Book Review: Clifton Chronicles by Jeffrey Archer

Reading "The Clifton Chronicles" is like reading the history of the Nehru/ Gandhi dynasty. It starts off somewhat mundane, becomes mildly interesting, a few scandals erupt and thereafter with each coming generation, it becomes more and more boring.

Archer is a master at writing stories about characters developing over decades, as he demonstrates in his masterpiece “First Among Equals” but he seems to have bitten off more than he should have chewed with “The Clifton Chronicles”. The first book is soap-opera-ish with bastard sons, dalliances, mysterious disappearances and the sons of enemies becoming friends, etc. But what keeps the first book going is the deliciously dark character of Hugo Barrington, who is undoubtedly the most interesting character in the series.

Book One ends dramatically, compelling people to invest themselves in the second of the series. However, the drama soon peters off towards the end of Book Two and Book Three was so boring that I could not go beyond the first chapter.

If you want to read Jeffrey Archer, there are better books out there.

If you want to read a book series, there are better books out there.