A Prisoner of Birth: A Novel

It was gripping and kept my attention. I loved the references to Dumas my all time favorite! Worth the read!

This was another revisit to a book I had read a while ago prompted by an Amazon deal for a Kindle copy for pocket change. Once again I enjoyed revisiting a book I had enjoyed before and surprisingly there were only a few parts that I really remembered.There are several parts to a pretty complex plot. At the beginning East-Ender Danny Cartwright proposes to his pregnant girlfriend, Beth Wilson and then goes out with Bernie, Beth's brother and Danny's best mate, to a pub to celebrate. There are four drunken men in the pub and one of them makes obscene suggestions to Beth and then picks a fight with Danny and Bernie. The outcome of the brawl is that Danny is stabbed in the leg by the leader of their opponents who then stabs Bernie fatally.The twist in the tale is that the leader of the pack, who call themselves "the Musketeers", is an eminent and very clever lawyer who concocts a bogus story that Danny killed his best friend. Danny is arrested for murder and in court the Musketeers stick by their story and Danny is given a life sentence.Archer then brings his own prison experience into play when he describes prison conditions and the developing personal relationship with his cellmates, especially with Nick Moncrieff, an intelligent and cultured heir to a knighthood who looks uncannily similar to Bernie. Nick helps Bernie to with his education and social skills and they become inseparable. This sets the scene for Danny's determination to seek revenge on each of the Musketeers.It is a very entertaining story as Danny plots his revenge and as uses his new social and business skills to track down each Musketeer and establish a new life. Jeffrey Archer's books can never be called literary fiction but there are few authors of this genre who can beat him as a master storyteller of complex and entertaining plots.

I am an award winning author both for my screenplays and my novels. I don't usually spend time reading other authors mostly because I'm always busy with my own work, and after twenty years of writing plot and circumstance I have seen every formula on the planet and find most garish, or boring, and always cliche-ish. Sorry.Even though I have read many of Sir Jeffery Archer's works and even though I have thoroughly enjoyed everyone of them, and even though critic after critic and fan after fan declare Jeffery Archer to be at the very top of the list of the top ten storytellers in the history of mankind these facts do not sway or influence this review in anyway shape or form."Prisoner of Birth' is a story about mere humans but there are no words to describe how taken I was by it or the characters. There are no cliches here, only a story so compelling that you not only cannot put it down, you will find yourself physically drained from the experience as you connect with characters, many of whom are just regular folks, some who you'll want to strike out in revenge by yourself.I will say that I finished this, bleary-eyed at 3:30 AM, and after basking in a moment of satisfaction went back and read the last 157 pages again -- such was feeling that it seemed compulsory.Good books are rated at 5 stars but you will soon see that your own entire star rating system will come under stern review as this is a book by which five star books should measured.BRAVO - Sir Jeffery Archer and Thank you for this amazing work.

Some feel British thrillers can be very descriptive and may move slowly. I found this kept moving at a steady pace, despite being very descriptive. It really does not bog down. In fact, I found the book difficult to put down.I enjoyed the story. There are many twists & turns throughout which keeps the reader interested & entertained.One basically knows good will triumph over evil. But. how the author gets to that point is enthralling. The courtroom dramas play out well without boredom.I did find Danny's prison escape a bit "Over the top." But, Mr. Archer does very well relating as to how he reaches that point of escape from Belmarsh Prison. Actually, the entire story is very well thought out. The editing for Kindle is very good as well. One of the best Kindle edits I've seen.As mentioned earlier, the novel is gripping and really should not be missed

I loved this book (kindle version). I have enjoyed every one of Jeffrey Archer's books from start to finish, he always writes books that are hard to put down. I would say that other than Kane and Abel and the first 2 books of the Clifton chronicles that A Prisoner of Birth is my favourite. This is coming from someone who has only ever read and finished reading biographies. I have tried to read many works of fiction from other authors but been disappointed. Jeffrey's characters are very interesting; the story develops quickly with no chance for boredom; the story is not padded out with over-the-top descriptions like many authors - it is full of twists and turns and the outcome unpredictable.I look forward to my next Archer book including the 3rd and last book in the Clifton chronicles.

This was a good book, mainly because it was just a different subject matter and setting for me. I found the whole thing a bit unbelievable in spots and the story got a bit long when it could have easily been shortened and nothing lost for the effort of that. I think the suspense was done well enough, and the whole predict how it will end was not that much of a surprise to figure out early on, it just seemed the whole story flowed well and I wanted to read it to the end. It was one of those easy to read easy to move on from type of novels. I enjoy Jeffrey Archer and hope to find myself intrigued by a new story soon.

A wonderfully crafted romp of a book. Fabulous characters and a clever story.

Gripping story. Kept me on the edge. Last 2 chapters on the courtroom drama were awesome. I wished it never finished!

Ce remake du Comte de Montecristo n’a rien à envier à Alexandre Dumas. Jeffrey Archer est un incroyable conteur et de rebondissements en rebondissements maintient un suspens haletant jusqu’au dénouement. Une lecture passionnante qu’on ne peut laisser une fois commencée.Je recommande vivement ce livre.

Muito bom

I love Jeffrey Archer, he writes very vivid and I am a lazy reader. He gets my attention on the first pages and although you know there is always a Happy Ending and the Good win, it is exciting how it all goes back