Review | Book review: Jeffrey Archer continues his Clifton Chronicles
Archer writes better than his critics want him to, but his plots are still about people becoming as heroic as himself
by Jeffrey Archer (read by Alex Jennings)
Pan Macmillan (audiobook)
The first audiobook in Jeffrey Archer’s Clifton Chronicles, Only Time Will Tell, was read by actor Roger Allam, whose smooth tones are like having warm Guinness poured into your ear. Allam did wonders for Archer’s starchy prose, as does his replacement: another acclaimed actor, Alex Jennings, who is a dab hand at voices but tends to bring out the stiffness in Archer’s narrative voice. The initial drama is provided by our hero Harry Clifton’s old sparring partner, Giles Barrington, who (Archer teased in part six) might just have married a Mata Hari, or rather a Mata Hariovski with stepfather issues. As always, Archer is a better writer than some want him to be, cracking jokes even as he bows and scrapes before the establishment.