Originally published in 1981 and long out of print, Mike McQuay’s novelization of John Carpenter’s Escape from New York is a pulp thrill ride that expands upon the film’s dystopian world with material cut from the final production.

It is 1997 and a nearly destroyed New York City has become a walled prison for over three million convicted criminals who have lost, but survived, a brutal war against the United States Police Force. In this maximum security prison-city, escape has been made impossible—every bridge is mined and walled, the surrounding waters are filled with deadly electricity, and the Statue of Liberty has become just another guard tower from which officers in infrared goggles blast, on sight, any prisoners desperate enough to try to get out. Radar scanners revolve and helicopters circle the island of Manhattan endlessly. Other than the monthly food drops made by air into Central Park these outcasts are left completely on their own to prey on each other.

Into this living hell one master criminal, Snake Plissken, is sent alone on a mission as dangerous as the criminals within its walls; he must rescue the President of the United States whose plane crashes in New York City on its way to a world summit conference; the President is carrying papers that are crucial to the survival of the United States. As a deadly incentive, to prevent Snake from abandoning his rescue mission, two devices are implanted in Snake’s head, which could blow the famous crook to pieces.

Based on the original screenplay by John Carpenter and Nick Castle.