Be Careful What You Wish For is at the very least a better novel then the previous entry into the series, Best Kept Secret. However for a series that started off as splendidly as this, it’s still a let down from the first two novels.

The fourth novel in the Clifton Chronicles series picks up minutes where the Best Kept Secret left. This is regular Jeffrey Archer book, no doubt Archer is a wonder story teller but this story (particularly the last two books in this series) is not Archer’s best books. It looks very ordinary on reading as it is advancing. Still, I am very eager to know what will be the final outcome of the Clifton Saga.

The book opens with Harry Clifton and his wife Emma rushing to hospital to learn the fate of their son Sebastian, who has been involved in a fatal car accident. The fate is not angelic with Cliftons when the chairman of Barrington Shipping Company decides to resign from his post and Emma Clifton wants to replace him. Don Pedro Martinez, not a master villain I would say, just an ordinary but intense part of the story, intends to install his puppet, the egregious Major Alex Fisher, in order to destroy the Barrington family firm just as the company plans to build its new luxury liner. In London, Harry and Emma’s adopted daughter wins a scholarship to the Slade Academy of Art where she falls in love with a fellow student, who asks her to marry him. Both families are delighted until Priscilla Bingham, Jessica’s future mother-in-law, has a visit from an old friend, Lady Virginia Fenwick, who drops her particular brand of poison into the wedding goblet.

While the Clifton and Barrington families march forward into the sixties, in this tale of love, revenge, ambition and betrayal, the ending leaves the reader in a tight situation. A major event does take place this time which I guess is the biggest event in the Clifton Chronicles, though it is predictable before the end of the book but curiosity craves for what happens after it.

The wait for the fifth book is too long as it won’t be available for the readers before March, 2015. If anyone new starts this story, I would recommend him to read from the first book, Only time Will tell, which till date stands out to be the best book in this series. Reading the story from between will look dull and boring as later books, including this one, is not excellently (or in Archer’s way) written and plotted.

3 out of 5 from me.

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Best Kept Secret

by Jeffrey Archer

Best Kept Secret is the third book in the series called ‘The Clifton Chronicles’, written by Jeffrey Archer. the first two books are: Only Time will Tell and The Sins of the Father. The book is  is 380 pages long and is divided into 46 chapters. You will be hooked to the book right from the prologue if you have read the earlier two books of the series. The book focuses on the life of Harry Clifton and people around him during the years 1945 to 1957.

The Sins Of The Father ends at the moment where the judge is about to declare who would be inheriting the Barrington title, Harry Clifton or his best friend Giles Barrington after the death of Sir Walter Barrington. This judgement is announced at the beginning and sets the course of Harry Clifton’s unpredictable life.

As the book progresses, the focus of the story gets shifted to Sebastian Clifton. He plays an important role is defending his uncle Giles’s seat in the house of the Commons. Also, he wins a scholarship to Cambridge in 1957 and gets caught up in a mess and which is where this book ends.

The book is no extraordinary but is a satisfactory. Archer’s way of swiftly changing the course of story is appreciable, but the book certainly has some points which were unnecessary. But then, he’s the storyteller not me. And he tells his story gracefully. The book is a fast read. Archer knows very well how to grabs readers’ attention by plunging them into the action from the first page, shifting frequently between different characters’ points of view, peeling back another layer of the story in nearly every chapter, and knowing exactly when to leave readers dangling in suspense.

No doubt Archer is one of the best storyteller in modern days. Though I will hope he releases the next book this year, which would focus on the life of Sebastian Clifton, but I am told that I have to wait till 2014.

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The Sins of the Father

by Jeffrey Archer

The Sins of the Father is the second book in a series called “The Clifton Chronicles,” written by Jeffrey Archer. As  soon as I finished reading ONLY TIME WILL TELL, which is the first book in the respective series by the same author, I was excited for the sequel. The sequel do pick up right where ‘Only Time will Tell’ left. It is self explanatory that both books should be read in the order they are written and then only, the other characters connection to the protagonist, Harry Clifton, will be understandable for the reader.

In ‘The Sins of the Father’, which spans the years of World War II, Harry is desperate to escape the revelations that upset his life and prevented his marriage to Emma Barrington, the sister of his best friend, Giles.  He finds himself in New York City, having miraculously survived a German torpedo attack, while his family back in England mourns his death.  Harry soon learns that it’s not really a good idea to assume the identity of a dead man you didn’t know very well, as it likely will bring you more trouble than simply facing your problems head on.

Meanwhile, Emma believes Harry is still alive and goes off in search of him, Giles goes off to war, and their despicable father, Hugo, shunned by his family and friends, risks the family business in a quest for more money and power.  At the same time, Harry’s mother, Maisie, struggling with grief, throws herself into her work and learns that happiness may actually be possible for a woman who’s had a rough life and never put herself first.

The drama of the Cliftons and the Barringtons continues at top speed in The Sins of the Father.  The book reads very quickly and if you are good you might finish in one sitting.  Archer knows very well how to grabs readers’ attention by plunging them into the action from the first page, shifting frequently between different characters’ points of view, peeling back another layer of the story in nearly every chapter, and knowing exactly when to leave readers dangling in suspense.

Though in my opinion ending could have been  better but I guess just for the next release he did get carried away a little. But I will appreciate him that the book is well written and the characters are well developed. It is hard to find that much amount of modern day authors developing there characters so good. But after all he is Jeffrey Archer. Though now there is more excitement for the third volume as a reader.

I would say go for it, and you won’t be disappointed, I promise.

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