In a prison in Occupied France one in every ten men is to be shot. The prisoners draw lots among themselves - and for rich lawyer Louis Chavel it seems that his whole life has been leading up to an agonizing and crucial failure of nerve.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Ingram

An utterly gripping story of a wealthy French lawyer being held prisoner by the Germans during World War II. The lawyer is chosen by the soldiers to die, but instead he makes a cowardly trade for his life--one that he will have to pay for even as a free man .

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Customer Reviews

4 Reviews

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Average Customer Review

3.8 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)

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4.0 out of 5 stars Choices and their Consequences, May 28 2000

By	Suzanne "Suzanne" (United States) - See all my reviews

Greene presents us with a brilliant morality tale. He quickly sets up his protagonist's choice and then moves to the surprising consequences. If you had the means to buy your 'salvation' would you? Even if it meant that another man would have to die in your place...literally paying someone to die for you? And for the man who is willing to take your offer, what does his sacrifice mean for those he's left behind? Greene deftly entertwines both of these stories into one. I agree that the characters are not well-drawn enough to make us truly care for them. However, the book succeeds on how it makes you consider the consequences of one's choices.

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3.0 out of 5 stars A good tale, but shallow., Oct 15 1999

By	Margaret Fiore (North Granby, CT USA) - See all my reviews

This little story is tightly constructed and gripping. A rich lawyer is incarcerated during the war with a bunch of ordinary joes. As a result of hostage-type negotiations, a set number of them are designated for random executions. The prisoners draw lots to determine those to die, and the lawyer is one of the losers. Desperate to live, he offers all his estate to anyone who will trade places. The man who drew the 10th lot takes him up on the offer, accepts the estate as payment for his life, and has the lawyer make out a will leaving the wealth to his family. The guilt over this "act of cowardice" haunts the lawyer to his grave.

This story is hard to put down and gracefully written, but the characters are relatively flat, 2-dimensional figures. They are useful symbolically, but not terribly convincing as real people. All in all the tale reads more like a parable than a novel.

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4.0 out of 5 stars a once-in-a-lifetime thriller, Jun 12 1999

By A Customer

I found this book very well-written in the sense that you couldn't put it down if you were half way through it. I read it about twelve times in a month .

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Greene takes a drastic approach to the effects on 1 decision
I got to read this novel for one of my college courses, and found it to be extremely intriguing in the depth that was used to demonstrate each and every character. Read more

Published on May 1 1999