Gripping, but also immensely uplifting by virtue of the wonderful tone and spirit the writer and his fellow prisoners of war display. Just as much as the details of the escape attempts from this high-security forbidding castle in the heart of World War 2 Germany, the delightful spirit of the escapers is the story here, a combination of cheery, nonchalant, resourceful phlegmatism, and it infuses every page of this memoir. The details, and the personalities, are fascinating too, and of course cover real and remarkable events not inventions, but it's the perky, joky, playful manner with which these young men operated that draws the reader's admiration, and I think made the book such a success. Reading this now, nearly half a century on, one understands clearly how Major Reid's style and story inspired a whole Colditz genre, in 1970s Britain at least: a hugely popular TV show, board game, and much playground banter, as I recall. ( )

A first person account of life in Colditz and the many unsuccessful and successful escape efforts. A bit disjointed, but interesting. ( )

I had not read much on Colditz so this was a great introduction to the camp and it's prisoners. The prisoners sent here were the ones who persisted in trying to escape other camps. Unfortunately, Colditz was not inescapable either. It was so interesting reading about all the ways these prisoners devised to escape. Their ingenuity was awe inspiring. ( )

2.5 stars, to rate this more accurately. Good story but I personally think that P. R. Reid could have done better by hiring a good editor.

The story feels highly disjointed and it is really difficult even to remember names of most of the characters. Nevertheless, this is a good inclusion to my world war non-fiction shelf. ( )

Remarkable stories. This is a fantastic book about amazing human beings. As page turning and seemingly far-fetched as spy fiction, but all real. Truth is stranger than fiction. ( )