Reflections 6
Shall we tell the President?
By Jeffrey Archer
I have always enjoyed books by Jeffrey Archer. They unfurl slowly, gradually, then speed up and just when everything is going full speed, the problem is solved, with the signature twist at the end.
This story comes after "The Prodigal Daughter", which is about the rise of power of the first female president of the United States. She has strong views against the usgae of guns, and this earns her many enemies. An FBI officer finds out about a plot to kill the president. He and a small group of colleagues, including the Director, whose initials are H.A.L.T. are the only ones who can stop the would-be assasins. As the story progresses, all those who know are killed off one by one, until only the main character and the Director are the ones alive. In a dramatic climax where they finally uncover the senator plotting against the president, and successfully stop the assasin. All without the president's knowledge. The tale ends with the officer asking the Director, "Shall we tell the President?"
I was really intrigued by this plot and the way Archer could cleverly come up with such a plot. It is fresh, interesting, and definately one-of-a-kind. It also has its momentary moments of amusement. All the FBI staff and officers take part in a lottery, whereby one has to pay ten dollars to make a guess on what the Director's first name could be. If the person gets it right, he or she can take the winnings, which at the time of the story, have run up to about ten thousand dollars. If he is wrong, his ten dollars goes into the "fund". Our main character has made a few guesses, but all of them failed. At the end of the adventure, the officer has become the right hand man of the Director. "You may call me by my first name," said the Director after some time. "It unerves me to always have someone calling me 'sir'." And so our lucky main character wins the money. But the thing that really tickled me was his name: Horatio. No one ever thought he would have such a... name. And rightfully so.
Although there were occasional crude words and some "adult" content, I learnt to overlook those. It would be a pity to put such an interesting plot down because of a few unpleasantries. But I do wish he'd stop writing such things. They're really quite unnecesaary.
By Jeffrey Archer
I have always enjoyed books by Jeffrey Archer. They unfurl slowly, gradually, then speed up and just when everything is going full speed, the problem is solved, with the signature twist at the end.
This story comes after "The Prodigal Daughter", which is about the rise of power of the first female president of the United States. She has strong views against the usgae of guns, and this earns her many enemies. An FBI officer finds out about a plot to kill the president. He and a small group of colleagues, including the Director, whose initials are H.A.L.T. are the only ones who can stop the would-be assasins. As the story progresses, all those who know are killed off one by one, until only the main character and the Director are the ones alive. In a dramatic climax where they finally uncover the senator plotting against the president, and successfully stop the assasin. All without the president's knowledge. The tale ends with the officer asking the Director, "Shall we tell the President?"
I was really intrigued by this plot and the way Archer could cleverly come up with such a plot. It is fresh, interesting, and definately one-of-a-kind. It also has its momentary moments of amusement. All the FBI staff and officers take part in a lottery, whereby one has to pay ten dollars to make a guess on what the Director's first name could be. If the person gets it right, he or she can take the winnings, which at the time of the story, have run up to about ten thousand dollars. If he is wrong, his ten dollars goes into the "fund". Our main character has made a few guesses, but all of them failed. At the end of the adventure, the officer has become the right hand man of the Director. "You may call me by my first name," said the Director after some time. "It unerves me to always have someone calling me 'sir'." And so our lucky main character wins the money. But the thing that really tickled me was his name: Horatio. No one ever thought he would have such a... name. And rightfully so.
Although there were occasional crude words and some "adult" content, I learnt to overlook those. It would be a pity to put such an interesting plot down because of a few unpleasantries. But I do wish he'd stop writing such things. They're really quite unnecesaary.
a dancing munchkin @ 8:19 AM
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