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The Lone Brit on 13
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Product Description
Product Description
The Lone Brit on 13 is a gripping true story of violence, degradation and adventure penned in the confines of a grim Malaga prison cell. Imprisoned for drug-smuggling, the lone Brit on Wing 13, Chance, reveals the horrors he experienced among cut-throat villains and screws in the netherworld of the Spanish prison system.Chance takes to writing in his dank prison cell in an attempt to escape his surroundings and recalls various episodes in his life: his time serving as a soldier in Thailand and Malaysia; his involvement with the 3 Para snatch-squad in the 1970s Belfast; and his subsequent descent into drug dealing and trafficking, which culminated in a high-speed boat chase and his imprisonment in a top-security Spanish prison. While inside, Chance fought his way to the surface of a cesspool of iniquitous scumbags using his fists: the only effective means of being understood in an environment of desecrated morality and non-existent integrity. With predators lurking everywhere, Chance had to be constantly on guard and in order to survive he had to be mentally prepared to inflict the necessary violent retribution on any would-be attacker or racist thug. As the sole British inmate, Chance was a prime target for the intimidating Spanish hardmen who thrived on cruelty and treachery. But his martial arts skills and Samurai philosophy proved to be more than a match for the aggressors. Once a respected and successful businessman admired by his peers - he had operated his own martial arts business in Spain before being jailed - Chance took one wrong turn in life and lost everything except the love and support of his loyal wife.
About the Author
Christopher Chance now lives quietly in North Africa with his wife and dedicates his time to writing.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Even if you don't agree with Chis Chance's previous way of earning a living (he was a cannabis smuggler, and that's the reason he was in a Spanish prison), it is hard not to have some empathy with his methods of survival in several Spanish jails-violence, and at time fairly extreme.I don't doubt that life in many foreign prisons is tough to say the least, and when Chance finds himself in a dark place where even a refusal to buy an inmate a coffee can result in a knife in the kidneys, he resorts to using his martial arts skills to render any enemy unconscious, broken and bleeding.This graphic account is probably not for the easily offended,revealing a world that most law abiding citizens do not know exists.I finished the book though slightly confused about Chance's moral compass- a guy who at the time of writing is a God-fearing (if that's the right term) and honourable man, yet one who considers trafficking dope acceptable, though not hard narcotics. That aside this a brutal, hard hitting and difficult-to-put-down title, and well worth reading.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Chris 'Chancer' Chance has led a colourful life and that is some kind of understatement. Often drawn by adventure and a sense for danger, Chancer has on occasion found himself in some of Spain's harshest and most violent prisons.
The Lone Brit starts with Chancer's initial capture in Spain in 1998 and his time in the notorious Carabanchel, then several other prisons around a brief interlude of freedom. Mostly written while he was in prison the narrative is open, honest, free flowing and often amusing. Sometimes bluntly harsh and unstintingly frank. While reminiscing from prison Chancer jumps back in time to memories of serving in Ireland as a young man, his adventures running drugs from Spain to Liverpool by car, running drugs along the coastline between Spain and Morocco and his observations of the often violent mini cultures of the prisons he lived in. At no time is the narrative anything other than utterly captivating.
That is the appeal of both Chancer's books. He is a different kind of person than most of us and has lived a life many can only imagine. The quality of the writing is in Chancer's ability to imbue the stories, anecdotes and often brutal violence with a sense of the person he is. There is something quite soulful in his quest that is very charming. It really does set these books above many other true crime I have read. I lost count the number of times I said despairingly out loud: 'Chancer!' Usually while I was on the train as he got himself into another pickle having once again broken one of his many and entertainingly detailed rules for capture avoidance.
There are two books as I have mentioned. While they are both set within the same period of time Lone Brit covers Chancer's life in greater scope, while the other titled: Carabanchel, is an unflinchingly detailed and brutally violent account of his six months in Carabanchel prison. It is a different kind of book and very much in the style of early Andy McNab non fiction, except set in prison. My recommendation to you if you have read neither is to read the Lone Brit and then Carabanchel. Either way, seeing life through the eyes of Christopher Chance is an experience not to be missed.
Carabanchel: The Last Brit in Europe's Hellhole Prison
The Lone Brit starts with Chancer's initial capture in Spain in 1998 and his time in the notorious Carabanchel, then several other prisons around a brief interlude of freedom. Mostly written while he was in prison the narrative is open, honest, free flowing and often amusing. Sometimes bluntly harsh and unstintingly frank. While reminiscing from prison Chancer jumps back in time to memories of serving in Ireland as a young man, his adventures running drugs from Spain to Liverpool by car, running drugs along the coastline between Spain and Morocco and his observations of the often violent mini cultures of the prisons he lived in. At no time is the narrative anything other than utterly captivating.
