The Sins of The Father - Jeffrey Archer

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• Overview:

     New York. 1939. Tom Bradshaw is arrested for first degree murder. He stands accused of killing his brother. When Sefton Jelks, a top Manhattan lawyer, offers his services for nothing, penniless Tom has little choice but to accept his assurance of a lighter sentence. After Tom is tried, found guilty and sentenced, Jelks disappears, and the only way for him to prove his innocence would be to reveal his true identity - something that he has sworn never to do in order to protect the woman he loves.

     Meanwhile, the young woman in question travels to new York, leaving their son behind in England, having decided she'll do whatever it takes to find the man she was to marry - unwilling to believe that he died at sea. The only proof she has is a letter. A letter that has remained unopened on the mantelpiece in Bristol for over a year.

• Review:

     With this being the second book of the Clifton Chronicles, I couldn't wait to carry off where the first book left me off at. That was a major cliffhanger that got me impatient to carry on with the novel. To my surprise, this book has put be through major ups and down, so much stress and cursing!! That was amazing, for a book to get you to experience different feelings and to feel like you're actually part of the entire book that was special! 

     Now, when Harry was arrested in New York, it felt like the world has been falling apart, for him and for me. No matter how much he tried to say that he was not Tom Bradshaw but indeed a Harry Clifton, no one really believed him. The time plot for the novel was sometime around the 1940s and as I am reading this in 2016, the timely effect the book gave was astonishing. You get to experience the simplicity of life and the sacrifices where there was no technology as there is nowadays, only telegrams and letters. Very vintage-y at some point and suitable. I admired the fact that once Harry was sent to jail for a crime he had not committed and decided to sacrifice his own life for the sake of Emma having a grand one of her own was simply what true love is all about. When I say love, it's not what everyone thinks it is, it's more like being human and wishing and doing what you can for the happiness of the other party although it breaks you apart, yet there's nothing you can do about. It's fate. The best part of his time in prison is him taking things seriously and giving up to reality and deciding to do his time and more importantly have a goal while being there, to be a librarian and write a diary about his time there. I would love to read "The Diary of a convict". It's a diary I would do anything to read actually, but sadly it's fictional only. The plot twist all of a sudden with Harry where he was given a chance to join the military and get to change his name back to being Harry Clifton dropped my jaw, I mean whaaaat?!

     Then there's Emma on her journey across the oceans for hope of finding Harry. I have to admit to yet again admiring all the effort she put into finding him, I mean she didn't easily give up and to mention it she had to leave her baby back in England.  Words can not express how happy I am with the fatal end of Hugo, that sounds a bit odd but boy he deserved it!!

     As for the reunion, I must say I was a bit disappointed because I was expecting a little more of it, it felt like Harry has just gotten back from a month's trip and it felt very normal though I wanted it to be more emotional dramatic maybe? But not to dramatic. It was nice as of it. I shall not forget to rant about Emma's emphasis on her British accent while she was in New York, I loved that part very much it felt like she was forcing into showing the world where she was coming from and to prove Harry's innocence as well, that deserved a huge thumbs up!

     With the third book already in stock with me I have to say that the cliff hanger at the end of this book got me again cliff-hanged. I mean I was rushing through reading the remaining pages hoping to know who would eventually inherit it all Harry or Giles after that 13 hour session and then I'm left there in thirst!!

     I'm so glad I've driven my way into this series because it's that one series you do not regret spending the time on and ofcourse all the emotions on!

Only Time Will Tell - Jeffrey Archer

© amazon.co.uk

"Once upon a time, there existed a book thief wandering around the stacked bookshelves of a public library wondering what to read next. The best shelf to look into was the "best-selling" shelf. What a colourful shelf that was indeed, with various genres and captivating titles that made your fingers itch...."

I think that's enough with the dramatic effect, back to business.

    I came across the fourth volume of the Clifton Chronicles at a local book store hoping that it would be as exciting as its brief summary on the back of it. Little did I know that was the fourth book. For some reason I ended up purchasing it was boy wasn't it a hock to find out that it was the "fourth" book, FOURTH BOOK! Woah, that was a shock I couldn't contain. Upon the second visit, I was determined to get myself a copy of the first volume and wasn't I just lucky enough to get it. I have to admit though, this book sat on my shelf for quite some time before I mastered the courage of read it, and when I did, I read the first few chapters before deciding to keep it as a "second-hand" book while I read something else. Little did I know, little did I know indeed. Once the primary book on my list was read, I grabbed "Only Time Will Tell" and continued. Though for the time it remained untouched on my shelf I had this urge to read it, there was something about the story line, the plot, the writing, basically everything about it that got that feeling in me of wanting to read it.

    This was the very first book I read by Jeffrey Archer and to my surprise his books were all over the libraries I've been to and I couldn't help but ask myself "How come I've never heard of you?" and things like "What is it with your writing that makes you pop out everywhere?". At this moment, I understand why. There are a lot of writers out there that make your heart ache for a few chapters then you simply get sick of that and just feel it got too drifted away. Others will make you feel anxious and excited to know what's to happen next, but as things get taken too seriously and dramatically you simply stop reading the book. Jeffrey Archer is a whole lot different. I have to admit though, despite my intensive reading habit that's getting a little out of control now that I'm interning, I have never came across a mind gripping novel as this one. Literally, just literally from page one to that very last page of the book, I was simply living in an endless loop of excitement, anxiety, sadness, anger, worry, and shock literally! How can someone make you feel gripped till that last page of the book, how? Goodness this was simply beyond the best adjective in the entire dictionary that would fit in to describe this novel. What made it the best of the best is how the story line was carried out from all the main-character's perspectives, and that was smoothly done. Some writers focus on the perspective of one of the characters or two and fail to keep that goodness for the other character's perspective.  I fit weren't for the different perspectives approach, I would've lived the story from Harry's point of view only and that would've bored me to death. But Archer did not, he took the story from Harry's point, Old Jack's point and even Hugo's point of view and did so so very perfectly I could cry from the magnificence it brought to life. You get to taste the ultimate feelings of friendship, sacrifice, loyalty and unexpectedly hatred and power-abuse it's not joke.

    I do have to mention the fact that I couldn't wait to finish reading this book and start "The Alchemist". I remember half-way through the book I felt like I've got the entire basic idea of the Clifton Chronicles and decided to mark this as the last book I read and not continue with the entire series, but when I came to read the very last chapter of the book I was in complete I shock I simply lost  control on my thoughts, and most importantly my mental state. It was the most unexpected and most unanticipated twist in the entire book! How can I not read the second volume? Now that would simply be intense torture to my soul.  I don't want to get started with how magnificent the book cover by itself make me delighted to carry around, I haven't got the chance to carry a red book with an abundance of goodness to read.

    Now I know why Archer is all over the place, and he sure deserves it for the master piece he's created. This book is not like any other book with a story line told from all the main character's perspective it does not even give you a moment to doubt any of the characters for yourself it's pure grandness. That's the main reason I've without a doubt given this book a 5/5 stars without a single hesitation because it was more than that <3