One thing that always fascinates in novels by Jeffrey Archer is, how he treats or introduces his lead characters. They are given equal space and almost similar introductions. How they respond to such situations clearly tells the viewers who is the protagonist and who is the villain. In fact, for most of the first half of the novel, both will be right in their own terms and when they do cross swords with each other, from then on its a clear course on who will win in the end. There would always be a mid second half sequence where the hero will falter badly and the villain will be triumphant. The end climax will involve some nail biting situations where the villain will loose in a quirky way or by some rebellious act from one of his own that paves the way for heroic comeback by the lead character. Be it Matter of Honour, Kane & Abel, Prodigal daughter (the second half), Fourth estate, Honour amongst theives and in multiple times across the whole book of First amongst equals, you can see the same template being followed. More specifically or popularly on "Fourth estate" where both the lead pairs being equally bad and in the end, with the badder of the duo killing himself and the other guy opting for the same approach that lead to the downfall of the former with the famous "I lied" statement, makes it all the more intriguing and possibly setting the tone for bad guys ruling the roost in coming times. I loved the way each of them trying to take control over one newspaper over other and how they go about outwitting each other, leveraging every single penny to achieve their means and eventually ending up bankrupt (almost bankrupt for one). Kane & Abel is a classic of its own with Abel being painted slightly more gray than Kane. Archer makes it up in the sequel with Prodigal daughter more than making up for what Abel missed in the first part.
My favorite of all his books being Prodigal daughter, which i've mentioned several times in this space, may potentially end up coming true in 2 months time this year!! If at all it happens true and the lotus lady becomes the POTUS, we would've been a generation who would've witnessed two such events, even thinking of which in fun would've been impossible 50 years before- A black president and a lady at the helm of affairs in white house!! Will carrot crop Trump over the Harried flower - only time will tell.
Comments