Bookcase Antics

From my previous reviews you will know that one of my favourite books is Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer. I also enjoyed the follow up book titled The Prodigal Daughter. That is where the fun ends for me with Jeffrey Archer.

The back of Shall we tell the President implies that this books follows on from the Prodigal Daughter, but the author’s note tells a different story. This is what he said:
“When I first wrote Shall We Tell the President? I set the story six or seven years in the future. Now that future date lies in the past, some of the story’s credibility becomes impaired.
Since that time too I have written The Prodigal Daughter in which the chief character, Florentyna Kane, becomes the first woman president of the United States. It therefore seemed logical to me, in recasting Shall We tell the President?, to introduce my fictional president … This gives it a natural link to The Prodigal Daughter and Kane and Abel.
I have not altered the essential story of Shall We Tell the President?…”

After reading the book and then going back and reading this “author’s” note it made be very angry. It seemed like a very lazy way of adding this book to the other two very successful books.

Reading the book it really felt like all he had done was change the other presidents name for Florentyna. The book does not flow at all. It has a completely different tone to the other two books.

The book focuses absolutely on his story about the FBI and rarely mentions Florentyna at all. This is in stark contrast to the first two books which are all about the Kane and Rosnovski families.

I found this book extremely disappointing. I loved the first two books and have read them over and over but this leaves a very bitter taste.

After this I will not buy any more books written by Jeffrey Archer. I feel completely ripped off.