Tag Archives: Harry Clifton

Mightier Than the Sword – and my fifteen minutes

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9781250034519_p0_v1_s260x420My fifteen minutes of fame came as a character in Jeffrey Archer’s latest installment of the Clifton Chronicles – Mightier Than the Sword.

Rarely do I enter contests; even more rarely do I win one – yet, Jeffrey Archer picked me. My prize – my name as a character in his next book – Mightier Than the Sword. Although I was hoping to be the evil mastermind, my namesake is a minor character appearing only briefly but consistently. Maybe you can find it – if you don’t blink.

If you are a fan of the Clifton Chronicles, you are primed to expect adventure and sabotage,  connecting the network of established characters in the Barrington and Clifton family trees.  Harry Clifton uses the book’s opening bombing incident on his wife’s new ocean liner as fodder for his latest successful spy thriller, and remains true to his moral compass as well as his penchant for crime solving, as Archer weaves Harry into a Russian undercover plot to suppressing state secrets reminiscent of a Solzhenitsyn exposé.  Emma, Chair of Barrington Shipping Company, faces her own issues with old nemesis Virginia, beautiful ex-wife of her brother Giles.  Sebastian, son of Harry and Emma, now a young handsome finance wizard, had my undivided attention, since he is the character who interacts with my namesake – on more than one occasion.  More characters reappear, but Archer carefully provides background for anyone who has not read the previous books in the series.  If you are a new fan, you might consider starting at the beginning with a binge-read, saving yourself from the angst of the inevitable cliff-hanging ending.

Reading an Archer novel is like watching an episode of your favorite television series.  The plot twists are usually surprising, the villains sometimes win the battles, the heroes are vulnerable, and satisfying solutions usually prevail.  I dare you to not read the books quickly as I do, furiously seeking the next outcome.  Maybe in the next installment, Dr. Rosemary Wolfe will return and play a bigger role in Sebastian’s life – I hope so.

Related Reviews: Previous books in The Clifton Chronicles

Best Kept Secret and Be Careful What You Wish For by Jeffrey Archer

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9781250000989_p0_v3_s260x420The third book in Jeffery Archer’s saga of the Clifton and Barrington families – Best Kept Secret – resolves the inheritance issues from the second book, and introduces the next generation.  Sebastian, son of Emma Barrington and Harry Clifton, manages to uphold the family drama with his own escapades; one involves  Third Reich money laundered through a South American villain.  Beware – the ending is another cliff hanger, but since the principals of soap operas rarely die, the probable outcome is predictable.

My library request was granted the day before I was to leave on a trip.  Thinking I would savor the easy drama on my red-eye flight, I checked out the “hot pick” (due back in 7 days) – but couldn’t resist and read the book in a sitting the night before leaving.  Fast-paced fun family drama with a few diversions in the simple plotting.  If you are a fan, this book is the midpoint in the series, and Archer doesn’t keep readers waiting long for the next installment.

Be Careful What You Wish For

9781250034489_p0_v1_s260x420Almost a year later, the next installment of the Clifton Chronicles has appeared, with Harry a successful best-selling novelist and Emma as Chair of the Board.  This time someone significant does die unexpectedly in the middle of the story, but the drama continues as the Barringtons have their first luxury liner ship ready to sail.  The family may narrowly escape a financial destruction but the family nemesis, Martinez, may be leaving behind two sons bent for revenge.  Some of the principals may not survive the final pages with an IRA bomb imbedded in a vase of lilies.    – until the next installment.

Although Archer fills in the back story for those who either have not read the first few books – or for those, like me, with bad memories of who is who, I’m starting to think it would be more fun to read them in tandem – a marathon read that would take one cliffhanger into the next without as much of a wait.  Then I might remember who the good guys and bad guys are.

Reviews for Books One and Two:

The Sins of the Father – sequel to Only Time Will Tell

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Archer’s first book in the Clifton Chronicles ended with a cliffhanger; he continues the tale of Harry Clifton in the sequel – The Sins of the Father. After leaving poor Emma at the altar when he discovers she may be his sister, Harry Clifton sailed to New York City, and has changed his identity. Unfortunately, the man whose identity he has taken, has a miserable past that is waiting to sabotage Harry as he steps off the boat – into jail.

If you didn’t read the background story in Only Time Will Tell, Archer brings you up to date as he backtracks to fill in the blanks. Unfortunately, the steady tread of information slows down the action in the beginning of the story, but quickly recovers as Harry makes the best of his new identity and surroundings.

Archer divides the chapters among the Cliftons and the Barringtons – Harry, Emma, Giles, Maizie, Hugo – juggling subplots, with Harry and Emma at the center of the action.

A fast-paced mystery thriller with World War II as the backdrop, Only Time Will Tell is a fun read. Archer books are addictive; once you get into the world of Harry Clifton, you won’t want to stop reading. Archer sets the bait once again at the end of this one, stopping abruptly (I thought I missed a page) – agh! another agonizing wait for the sequel.

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Only Time Will Tell

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If you like cliffhangers, Jeffrey Archer’s Only Time Will Tell has them in every chapter. Unfortunately, the ending also leaves you hanging; this is the first book of a trilogy in The Clifton Chronicles.

Each character narrates his or her own chapter, dropping the line at the end to be picked up midway through the next chapter in another voice. Harry Clifton anchors the action as a young poor but talented Pip-like character, who has secret benefactors as well as hidden tormentors. Harry’s miserable life changes for the better when he wins a choral scholarship to a prestigious prep school where he meets his best friend (who may also secretly be his half-brother).

The plot twists a few times, with the rich villain getting the upper hand now and then, until good overcomes evil. Harry manages to study his way all the way to Oxford acceptance, but throughout Harry’s young life, the mystery of his background lurks in the wings, promising to derail his success. Is he the son of the shipping magnate who may have killed the man he thinks of as his father? or not?

The supporting cast is predictable – the sacrificing mother, the elder mentor, the genius buddy, the beautiful maiden – and the plot is downright soap opera. To tell more would spoil the adventure. But I was hooked in the first pages, and never stopped until I read the book straight through into the night. Archer’s ending was clever – with World War II looming – a seasonal cliffhanger that could hold its own with any television series. I can’t wait for the next book to find out what happens to Harry.