Why did I give it 4 stars instead of 5? Probably the old man is losing touch, but then not fast enough. The book is a brilliant story, written with believable characters & a believable plot. Unlike some other revenge stories like’Count of Monte Cristo’ et al, here the revenge kind of falls into place rather than being by a grand plan, unlike those Sidney Sheldon books.
The hero, Danny is an undeucated believable guy, who works in a garage & is engaged to his best friend’s sister. The day he proposes to his fiance, he, his best friend Bernie & fiance Beth, go to a pub to celebrate where a gang of four has an altercation with them. The outcome leaves Bernie dead & Danny framed for the murder. When the court believes the rich gang of 4 to Beth’s testimony, Danny is sentenced to 21 years at Belmarsh prison from where nobody has ever escaped. How Danny escapes, takes revenge & clears his name form the crux of the story. His characterization is superb. He pulls out Matthew Redmayne towards the end for a brilliant performance, while characters like Fraser Munro, Spencer Craig, Nick Moncrieff, have been beautifully built.
Where Archer fails is in the smaller details which are left as loose ends. You are waiting for this aspect to be dealt with, which never happens. For example Nick’s killer Leach’s angle, was left open. In the past, in books like’As the Crow Flies’, Kane & Abel’, etc, one could be sure that any detail missed in the beginning or in the middle would be revisited by Archer. These minor points still don’t take away from what has been a brilliant book. But for the few wasted years in the prison, we could have had so much more from Archer.