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Summary
Summary
Why was an elegant lady brutally murdered the night before 9/11?   Why was a successful New York banker not surprised to receive a woman's left ear in the morning mail?   Why did a top Manhattan lawyer work only for one client, but never charge a fee?   Why did a young woman with a bright career steal a priceless Van Gogh painting? Why was an Olympic gymnast paid a million dollars an assignment when she didn't have a bank account?   Why was an honors graduate working as a temporary secretary after inheriting a fortune?   Why was an English Countess ready to kill the banker, the lawyer and the gymnast even if it meant spending the rest of her life in jail?   Why was a Japanese steel magnate happy to hand over $50,000,000 to a woman he had only met once?    Why was a senior FBI agent trying to work out the connection between these eight apparently innocent individuals?   All these questions are answered in Jeffrey Archer's latest audiobook, False Impression , but not before a breathtaking journey of twists and turns that will take listeners from New York to London to Bucharest and on to Tokyo, and finally a sleepy English village, where the mystery of Van Gogh's last painting will finally be resolved.   And only then will listeners discover that Van Gogh's Self-portrait with Bandaged Ear has a secret of its own that acts as the final twist in this unforgettable yarn.
Author Notes
Jeffrey Archer was born on April 15, 1940, in London, England. After graduating from Brasenose College, Oxford, he founded his own company named Arrow Enterprises and promptly amassed a fortune. In 1969, he was elected to the House of Commons. A conservative Member of Parliament, he was, at the age of 29, the youngest member at that time. While in Parliament, he invested in a corporation and lost his fortune because of embezzlement. Devastated and facing financial ruin, he recounted his experiences in his book, Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less. The success of this book launched his writing career.
His other works include Kane and Abel, Honor among Thieves, Shall We Tell the President?, A Quiver Full of Arrows, The Prodigal Daughter, and The Sins of the Father. He is also the author of The Clifton Chronicles series. He writes plays including Beyond Reasonable Doubt and The Accused. He was sentenced to four years imprisonment because of perjury and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, and was released in July 2003. He published three volumes of his Prison Diary: Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. In 2014, his title Be Careful What You Wish For made The New York Times Bestseller List. In 2015 his title Mightier than the Sword made the same bestsller list.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Even though Archer (Sons of Fortune) grounds his international art-thievery thriller in the events of 9/11, this leisurely paced, tepid effort has a musty feel. It's September 10, 2001, and Lady Victoria Wentworth is sitting in spacious Wentworth Hall considering the sad state of family fortunes when a female intruder slips in, slashes her throat and cuts off her ear. The next day in New York, art expert Anna Petrescu heads to her job as art wrangler for wealthy magnate Bryce Fenston of Fenston Finance. The pair's offices are in the Twin Towers, and when disaster strikes, each sees the tragedy as an opportunity to manipulate a transaction scheduled to transfer ownership of a legendary Van Gogh painting, Self-portrait with Bandaged Ear, from the Wentworth estate to the larcenous Fenston. The initially intriguing character, hit-woman and ex-gymnast Olga Krantz, turns out to be too lightweight, both physically and fictionally, to garner strong interest in anything other than her deadly skills with a kitchen knife. Lord Archer has been busy for the past five years or so serving half of a four-year prison sentence for perjury and writing a series of books about his prison experience; his first novel in seven years disappoints. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Archer's legion of fans have been waiting for seven years for his new thriller, and its success will probably depend on how well it sits with them. Some readers may sink right into the murderous plot involving--you guessed it--valuable works of art. Others may read several chapters, get the gist of the story and its characters (plucky heroine, on the run from homicidal financier, tries to keep Van Gogh's last painting out of his evil clutches), and think: for this, we waited? It's not a bad novel, if you don't mind a thriller that feels as though it was assembled from bits and pieces of other thrillers. Certainly Archer's writing skills have not deteriorated over the years, although they haven't improved, either. Some readers, too, may question the wisdom of using the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center as a plot point; this isn't a serious work about terrorism but, instead, simply uses the tragedy as a convenient narrative landmark. On the other hand, for those who found the appeal of The Da Vinci Code0 to be in its mix of art and conspiracy, this one certainly follows the formula. Expect some demand, but buy with care. --David Pitt Copyright 2005 Booklist
Guardian Review
