The Ultimate Escape Story

I have just three entries in my shortlist for the ultimate escape story. If you prefer fact to fiction, the real story of how 76 allied prisoners of war managed to escape from a Nazi top security prison camp in Germany in 1944 is tops. Paul Brickhill's The Great Escape (1951) contains real life resourcefulness, team-work and bravery that lead to tragedy. If you lean towards fantasy, you can't beat James Bond's offbeat escape from a cell, deep inside Dr No's lair. In chapters 17 and 18 of Ian Fleming's Dr No (1958), James Bond has to go through an obstacle course set-up along a shoulder wide shaft that terminates with a face-off against a carnivore in a sea pool. But if you want to read a classic short story of sheer ingenuity that narrates like a mystery then this has to be Jacques Futrelle's The Problem of Cell 13 (1905).

Jacques Futrelle (1875-1912) was an American journalist and mystery writer. He worked for a number of newspapers including The Atlanta Journal, the New York Herald, the Boston Post and the Boston American. He resigned from journalism in 1906 to devote himself to writing fiction. He published over seven books and many short stories. He is best known for his character Professor Augustus S.F.X Van Dusen, also known as “The Thinking Machine”. In 1912, after an extended trip to Europe where he made his works known, he returned home aboard the RMS Titanic. Unlike the fantastic escapes in many of his stories he simply perished after forcing his wife to take her seat aboard a lifeboat without him. He is best known for his short story The Problem of Cell 13, which is included in many lists as one of the best mystery stories ever written.

In The Problem of Cell 13, The Thinking Machine makes the following statement: "Lock me in any cell in any prison anywhere at any time, wearing only what is necessary, and I'll escape in a week". When his two friends naturally disagree that he can manage such a feat, a bet is placed and a real life experiment is immediately conducted so that he'd have no chance to prearrange any outside help. Professor Van Dusen finds himself shut in the death-cell in Chisholm Prison. In a Sherlock Holmes style narrative, we follow Van Dusen's daily life for a week mostly from the prison warden's point of view. It is no spoiler to state that The Thinking Machine frees himself in amusing circumstances, and proceeds to dot the i's and cross the t's to his friends.

I first read The Problem of Cell 13 when I was just 13, and I have never grown tired of rereading it over the years. It cleverly combines mystery and sheer ingenuity in short story form. By now its copyright has expired, so you can read it free online from the Jacques Futrelle official homepage, feed it to your e-book reader or even enjoy it as a free audio book from the Internet Archive.

Although I am equally fond of all three stories in my shortlist, if I was asked to recommend only one, then this would be it.

Reader, what is your favourite escape story?