The Lowdown

This is a book written by Jeffrey Archer, which purports to be based on The Count of Monte Cristo.

Some Observations

• It's set in the present day, but you can see the basic elements of the story. Young, naive guy with a devoted fiancee is framed for a crime he didn't commit; goes to prison and meets someone who provides him with a fortune; escapes and assumes a new identity in order to take revenge on his accusers.
• Not much similarity beyond this, and very few of the characters map across. He only spends a couple of years in prison, and doesn't spend very long in his alternate persona. The revenge consists of him trying to financially ruin his enemies, which succeeds but then turns out not really to have mattered.
• There's a heavy emphasis on courtroom scenes, which is a departure from The Count of Monte Cristo. These are some of the stronger sections.
• The dialogue is very expository (yes).
• In this version he gains his fortune by getting his hands on and selling a collection of rare stamps. This takes a lot longer than it conceivably has any right to and doesn't make a great deal of sense.
• His representation of probation officers is insultingly glib. And a bit rich considering the majority of them are hardworking individuals who do the difficult job of protecting society from the likes of him.

The Verdict

This really isn't very good. He obviously hasn't read that line from Elmore Leonard "Try to leave out the parts that readers tend to skip". Pretty much every incident is described in tedious, pedestrian detail, despite irrelevence to the plot. The pacing is all over the place. The characters and the dialogue are almost completely lifeless. Master (the erotic version) is better written in terms of prose. But prose isn't everything - at times you find yourself wanting to read on, but then again we can't give him that much credit for his plotting, considering what he had for source material. In the end, the revenge was thoroughly unsatisfying and, although the court room drama stuff was fine, it wasn't nearly enough to save it. For a better present day version, go for Stephen Fry.

Characters and Plot Elements