Just OK. It's a very quick read and mildly entertaining. I would have given it three stars except for the fact that I read an interview with him in a Las Vegas magazine (after I finished the book, I wanted to see what he did with his life after this experience (not much)) and there are revelations in that interview that aren't included in the book and I lost a certain amount of sympathy for him. ( )

True story of captured Hash smuggler Billy Hayes. It details his time in the Turkish prison system from his arrest to his eventual escape. The story is well written and a nice easy read but for me it just fell a little flat at times. I know it is a true story so only the events that happened can be detailed, but it just didn't really seem all that much of an adventure? The life in prison was nowhere near as harrowing as other books I have read and I struggled to empathise for Billy. He always seems to be type of person that doesn't really take responsibility for his own actions, and over the years of his incarceration I still got the same impression that no matter how much others would try to help he was always selfish enough to ignore their efforts.

A good book but just one where I struggled to root for the author, which I think in a prison/escape story you really need to. ( )