That is the appeal of both Chancer's books. He is a different kind of person than most of us and has lived a life many can only imagine. The quality of the writing is in Chancer's ability to imbue the stories, anecdotes and often brutal violence with a sense of the person he is. There is something quite soulful in his quest that is very charming. It really does set these books above many other true crime I have read. I lost count the number of times I said despairingly out loud: 'Chancer!' Usually while I was on the train as he got himself into another pickle having once again broken one of his many and entertainingly detailed rules for capture avoidance.
There are two books as I have mentioned. While they are both set within the same period of time Lone Brit covers Chancer's life in greater scope, while the other titled: Carabanchel, is an unflinchingly detailed and brutally violent account of his six months in Carabanchel prison. It is a different kind of book and very much in the style of early Andy McNab non fiction, except set in prison. My recommendation to you if you have read neither is to read the Lone Brit and then Carabanchel. Either way, seeing life through the eyes of Christopher Chance is an experience not to be missed.
Carabanchel: The Last Brit in Europe's Hellhole Prison
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a truly fascinating book. I'm not a big reader of true crime but this is a book I found hard to put down - at the end of every page I wanted to see what was coming next. It is full of incident - from high speed chases to bloody combat, from battling to keep alive steering a yacht in a lashing storm to surviving as the lone Englishman in a high-security Spanish jail.
On many occasions, while recalling many such horrifying and life-threatening incidents, Chance shows himself to have an incredible survival instinct, drawing upon both mental self-discipline and deadly martial arts skills whenever trouble comes looking for him.
But equally the Chance we see in this book is an extremely philosophical and reflective man. With the help of the mental training he has received as a skilled martial artist, Chance is able to take time out from the horrors of these episodes of his life to reflect and meditate, reminiscing - with much humour and sentiment - on happier times and drawing strength and the will to live from his own sense of self-respect and commitment to the wife he loves.
Overall, this is an honest, gripping account of a life of crime and the often horrific prison existence that was its consequence. What drives it is not just the events it describes, but Chance's highly personal, direct, sometimes blunt and sometimes humorous style and the knowledge as you read it, not only that these events happened but that Chance lived to tell the story.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
TLBO 13
If you're looking for adventure from the comfort of your armchair, without being incriminated as a smuggler's apprentice, this is the book for you. Mr. Read more
Published 5 months ago by tmorgan
like popeye hes never lost a fight !!!
the book was good on humour,some things did make me laugh and its obvious his sence of humour and endless walter mitty stories would make him good company down in the local pub,... Read more
Published on 16 Jan 2008 by magic
Joke
This bloke can't seem to decied weather he was forced into a life of international drug dealing by unscrpuplous poeple who tricked him into it when he was most in need, or he is... Read more
Published on 3 Jan 2008 by P. E. Kinsella
3 books in 1
Chance tells a hard tale about the harshness of Spanish prisons. He also explains much about the downside of smuggling and the terrible price of failure. Read more
Published on 30 Nov 2007 by charles
martial arts manual to boost a mans ego.
This book read like watching an episode of Batman with lot's pow's! and Biff's! I'm not that interested in hearing about how to asphyxiate my foe so if you want to read a real... Read more
Published on 25 Nov 2007 by S. Duncan
This should be a movie!
This story is prison writing at its best and makes Midnight Express read like a nursery rhyme. Cant wait for the next book mate.
Published on 28 Sep 2007 by amazon ann
lone brit on 13
Having read both of this authors books I was totally adsorbed in the cruelty of these jailers.
Published on 21 Sep 2007 by peddler
GOOD START THEN FADES
THIS BOOK STARTS WELL BUT THEN JUST GOES NOWHERE.
THE AUTHOR DOES NOT WANT YOU TO FEEL SORRY FOR HIM WHICH IS JUST AS WELL BECAUSE YOU DONT.
THE AUTHOR DOES NOT WANT YOU TO FEEL SORRY FOR HIM WHICH IS JUST AS WELL BECAUSE YOU DONT.
Published on 26 July 2007 by A. Girvan
Hard Bloke...Great Book !
What a great read !! I'm not usually into true crime but my mate lent me this book and once started I couldn't put it down. Read more
Published on 25 Jun 2007 by MEL
Chance by name- Chancer by profession
Well, I took a chance on this one- and came out a tumble with egg all over my face....
further fantasy in the hellhole material, OK if you read it sitting on your lawn... Read more
further fantasy in the hellhole material, OK if you read it sitting on your lawn... Read more
Published on 1 April 2007 by Amazon woman
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