Book info

• Title A Prisoner of Birth
• Author Jeffrey Archer
• Year 2008
• Genre Thriller

If Danny Cartwright had proposed to Beth Wilson the day before, or the day after, he would not have been arrested and charged with the murder of his best friend. And when the four prosecution witnesses are a barrister, a popular actor, an aristocrat and the youngest partner in an established firm’s history, who is going to believe his side of the story? Danny is sentenced to twenty-two years and is sent to Belmarsh prison, the highest security jail in the land, from where no inmate has ever escaped. But everyone has underestimated Danny’s determination to seek revenge and Beth’s relentless quest to win justice...

Thoughts

My father lent me this book, and I hadn’t even realised Jeffrey Archer was writing again. I previously read his Kane & Abel series which were really good, but that was quite a long time ago, and I struggle to remember things that far back!

Both my parents had read this, and both told me it was essentially unputdownable. My mother read it in both condensed and then full length format. I was expecting great things. I wasn’t disappointed.

It really is a page turner, and yet at the same time there is so much detail that does nothing other than get you right into the heart of the book. The descriptions of life in prison are incredible, and clearly taken from his real life experience. Apparently this book is a reworking of the classic Count of Monte Cristo, which I am only vaguely aware of. I will have to give that one a go.

I don’t want to spoil anything by giving too much plot away, but it is safe to say Danny is wrongly convicted of murder and goes to great lengths to try and prove his innocence. That’s as much as I can say because I recommend this book to one and all and don’t want to give anything away.

Rating: 4 / 5