Hey Friends,
This is the very first novel of this immensely successful and multi talented author. Jeffrey Archer started his writing career by this book and has written some dozen other books which are short stories collections and novels.
This is a very satisfying read, and keeping in mind the fact that this was the first book of the author he has done a magnificent job in it. The story is fast, no loop holes, no slow patches, no confusion in the plot and the knitting of four different stories in the novel is simply amazing.
The Characters
There are half a dozen main characters in the story though there is no single ’hero’ in the story.
Harvey Metcalfe is a US businessman who has a reputation of being shrewd and cunning and he has broken almost every rule in the book to make millions. As Archer says-Making a million legally has always been difficult. Making a million illegally has always been a little easier. Keeping a million when you have made it is perhaps the most difficult of all.
But Harvey is a person who has managed all three.
Stephen Bradley-an Oxford don, Dr. Robin Oakley - a Harley Street doctor, Jean Pierre Lamanns - a Bond Street art dealer and Lord James Brigsley - the heir to an earldom are the four other characters in the story.
Anne Summerton is the other very important character in the story but up till 3/4th of the story the reader will feel she is just girlfriend of James and a pretty face but in reality she is very important to story because of one fact that will only be revealed in the last 1/4th of story and it will take you by surprise. (And I am not going to spoil your interest here by telling it!)
The Story
Harvey raises a company in UK using some of his men. It is called Prospecta Oil. It is actually a fraudulent company but Harvey has done the illegal things remaining in the letter of law so many times that it is almost impossible to nail him.
(How the company is raised and the objective of the company and why the company is fraudulent and the trading hence done by Harvey is also wrong, read it for yourself!!)
Due to these wrong trading in share market Harvey makes $1 million. When you do something the way it is not supposed to done, you don’t generate money for yourself, you actually steal some one else’s money and become rich yourself. Same is the case here. The four people mentioned above are the casualties of this share market war.
But Stephen (the professor at Oxford) decides to recover the money back from Harvey, up till the penny - not a penny more and not a penny less. He invites James, Jean and Robin to Oxford and together these four men plan to fight Harvey. They make for separate plans to recover the money and they execute it to perfection, finally recovering all but $1 and 24 cents.
The Plans
The plans made by these four people are separate but they execute it together. They not only recover their money which they lost to Harvey but they also charge him to expenses and finally end up recovering more that $1 million, or should I say end up stealing from Harvey! But as the famous saying in India goes - Choron Ke Ghar Chori Chori Nahin Hera Pheri Kehlati hai (Stealing money from a thief is not theft it is called manipulation!!)
Recovering goes in four parts i.e. four separate plans by Stephen, James, Jean and Robin.
The Conclusion
The ending of story is even perfect. When finally these four men have recovered their money from Harvey something very strange happens in the share market. The prices of shares of oil companies start to increase and Prospecta Oil is also hit by the Bull Run. So not only they recovered their fair share from Harvey they finally end up making some money from his wrongly raised company in UK.
The Final Verdict
This is a finely written, well researched, amazingly knit story of four people who suffered in the hands of a businessmen with a ’not so good’ reputation and finally recovered there losses. And God helps those who help themselves so they end up making money. The novel is very enjoyable and good for light hearted reading. It is best choice for people who have just started reading fiction, in my opinion it comes second to Sidney Sheldon’s novels if you have just started to read fiction and like it.
It makes for a fine bed time reading, good for a long journey or perhaps a boring weekend. It is small novel of around 250 pages with simple language. People who enjoy authors like John Grisham might not be very excited about the language of the novel because it is so ’British’ but then the author is also British so you can’t expect those American slangs all the time but still it makes a good reading for a change.
It’s a value for money novel.
Happy Reading,
Mr. Gautam