Danny Cartwright and Spencer Craig were born on different sides of the track. Danny, an East End Cockney, leaves Clement Attlee Comprehensive School at the age of 15 to take up a job at a local garage. He falls in love with Beth, the boss' daughter, and asks her to marry him. Spencer Craig resides in the West End. A graduate of an English public school and Cambridge University. After leaving university he becomes a criminal barrister and is soon tipped to be the youngest Queen's Counsel of his generation. Danny and Beth travel up to the West End to celebrate their engagement. They end the evening in a wine bar where Spencer Craig is also celebrating - his 30th birthday, along with a select group of university chums. Their lives will never be the same again. For, an hour later, one of them is arrested for murder, while the other ends up as the Prosecution's chief witness in an Old Bailey trial.

杰弗里•阿切尔是世界上作品最畅销的作家之一。

同时，杰弗里•阿切尔还有非常传奇的个人经历，他曾经在政治上辉煌一时，又曾亲历四年的牢狱生涯，1992年女王诞辰纪念日，阿切尔还受封为爵位不能世袭的终身贵族，本身就可谓就是一个传奇人物，也是英国国内的一个明星作家。

杰弗里•阿切尔生于1940年。迄今为止，他已经有25部作品出版，累积销量超过1.3亿。他曾11次荣登《星期日泰晤士报》畅销作者排名榜第一位，他的作品为他带来了巨大的经济收益和声誉。

事实上，《华盛顿邮报》称他为“可以与亚历山大•大仲马相提并论的叙事者”，《星期日邮报》则评价他为“我们这个时代最伟大的叙事者和小说家。”