The Eleventh Commandment

Archer, Jeffrey

ISBN 10: 0060191503 / ISBN 13: 9780060191504

Published by HarperCollins, New York, 1998

About this Item

CL2 - A first edition hardcover book signed by author on a bookplates adhered on the half-title page in very good condition in very good dust jacket that is jacket mylar protected. Dust jacket has some light discoloration and shelf wear. Book has some bumped corners, moderate tanning, and light shelf wear. 9.5"x6.5", 359 pages. Satisfaction Guaranteed. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

Seller Inventory # EC37663BB

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Eleventh Commandment
• Publisher: HarperCollins, New York
• Publication Date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060191503
• ISBN 13: 9780060191504
• Binding: Hard Cover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Signed: Signed by Author
• Seller catalogs:
  • Fiction::Suspense & Thrillers
  • Fiction::Signed Fiction
  • Fiction::Spy & Espionage
  • Fiction

About this title

Synopsis

As he nears retirement and the end of a twenty-eight-year double life, Connor Fitzgerald comes across the first enemy he cannot handle, the CIA director who is his boss and who must destroy him to save herself. 250,000 first printing. $250,000 ad/promo.

Review

Former MP and prospective Mayor of London Jeffrey Archer's latest offering is an ambitious international thriller of expansive scope, a tale of espionage, intrigue and suspense at the very highest echelons of power. Archer wastes no time diving into his rollercoaster of a plot; we are introduced to our hero, Connor Fitzgerald, "the CIA's most deadly weapon", as he completes his mission--to assassinate a presidential candidate in Colombia. The far-reaching consequences of his act are not immediately apparent as he makes his way back to a loving wife and daughter and his life of "normality"--as far as they are concerned he is an insurance specialist--but in his inimitable style, Archer drives the plot along at speed, never lingering for longer than necessary as we are introduced to a succession of characters of great stature, ranging from the President of the United States to his headstrong CIA director and a new, extremist president in Russia. As the plot develops, Connor becomes ensnared in a political intrigue which will see him have to draw on all his wits and resourcefulness as he struggles for self-preservation and the safety of the free world as we know it.

One might assume that, given Archer's proximity to genuine political power for much of his life, he would be in a position to bring a greater realism to his story of high-stakes political manoeuvring than other authors without his experience. He certainly encourages this belief on his page of acknowledgements, which includes a former director of the CIA and FBI and a U.S. National Security Advisor. However, readers anticipating evidence of any great insight into this world should prepare to be disappointed--this is not where the strength of the book lies, although there are some nice touches, and a certain suspension of disbelief is necessary to get the best out of it. Mind you, one doesn't doubt that Archer's eleventh commandment, "Thou shalt not be caught", is a maxim many politicians and power-brokers, himself included, have lived their lives by. Where he does succeed, though, is in story-telling, with a relentless plot and the creation of a sympathetic, if barely plausible, central character capable of drawing readers in and carrying them, thrill-a-minute, to a dramatic, surprising and ultimately satisfying conclusion. --Alisdair Bowles