The ascent

Kurt Argento is a former Detroit street cop who cannot walk away from injustice, and he has the fighting skills to act on his principles. When he sees a young girl being dragged into an alley in a small, corrupt Missouri town, he steps in to save her and does real damage to her attackers. For that, he is badly beaten and thrown into a maximum-security prison.

Julie Wakefield, a graduate student who is also the governor's daughter, is due to tour the same prison. Then a security system malfunction releases a horde of inmates, and the visit turns into a fight to stay alive.

Argento has to lead a small group of staff and civilians, including Julie and her two state trooper escorts, from the bottom floor of the building to the roof. Between them and safety lie six floors of the most dangerous convicts in Missouri. The author, Adam Plantinga, has also written a nonfiction book.