Jeffrey Archer: Kane and Abel

Never forgive and never forget
This is a classic tale of hatred and misunderstanding between two rich and powerful individuals who never forgive and never forget. Their feud infects their business and private lives for decades and threatens the very foundations of their families. Jeffrey Archer is one of the world's best storytellers and this is one of his best and most memorable tales of two powerful people from very different backgrounds.

William Kane was brought up in a world of wealth and privilege and was expected to to follow his late Boston millionaire father's footsteps and become a banker - which he did.  Abel Rosnovski grew up in abject poverty in Poland, survived and escaped from a Siberian prison camp and came to America as a penniless immigrant. Through his native talent Abel climbs from being a minor hotel employee to part owner of a Chicago hotel. Then the crash of 1929 brings both of them together as William's bank tries to foreclose the ownership of the bankrupt hotel with tragic consequences. This fires a lifelong feud between the two men that threatens their businesses and their families.

I first read this book in the 1980's when it was first published and have read many of Archer's books since then. While this book still showcases Archer's storytelling skills I didn't find it as compelling the second time around, possibly because there have been so many other top storytellers around since this book was first published.

Jeffrey Archer: Mightier than the Sword (The Clifton Chronicles series Book 5)

Enough, enough, enough - Cliftons without end...
When I read the first book in the Clifton Chronicles series it was an amusing, light and somewhat clever tale that looked like the start of an entertaining trilogy. Jeffrey Archer ended each book with interesting cliffhanger endings to keep your attention on the next book. Little did I know that nearly five years later I would be reading #5 in the series - and it looks like there are several more to come!

I read a lot of latest books in long series and always ask myself "Has the author run out of steam with the latest book?". In this case my answer is a solid yes. This book recycles so many plots in different guises from previous books, getting rid of a few key characters along the way to make things look a little different, but keeping most of the main characters and their conflicts alive and adding a few new ones, mainly baddies.

At the end of the last book the cliffhanger was whether an IRA bomb would explode on the liner Buckingham in mid-Atlantic. Of course that danger was cleared up early on and the baddies, both IRA bombers and Don Pedro Martinez, were quickly dispatched out of the story.

Harry Clifton is still writing very successful detective novels but gets involved in an unbelievable campaign, which he kicks off in Moscow, for the release of an author from a Russian jail who wrote a  banned biography of Stalin. As Chairman, Emma battles to keep the Barrington Steamship Company afloat with Lady Virginia Fenwick still causing problems, and using Major Alex Fisher and other unscrupulous characters to implement her schemes.

Giles Barrington is a junior minister in Harold Wilson's first government and fights for his political life when the government falls. Sebastian is quickly becoming the financial brains of the Clifton family and gets involved in some interesting but strange financial intrigues.

This book only spans the years 1964 to 1970 which gives Jeffrey Archer scope for a host of future chronicles. While I admire Archer as a great storyteller I am tired of the Clifton/Barrington story line and the unusual and unbelievable lengths that he has gone to keep the story alive. I doubt that I will want to read any further chronicles.

Jeffrey Archer: Prisoner of Birth

A clever tale by a master storyteller
This was another revisit to a book I had read a while ago prompted by an Amazon deal for a Kindle copy for pocket change. Once again I enjoyed revisiting a book I had enjoyed before and surprisingly there were only a few parts that I really remember.

There are several parts to a pretty complex plot. At the beginning East-Ender Danny Cartwright proposes to his pregnant girlfriend, Beth Wilson and then goes out with Bernie, Beth's brother and Danny's best mate, to a pub to celebrate. There are four drunken men in the pub and one of them makes obscene suggestions to Beth and then picks a fight with Danny and Bernie. The outcome of the brawl is that Danny is stabbed in the leg by the leader of their opponents who then stabs Bernie fatally.

The twist in the tale is that the leader of the pack, who call themselves "the Musketeers", is an eminent and very clever lawyer who concocts a bogus story that Danny killed his best friend. Danny is arrested for murder and in court the Musketeers stick by their story and Danny is given a life sentence.

Archer then brings his own prison experience into play when he describes prison conditions and the developing personal relationship with his cellmates, especially with Nick Moncrieff, an intelligent and cultured heir to a knighthood who looks uncannily similar to Bernie.. Nick helps Bernie to with his education and social skills and they become inseparable. This sets the scene for Danny’s determination to seek revenge on each of the Musketeers.

It is a very entertaining story as Danny plots his revenge and as uses his new social and business skills to  track down each Musketeer and establish a new life. Jeffrey Archer's books can never be called literary fiction but there are few authors of this genre who can beat him as a master storyteller of complex and entertaining plots.

Jeffrey Archer: Be Careful What You Wish For

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Yet another cliffhanger ending
Those of you who have read the first three books in the series (you should read them in order) will know that at the end of each one Archer leaves you with a cliffhanger (I call them "Clifton" hangers) of an ending so you have to wait on tenterhooks for the next book in the series to be released find the answer. At the end of the last book ("Best Kept Secret") we were left wondering if Sebastian Clifton or his best friend Bruno had been killed in a fatal car accident. I would like to tell you what happens but can't do so because the outcome is important to the plot of this book.

Harry is getting used to being a best-selling author of detective novels both sides of the Atlantic. Emma is becoming increasingly involved with the decision of the Board of the Barrington Shipping Company to build a luxury liner, the MV Buckingham, at a time when Transatlantic air travel is becoming the normal mode of business travel. Sir Giles Barrington MP is becoming a more important member of the Shadow Cabinet and is planning to marry again after his disastrous marriage to Lady Virginia Fenwick. Harry and Emma’s adopted daughter, Priscilla grows up to become a very talented artist but has never been told the real secret of her birth.

