Honor Among Thieves by Jeffrey Archer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Who exactly was Saddam Hussein? That was the first question that popped up in my mind after completing this novel.
This is what the Guardian has to write about this tyrannical ruler who controlled Iraq for over a period of 24 years with an iron fist. And it was all I needed to know about the guy whom I was beginning to hate halfway through the novel.
Saddam was born in the nearby village of Owja, into the mud house of his uncle, Khairallah Tulfah, and into what a Tikriti contemporary of his called a world “full of evil”. His father, Hussein al-Majid, a landless peasant, had died before his birth, and his mother, Sabha, could not support the orphan, until she took a third husband.
Hassan Ibrahim took to extremes local Bedouin notions of a hardy upbringing. For punishment, he beat his stepson with an asphalt-covered stick. Thus, from earliest infancy, was Saddam nurtured – like a Stalin born into very similar circumstances – in the bleak conviction that the world is a congenitally hostile place, life a ceaseless struggle for survival, and survival only achieved through total self-reliance, chronic mistrust and the imperious necessity to destroy others before they destroy you.
The sufferings visited on the child begat the sufferings the grown man, warped, paranoid, omnipotent, visited on an entire people. Like Stalin, he hid his emotions behind an impenetrable facade of impassivity; but he assuredly had emotions of a virulent kind – an insatiable thirst for vengeance on the world he hated.
To fend off attack by other boys, Saddam carried an iron bar. It became the instrument of his wanton cruelty; he would bring it to a red heat, then stab a passing animal in the stomach, splitting it in half. Killing was considered a badge of courage among his male relatives. Saddam’s first murder was of a shepherd from a nearby tribe. This, and three more in his teens, were proof of manhood.
No doubt, mostly all of Iraq hated him and feared his whims and fancies which heralded someone’s death for sure.
That said Jeffery Archer’s Honour Among Thieves is indeed a cracker of a novel. The merit of the book lies not only in the fast pace but also the subtlety with which Mr. Archer moves ahead in this delightful yarn. While most of the spine-chillers end up explaining their plots and subplots with overmuch detail, Mr. Archer followed the golden rule of understatement. If indeed, you wished to skip a passage or two, you would be at a loss as you would not be able to make a head or tail why a particular incident took place. He does not brandish gory details over the murders taking place and mentions many of them in chance remarks between the characters! At no point did I feel that the novel was overstretched.
Right at the beginning, a plan of a daring heist emerges. To steal an object held so close to the American heart might have been considered impossible. But the sheer impossibility of the plan and the pursuit of a few brilliant conmen to give it wings and a flat runway to take-off make the book all the more exciting. Mr. Archer slowly builds the tension and it becomes almost impossible to stay off the book for more than a few minutes. The palpitating tension results in splendid fireworks at the end as the protagonists try to escape from the clutches of Saddam Hussein.
A book of fiction tells much about the life and times of the people. I checked the year of the publication of this book – 1993, at that time most of the people in the world were quite apprehensive about this vulture who had perched himself rigidly over the bounteous oil-spurting nest called Iraq. Today, we are no longer concerned about this man who had given quite a few sleepless nights to Presidents and Prime Ministers of many powerful nations of the time. But it was an altogether different era. If the Second World War produced Guns of Navarone and countless other books concerning themselves with Germany, clicking their tongues in relish and feeding over each rumor emerging from that secretive country: tales of cyborg army, a new super powerful weapon and what not, if the cold war resulted in plethora of Anti-Russia intrigue, Honour Among Thieves is definitely one of those novels concerning itself with the times of Saddam.
This indeed is trademark Archer book. The author likes his central characters to be nothing short of genius, and here we are introduced to quite a motley bunch of super-smarts. The novel is a tightly orchestrated play of words with thorough trimming and sleek streamlining.
Mr. Archer is indeed oath bound to deliver us fast paced thrillers. So if you are looking to vicariously lead a life filled with thrill and adventure, it would be better if you tag along with this very talented author.
Related articles
- Documentary: Israeli Intel Agency Tried To Kill Saddam Hussein With Book Bomb (washington.cbslocal.com)
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