Long after, a time would come when I would be heard telling my grandchildren that there was a writer whose name was Jeffrey Archer, and why his each book was a best seller.
I have but read a few of his books, ‘Kane and Abel’, ‘Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less’, ‘Shall We Tell the President?’, ‘The Eleventh Commandment’, and most recently his two novels of Clifton Chronicles- ‘Only Time Will Tell’ and ‘The Sins of the Father’.
I must say, I am awed by this master story-teller, who knows very well how to spin a yarn. There is a twist and turn in each of the pages, and I must say that the central characters of his story are always pragmatic- they never ever let the fate guide them. However cruel, however cunning the world may be, you would always find the characters rising above themselves and going to extraordinary measures to get themselves ahead of the crowd with hard as well as smart work.
I do think that Jeffrey Archer is greatly influenced by Ayn Rand, because all his protagonists exude merit- be it Harry Clifton, Emma Barrington, Giles Barrington or Terry Bates.
‘The Sins of the Father’ begins where ‘Only Time Will Tell’ ends. Harry Clifton, who had taken on another identity to free his beloved Emma from all bonds finds himself entrenched in a murder case that his new avatar ‘Tom Bradshaw’ had committed. Though, he ducks the murder charge with the help of Sefton Jelks, he is to find soon enough that the lawyer had an ulterior motive. Not only does the lawyer advice him not to shed his new identity (he knows that Harry is not Tom, as he represented him), but he also asks him to plead guilty to the charge of deserting the navy.
Harry finds himself alone, after he is charged for 6 years in prison, with no hot-shot lawyer by his side.
In the mean time, Emma is not ready to believe that Harry was buried at the sea. All she has as a proof is an unopened letter on the mantelpiece, which though having ‘Tom Bradshaw’ on its cover, is written in the handwriting which Emma is all too familiar with. She takes it upon herself to find the father of her son, as she travels all the way to America to do so…
With World War 2 set as the background, you find Giles Barrington, taking part in it- in order to prove that he is worth his salt (And not his father’s son). I have read very few books on any sort of war (I read Catch-22, but didn’t seem to like it, I read two-three books by Alistair McClain- which I did enjoy), so of course I was excited to know what actually happens in the training camps where you turn a peasant into a full fledged soldier and at the actual war front. Here also, Giles encounters a nasty persona from his past and learns that like the tail of a dog, personalities never change.
In all, this is a wonderful novel. I was totally absorbed in it. Unlike some other writers, Jeffrey Archer doesn’t need to woo readers with gaudy pretence. His popularity lies in his simplicity. And maybe that’s the reason, why all the lot of ‘Only Time Will Tell’ sold out on the next day of the release itself. And that’s why he is the only author to have a number one spot on the best seller list 15 times.
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