In the previous book the Cliftons foil Don Pedro Martinez's efforts to import a huge amount of near-perfect Nazi counterfeit five pound notes hidden in a Rodin statue. Martinez's vendetta to destroy the Cliftons and Barringtons is central to this book. This time he is ably supported by his sons, a former SS officer, Karl Lunsdorf and the IRA.  He also uses the notorious Major Alex Fisher (who bullied Giles and Harry at school and nearly got Giles killed at Tobruk) as his proxy on the Board of Barrington Shipping to destroy the firm's plans to build the new luxury liner.  Giles' ex wife Lady Virginia Fenwick, is still around and always happy to add her particular brand of poison to the family fortunes.

All of this makes the foundation for exciting times in the lives of the Cliftons and Barringtons. While most of the characters were in the previous book, Archer adds a couple of interesting and influential new ones. Cedric Hardcastle is a dour and successful owner of a Yorkshire based Merchant Bank who becomes a member of the Board of Barrington Shipping and has to decide who to support to become the next chairman of the board: Emma Clifton or Major Alex Fisher? Priscilla's future father-in-law, Robert Bingham, who made his fortune as a manufacturer of fish paste, is another larger than life character who gets involved with the family fortunes.

Jeffrey  Archer is a consummate story-teller and this series continues to display his skills in writing easy-reading and page-turning family-based stories which twist and turn all the time. If you have read the first books in the series this is a must-read which I am sure you will enjoy. My only concern was that most of the baddies in this story are carried over from the previous one.

What about the "Clifton" hanger ending? Of course there is one and you can see it building up during the latter part of the book. Of course it leaves you on tenterhooks until the next book is released in about a year. The series keeps on going and going (this one only took us from 1957 to 1964) so it seems there may still be some more Clifton Chronicles to come.

Jeffrey Archer: Best Kept Secret: The Clifton Chronicles 3

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Jeffrey Archer scores again with another page-turning best-seller with the next book in the addictive Clifton Chronicles series. Archer is a consummate story teller and this series continues to display his skills in writing easy-reading and exciting family-based stories. If you have read the first books in the series this one is a must-read. If not you will still enjoy it but it would help if you are able to read the other books first.

Those of you who have read the first two books in the series will know that at the end of each one Archer leaves you with a cliff-hanger (I call them "Clifton" hangers) of an ending so you have to wait on tenterhooks for the next book in the series to be released find the answer. At the end of "Sins of the Father" a tied vote in the House of Lords on whether Harry Clifton or his best friend Giles Barrington inherits the Barrington title and property has been left to the Lord Chancellor to decide. All I can safely tell you is that the Lord Chancellor found this the most difficult decision in his career and he "would never admit, even to his closest confidant, that he changed his mind at the last moment."

Harry settles down to pursue a career as a best-selling detective novelist, while Emma goes in search of her illegitimate half-sister who was put into foster care when both her father and mother died after a fight. Giles Barrington pursues his career as Labour MP for Bristol with the slimmest of majorities.

As usual Archer adds a few baddies to spice up things. Among them are Alex Fisher, who bullied Giles and Harry at school and nearly got Giles killed at Tobruk, and Lady Virginia Fenwick - a beautiful, aristocratic, gold-digging control-freak.

The story moves to the next generation when Sebastian, the son of Harry and Emma, grows up and when he leaves school gets involved in the next "Clifton-hanger" ending where we have to wait for the next book to find out what really happened.

I don't know if even Archer knows how many Chronicles are to come - he has only taken us to the mid 1950's so far and the next generation of Clifton's are only just starting to flap their wings.

Jeffrey Archer: The Prodigal Daughter

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An excellent sequel to Kane and Abel
Jeffrey Archer has been one of the world's best storytellers for over 25 years and all of his books have been page-turners for me. This is one of his early stories and a good one.  In part it is a sequel to his wordwide bestseller Kane and Abel but it is mainly about the lives of the children of Abel Rosnovski and William Kane.

At birth Abel gives his daughter, Florentyna, a Teddy Bear named "President" after US President Theodore Roosevelt, whose nickname was "Teddy". Florentyna's first word is not "Daddy" or "Mummy" but "Prusident" - a sign of things to come. At age 11 she makes a pact with her father for him to finance her Presidential campaign if she wins the first major primary for the Democratic Party.

Abel Rosnovski  gives Florentyna every support in her education, including employing a wonderful English Governess who guides her through her early days to give her the strength, personality and skills to become a very successful person both commercially and politically.

The bad blood between Abel Rosnovski and the powerful banker William Kane continues and escalates when Kane's son Richard meets Florentyna.

The latter part of the book covers Florentyna's commercial successes and eventual entry into US politics. Archer displays a detailed knowledge of the US political system. While it is an older book (1982) it is not dated and much of the political action is a reminder of more recent US political events.

As well as being a best selling author, Archer lived an eventful life as a UK Parliamentarian and Conservative Party Chairman and was made a life peer. His career was suspended when he was convicted and imprisoned for perjury. Despite all of these traumas Archer has never lost his great story telling skills.

His latest book - Sins of the Father in the Clifton Chronicles series - still has his magic touch and the ending will keep you in suspense again until he has written the next book in the series.