When Richard Nixon was facing the possibility of jail during Watergate, he was able to put a positive spin on prison, telling an aide that many great works of literature had been written behind bars. A pardon from President Ford kept Tricky Dicky out of that creative writing school, and so it has been left to a right-wing politician from Britain to test the theory that a spell in chokey improves the prose. Jeffrey Archer was unable to publicise his 11th novel, Sons of Fortune (2002), because he disobeyed the title of his 10th novel, The Eleventh Commandment (1999) - colloquially, "thou shalt not get caught". Since Sons of Fortune , there have been three volumes of prison diaries - in which Archer's previously bouncy style did seem to have become more ascetic and penitent - but now comes his first novel as an ex-con. The title feels cheekily nudge-nudge but, on inspection, has a typical slipperiness, as it could be taken as either an admission of guilt or a denial of it, depending on whether the convicted perjurer or the Old Bailey jury is being fingered for falsity. Whichever Archer intends, the novel is a criminal caper, which feels brave in the circumstances. (My guess had been that he would return with something more neutral, probably one of his interminable sagas about brothers separated at birth.) But False Impression is a book about a rich and powerful man who profits through deception, which gives it fascination from a psychological if not a literary standpoint. Again, though, the story is open to the opposite interpretation: that it is a parable of the world taking away from Archer what is rightly his. In terms of the plot, literally so: False Impression involves an international conspiracy to nick a Van Gogh self- portrait with a bandaged ear, owned in reality by Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare. The conceit of False Impression is to stage a chase story during the only days in living memory when the main form of transport in modern intercontinental adventure stories - the plane - is unavailable to the characters. The use of jets as weapons against the World Trade Center led to the closure of Amer ican airspace at the very time that a picture thief called Bryce Fenston is about to fly to New York with the Van Gogh he has murderously stolen in London. This is undoubtedly a clever idea, and the need for the central characters - art expert Anna Petrescu, a former employee of Fenston's, and Jack Delaney, an FBI agent - to find different ways of leaving and entering the States while the painting remains stranded in London gives a freshness to what would otherwise be a standard robbery plot. The difficulty is that Archer also asks 9/11 to serve another narrative purpose. Anna, working in one of the towers, is able to fake her own death. Archer has had problems with taste before, when he employed Senator Edward Kennedy as the object of an assassination plot in Shall We Tell the President? , bringing understandable objections from a family that had seen two sons shot. Using Bin Laden[pi] s mass murders as a plot device raises an even greater queasiness, especially as the dramatisation of the events is limited to per-functory descriptions of people jumping off roofs or becoming engulfed in smoke. Archer's writing has often seemed prone to a brisk heartlessness, and never more so than here. Anna, thinking of friends who work in the buildings, reflects: "It's only when you know someone that a tragedy becomes more than a news item." As well as charmlessness, Archer's other weaknesses as a novelist are also present. Possibly the most contrived clue in all crime fiction is that Anna has carefully unstitched the letter P from her jogging shirt to disguise the fact that she attended Pennsylvania University. Unfortunately, the outline of the give-away initial remains. Is it churlish to wonder why she didn't just buy another running shirt? Archer also continues to have a Van Gogh's ear for speech. Although the conversations are explicitly taking place in 2001, the phrasing seems to date from decades earlier as characters snap "damn the woman!" or lament: "She was murdered in a vile and cowardly way." The sadness of Archer's writing career is that a taut and absorbing crime story - Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less - was followed largely by bloated family yarns. False Impression is closer to his beginnings, and the smart plotting of the heist suggests that the novelist may have picked up useful data from cell-block colleagues. Unfortunately, he seems not to have signed up for remedial English. Mark Lawson's latest novel is Enough Is Enough (Picador). To order False Impression for pounds 16.99 with free UK p&p call Guardian book service on 0870 836 0875. Caption: article-Fiction 4.1 The title feels cheekily nudge-nudge but, on inspection, has a typical slipperiness, as it could be taken as either an admission of guilt or a denial of it, depending on whether the convicted perjurer or the Old Bailey jury is being fingered for falsity. Whichever [Jeffrey Archer] intends, the novel is a criminal caper, which feels brave in the circumstances. (My guess had been that he would return with something more neutral, probably one of his interminable sagas about brothers separated at birth.) But False Impression is a book about a rich and powerful man who profits through deception, which gives it fascination from a psychological if not a literary standpoint. Again, though, the story is open to the opposite interpretation: that it is a parable of the world taking away from Archer what is rightly his. In terms of the plot, literally so: False Impression involves an international conspiracy to nick a Van Gogh self- portrait with a bandaged ear, owned in reality by Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare. - Mark Lawson.
