most mysterious secret-a centuries-old conspiracy that traces back through history to the greatest escape artist of all: Harry Houdini.
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Brad Meltzer
Brad Meltzer doesn’t just write thrillers—he excavates the hidden pulse beneath the surface of history, government, and identity, crafting stories where secrets aren’t just plot devices but echoes of real-life mysteries. Whether he’s unraveling the buried truths behind the U.S. presidency or sending ordinary people into the heart of extraordinary conspiracies, his work blends the tension of high-stakes fiction with the intimacy of personal legacy.
Long before his novels became bestsellers or his characters landed on television screens, Meltzer was a kid growing up in Brooklyn, fascinated by comic books and presidential trivia. That blend of imagination and curiosity never left him. It shows in the way he writes—each book layered with codes, twists, and emotional weight, from The Inner Circle to The Book of Fate. He doesn't just thrill his readers—he invites them to look behind the curtain and ask: What if the stories we think we know are only the beginning?
Zig and Nola
In a world built on secrets, sometimes it takes an unlikely pair to uncover the truth no one wants found.
The Zig and Nola series walks the thin line between duty and obsession, between justice and vengeance. What begins with a government mortician—Jim "Zig" Zigarowski—quietly tending to the dead in the hidden corners of military bureaucracy quickly spirals into something far more dangerous. When Zig crosses paths with Nola Brown, a fiercely enigmatic Army artist with a traumatic past and a knack for vanishing into shadows, their lives become tangled in conspiracies designed to stay buried.
Zig and Nola consists of three books and series is set to expand with the upcoming release of one more book. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
