To the uninitiated, it can be a struggle to cope with the military jargon and American cultural references that abound in these books, but Tom Abraham gives us the perspective of an Englishman, which makes it much more accessible to someone from this side of the pond.

But what makes The Cage stand out most of all is the fact that it deals with the far-reaching after effects of war on the men who fight it, and not just the day to day life amongst the horrors of war.

The Cage

The Cage spans more than 30 years, and makes it clear that the experience of fighting in this war - and his treatment at the hands of his North Vietnamese captors - has been the defining experience of Tom Abraham's life.

Yet perhaps what is most remarkable is that the author admits he's not the sort of person who even reads books. The Cage is written in the present tense, in a terse style and with an economy of words that makes it a real page turner.

Breakdown

It begins almost in the present day, with Tom destitute and living on benefits in a bedsit, before going back to the events that led to his nervous breakdown - his arrest by the police for drink-driving and being thrown into the back of a police van. It's this event that triggers the 32 year-old memory of his capture and torture back in Vietnam.

Then we are taken back to the end of his days at Ellesmere College, and his family's emigration to the U.S. in 1964. We share his wonder at the contrast between Britain and America in the mid-60s - a land of plenty as opposed to a Britain still trapped in post-war austerity - then we're off to army training and Vietnam, which occupies the lion's share of this book.

Soon we're experiencing the horrors of war from the perspective of a 22 year-old lieutenant, and the slow disillusionment that begins to creep in.

Tom captures the tension and fear well, yet without ever overdoing it. While the book is graphic at times in its description of events and the truly horrific things he encounters, it is never overstated or - heaven forbid - glorified.

Lt Abraham with one of his men in Vietnam

He tells his story in quite a matter-of-fact way - so much so that it's easy to forget that this is the story of a very brave man - after all, he was highly decorated and, as a British citizen he could have skipped military service or even deserted by going back to England - but, although this occured to him he chose to stay loyal to his men.

But he also has an extraordinary feel for what the war is doing to him. In letters home he tells his family and fiancee nothing of what he's coping with on a day-to-day basis, yet he is aware he is slowly, but surely losing his humanity.

Capture

The key event in the book - and in Tom's life - is his capture by Vietcong guerillas about half way through his 12 month tour of duty.

Knowing full well that American prisoners were often mutilated while still alive and then killed and their bodies left for their comrades to see, he is marched into the jungle and treated with utter(but perhaps understandable) contempt by his captors.

But what follows is worse. He is tortured by a North Vietnamese interrogator who clearly loves his job, taking great pleasure in burning Tom's chest with cigarettes. At night he is shut in a bamboo cage measuring four feet square, so he can't sit down or stand up, and suspended in water up to his neck. He realises he must escape while he still has the strength.

And after two days in the jungle, completely naked and with his former captors persuing him, he is lucky enough to find an American patrol. Within days, he is back with his unit in the thick of the fighting.

However, in the weeks immediately following the publication of The Cage, some doubts were raised by other former Vietnam veterans over whether sections of the book, particularly the capture and imprisonment, are true.

Checks done with the Pentagon by BBC researchers confirm that Tom served in Vietnam, but he is not on the list of those missing or held prisoner. Nor does his service record mention that he was ever a prisoner.

Tom strenuously denied these allegations when interviewed in November 2002 on BBC Radio Four's The Choice. He claimed that the recordkeeping at the time could have been suspect. You can listen to this interview here.

A group of Vietnam veterans have produced a detailed page-by-page dissection of The Cage, using records freely available on the internet under US Freedom of Information laws.

Follow the link to see this document: Tom Abraham: Phony

Nightmares

Finishing his tour, Tom returns home and then to England to marry his first wife, unaware at first that something is wrong. But then the nightmares and the flashbacks begin.

And although he manages to push his experiences out of his mind for decades while he persues a successful career in business, they are just waiting to come back.

And in 1999, now with his second wife, Sally, things come to a head. The episode with the police is just the start, and soon he has snapped, attacking his wife, and has to leave the family home and live - on benefits - in a bedsit.

Yet a chance meeting with another former serviceman begins to change things, and when the divorce petition arrives from his wife, he resolves he's going to do whatever it takes to get her back.

This is a deeply personal book, and only a reader with the hardest of hearts will fail to be touched.

Hope

It's often as if you're there with him, and in his moments of crisis you feel his anxiety and fear, as well as his hope and elation at the high points. His sheer determination and will to keep going when many of us would give up is an inspiration.

Tom lays his soul bare for the world to see - a fact that is made all the more significant when you realise that to write it he had to search into his mind to bring back memories he had suppressed for more than 30 years - and had told nobody - not even his closest friends.

He says writing The Cage was a cathartic experience - part of his recovery - but the book also serves to remind us of something else: Of the mental scars that the young men who fight in wars often bear for the rest of their lives.

The Cage - An Englishman in Vietnam is published by Bantam Press, priced £16.99