This is the story of a very unusual way out.

Frank Lione spent 15 years patrolling Times Square out of Midtown South. He lived on Staten Island with his wife Pam, a cardiac-sonographer, and their two sons. As Frank tells it, he had to work two other jobs just to cover expenses, never mind being able to afford a decent home. They rented a small basement apartment and he commuted to Manhattan for his midnight shifts, did diamond escorts for extra money during the week and pest extermination on his off days. You would think risking your life as a cop in New York City should be enough to entitle you to a decent life but we all know it’s not.

Frank and Pam came to the realization that if they were going to lead the kind of lives that included a decent home, decent schools for the boys and a little enjoyment for themselves, something was going to have to give. They did a lot of soul-searching and decided to roll the dice. While he continued to work the three jobs and they continued to live in the basement apartment, they decided to add another complication to their already hectic days. They began to collaborate on a book.

Both were children of cops, and Frank has always intrigued Pam with tales of the job. They decided to use those experiences and anecdotes as a realistic backdrop in “The Deuce,” a novel about a Times Square cop caught in a downward spiral and heading for the worst way out of the job — until he gets a new partner.

They wrote the book on spec, hoping for a publisher, profitable sales and a one-way ticket out of the life that so dissatisfied them. They got themselves a literary agent and, in a remarkable turn of events, the Baker Publishing Group of Grand Rapids, Michigan, not only agreed to publish their novel but also signed them to a three-book deal.

“The Deuce” is the first in what Revell Books is calling the “Midtown Blue” series. Frank and Pam share authors’ credit under the name “F. P. Lione.”

“The Deuce” reads like a midnight tour in Times Square during its seediest and most dangerous era — with a message of faith and hope. One retired cop said it was so true to life that he “could hear footsteps behind me” as he was reading it. The book has gotten some great reviews and is selling well through Amazon.com and major booksellers around the country.

Once their book deal was solid, Frank pulled the pin at 15 years and vested out. The Liones left their Staten Island home and moved to Pennsylvania where, in Pam’s words, they “rented a whole house with three acres for the same price as that basement apartment.” If the book does well — and all indications are that it will — Frank and Pam will finally be able to buy that house they’ve been dreaming of.

As I said, there’s a lot of different ways out of here. Police Officer Frank Lione of the Midtown South Precinct found one of the better ones.