Review: A Prisoner of Birth by Jeffrey Archer

Rating: 4/5

Jeffrey Archer has done it again. Mesmerizing me with his new Novel - A Prisoner of Birth. His books are more of a screenplay where anyone with half-decent imagination can see it all happening like a movie. Especially born in the Age of Harry Potter, LOTR, Eragon and lot of other enchanting magical stories, the imagination of my-kind reaches far.

The books starts off well, especially the finner details of how the brawl takes place between our hero - Danny Auther Cartwright and the bad guys - Craig and etc... Few lose ends were their during the initial trial, like why no forensic test were conducted on Craig for blood, after all the book is written in the age of Discovery Channel and the ultra violet light. Not even a single drop of blood on the path from the pub to Craig's Apartment? I know I am a bit harsh, but a story of how Craig manages to get away from that would have been fun (and would have made the book last for more than a day for me).

Moving on to the prison part, I can say it was neatly done. I like the way JA kept the interest of readers by making good things happen to our hero Danny in prison. No mention of obscenity in prison was also appreciated otherwise mention of gang rape in showers or brawls are quite common in any story with prison. Lose end again was the not-so-enough reason from Leach to kill or attempt to kill Danny in the showers while the football match was on. Could have added another page or two for a fight between Danny & Leach would have spiced the whole issue (yes I am contradicting my earlier point, but here it seems so relevant to me).

The freedom couldnt have been done better. As some might point out, how can two people look so similar and yet have no blood relation, I can assure them that I have met people in my Life where they look so similar (though in my case the person was a girl). The battle between uncle Hugo and nephew was interesting (and little funny...). But I felt the whole idea regarding the collection of stamps and grandfather's will, were only necessary so Danny can have cash in hand to battle against the gang-of-four (no reference to java community people). Interesting part was how the author subtly mention Danny's progress in study only to open later his skills towards Business and how to handle money-matter.

The revenge was disappointing to me. For me the one in NOT A PENNY LESS, NOT A PENNY MORE was far more elegant. I liked the JA in that book rather here. For me it turned out to be a clip from Hindi movie TRISHUL (oldy with Amitabh bachchan). The silver lining here were the supporting cast and crew (the other characters in the novel) - the bank manager, Scottish legal adviser etc etc. Their parts were well written and really gelled the whole story together making a unforgettable experience for the reader. In the end it was a quick kill in the court, where mistakes were done in plenty by the actual offenders.

As I have no knowledge of Law, especially English law, I was left wondering why the judge denied any reference to the previous sentence? This is something I will need to search and learn on my own.

Things to lookout for will be a long list so I will point out very few of them:

1. Friendship between Danny and Nick, with a great supporting role of the Big Al.

2. The amazing way of find the Second will was fake. I for once was unable to guess what will happen next (again showing my knowledge of Law)

3. Scottish Legal adviser: two amazing act, one was in the court room, second the below the belt hit

4. Love between Danny & Beth - it was kept to apt levels and not overdose of romantic flair. Thank God, the author didnt give bail to Danny once in a while, otherwise Beth would have become a kid-vending machine.

5. Last (from my side, though there will be many more) - the title, A Prisoner of Birth. I am not 100% sure I have got the meaning, but still I can say I have a fair idea which is - you pay for your deeds in this life and this life only & hence everyone is A Prisoner of Birth.

There has been places where JA has mentioned Cricket and I like a true Indian, who may not be best in Cricket, but still holds an opinion, I will say - The book was not a master-blaster package of Sehwag or Peterson's swash-buckling shots, but more of a replay of eligant innings from Sachin or Dravid for that matter. I enjoyed the read, hope you do it too...