Oct 18, 2006 05:09 PM
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False Impression, Jeffrey Archer's latest thriller, is the epitome of a "beach read." It immediately captures and then holds the reader's attention throughout. The plot, which involves the mysteries surrounding Van Gogh's last painting, is fast paced and,for the most part, maintains a relatively high level of excitement. Further, the characters, while not especially well developed are interesting enough. What keeps me from rating the book higher is the fact that I was able to predict virtually all of the events that were supposedly intended by Archer to represent the book's surprises and twists and turns. Nonetheless, False Impression provided me with several hours of entertainment when relaxing recently at the beach. False Impression is far from being Jeffrey Archer's best book, but it is one that I think you will enjoy if you are willing to accept an average to slightly above average performance from an author that is capable of much more.
Jeffrey Archer is a great author - "Kane and Abel" is wonderful and some of his twisted short stores are amazing. But this book is..... well, seeming lost, and a little short on the thrills and clever turns we've come to expect.
The first half of the book relies a little to heavily on the horror of September 11 for me to be comfortable with it, and the latter part of the book is entirely too predictable. It is as if it is two books trying to be one, and in my opinion neither entirely succeeds.
This is an easy read of course, and the hero is a sympathetic character. However, the motivations of the bad guys are relatively ill defined, and none of the action ever rings true.
Jeffrey Archer has written many much, much better books - go and find them!