Kirkus Review
Now that he's completed his trilogy of prison diaries (2003-05), Lord Archer, out on the street again, returns to his old habits with this tale of a disgraced art expert's attempt to thwart her villainous banker boss's plot to fleece a fine old English family of van Gogh's Self-portrait with Bandaged Ear. The morning after Lady Victoria Wentworth has her throat cut before she can follow Dr. Anna Petrescu's advice about selling off her van Gogh to cover her debt to Fenston Finance, Bryce Fenston fires Anna for offering the advice. Getting sacked is the best thing that could have happened to her, because while she's waiting for an elevator to take her down to the first floor of the World Trade Center for the last time, the building is rocked by a fiery explosion. Yes, it's 9/11, and while Archer is using the disaster as colorful background, Anna's taking advantage of the chaos to disappear, presumed dead. She plans to fly to England and ask Arabella Wentworth, Victoria's twin and heir, to help her steal the canvas, now technically Fenston's property, before Fenston's lieutenant, disbarred lawyer Karl Leapman, can pick it up. Knowing that a terrorist bombing goes only so far, Archer (Sons of Fortune, 2003, etc.) ladles on extra complications. An FBI agent who's had his eye on Fenston gets on Anna's trail. Her phone calls to her friend Tina Forster, Fenston's assistant, puts her irate ex-boss close behind. The knife-wielding assassin who killed Victoria Wentworth goes after Anna as well. Gradually, globe-hopping flights and substitutions of a hilariously unconvincing forgery for the real van Gogh start to take the place of plot developments, and somewhere between Bucharest and London, most of the suspense evaporates, though there are still a hundred pages left to run. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Having barely escaped the burning Twin Towers, Anna Petrescu takes advantage of being presumed dead to tease out the connection between an old lady's murder in England and the theft of a Van Gogh. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Excerpts
Excerpts
Chapter One Victoria Wentworth sat alone at the table where Wellington had dined with sixteen of his field officers the night before he set out for Waterloo. General Sir Harry Wentworth sat at the right hand of the Iron Duke that night, and was commanding his left flank when a defeated Napoleon rode off the battlefield and into exile. A grateful monarch bestowed on the general the title Earl of Wentworth, which the family had borne proudly since 1815. These thoughts were running through Victoria's mind as she read Dr. Petrescu's report for a second time. When she turned the last page, she let out a sigh of relief. A solution to all her problems had been found, quite literally at the eleventh hour. The dining-room door opened noiselessly and Andrews, who from second footman to butler had served three generations of Wentworths, deftly removed her ladyship's dessert plate. "Thank you," Victoria said, and waited until he had reached the door before she added, "And has everything been arranged for the removal of the painting?" She couldn't bring herself to mention the artist's name. "Yes, m'lady," Andrews replied, turning back to face his mistress. "The picture will have been dispatched before you come down for breakfast." "And has everything been prepared for Dr. Petrescu's visit?" "Yes, m'lady," repeated Andrews. "Dr. Petrescu is expected around midday on Wednesday, and I have already informed cook that she will be joining you for lunch in the conservatory." "Thank you, Andrews," said Victoria. The butler gave a slight bow and quietly closed the heavy oak door behind him. By the time Dr. Petrescu arrived, one of the family's most treasured heirlooms would be on its way to America, and although the masterpiece would never be seen at Wentworth Hall again, no one outside the immediate family need be any the wiser. Victoria folded her napkin and rose from the table. She picked up Dr. Petrescu's report and walked out of the dining room and into the hall. The sound of her shoes echoed in the marble hallway. She paused at the foot of the staircase to admire Gainsborough's full-length portrait of Catherine, Lady Wentworth, who was dressed in a magnificent long silk and taffeta gown, set off by a diamond necklace and matching earrings. Victoria touched her ear and smiled at the thought that such an extravagant bauble must have been considered quite risqué at the time. Victoria looked steadfastly ahead as she climbed the wide marble staircase to her bedroom on the first floor. She felt unable to look into the eyes of her ancestors, brought to life by Romney, Lawrence, Reynolds, Lely, and Kneller, conscious of having let them all down. Victoria accepted that before she retired to bed she must finally write to her sister and let her know the decision she had come to. Arabella was so wise and sensible. If only her beloved twin had been born a few minutes earlier rather than a few minutes later, then she would have inherited the estate and undoubtedly handled the problem with considerably more panache. And worse, when Arabella learned the news, she would neither complain nor remonstrate, just continue to display the family's stiff upper lip. Victoria closed the bedroom door, walked across the room, and placed Dr. Petrescu's report on her desk. She undid her bun, allowing the hair to cascade onto her shoulders. She spent the next few minutes brushing her hair before taking off her clothes and slipping on a silk nightgown, which a maid had laid out on the end of the bed. Finally she stepped into her bedroom slippers. Unable to avoid the responsibility any longer, she sat down at her writing desk and picked up her fountain pen. Wentworth Hall September 10th, 2001 My dearest Arabella, I have put off writing this letter for far too long, as you are the last person who deserves to learn such distressing news. When dear Papa died and I inherited the estate, it was some time before I appreciated the full extent of the debts he had run up. I fear my lack of business experience, coupled with crippling death duties, only exacerbated the problem. I thought the answer was to borrow even more, but that has simply made matters worse. At one point I feared that because of my naïveté we might even end up having to sell our family's estate. But I am pleased to tell you that a solution has been found. On Wednesday, I will be seeing-- Victoria thought she heard the bedroom door open. She wondered which of her servants would have considered entering the room without knocking. By the time Victoria had turned to find out who it was, she was already standing by her side. Victoria stared up at a woman she had never seen before. She was young, slim, and even shorter than Victoria. She smiled sweetly, which made her appear vulnerable. Victoria returned her smile, and then noticed she was carrying a kitchen knife in her right hand. "Who--" began Victoria as a hand shot out, grabbed her by the hair, and snapped her head back against the chair. Victoria felt the thin, razor-sharp blade as it touched the skin of her neck. In one swift movement the knife sliced open her throat as if she were a lamb being sent to slaughter. Moments before Victoria died, the young woman cut off her left ear. Copyright (c) 2006 by Jeffrey Archer. All rights reserved. Excerpted from False Impression by Jeffrey Archer All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.