Sort-of Book Review: Only Time Will Tell

I have always been a fan of Jeffrey Archer's books. With the exception of The Gospel According to Judas, which I've just noticed after reading through his list of works to confirm that I have read all his books, I have almost read all of his books, which includes his latest, Only Time Will Tell aka The Clifton Chronicles.

I finished reading this in two days, which I also did with the last Harry Potter book 

...but with more enthusiasm and satisfaction

I like Archer's storytelling. He makes every sentence count. I say this because in most of the books I read, I usually skip physical descriptions of the characters, the environment, the negligible room where they are going to have sex in... my point is, it's all pointless, serving no use except to be page fillers. My idol doesn't do that and even though almost all other novelists do that (for whatever reasons except practical ones), he simply does not give a *bleeb* and tells his own story his way.

Back to the review: 

It's almost impossible to 'spoil' Archer's books, because the fun in reading it is the journey and not just a single point in the last chapter which wraps everything up. Nonetheless, his signature twist-in-the-tale has always been a novelty that I look for in novels, of which (unlike a certain film-maker who has lost the ability to put in to his movies no more), Archer never fails to use blow everyone's mind.  

But in this book his twist takes a backseat. It's an amazing piece of work, showcasing ingenious story telling skills and his ability to get into the minds of so many of his characters that you find it hard to believe that they are not alive somewhere in the world. 

One thing I can spoil for you is that he retells various parts of the story; you will be reading about repeated scenes and issues but it will be fun, because it is from different points of view. And I don't mean like in an OCD way where there are several points of views in the same sentence, or in the same paragraph, or even the same page. Everyone tells their POV in chapters, and because Archer does his homework, none of it clash [Yeah, I am challenging you, yes you, to find flaws in his book]. And nobody can pull that off, but Jeffrey Archer.

What started out as a boy's journey to figure out what happened to his father who went missing from his and his mother's life one day, without a trace, would spell out a series of events that would leave him and you speechless. [It's a fairly new book and honestly, I do not want to ruin it for you, and I swear this on my hard covered Only Time Will Tell, which set me back about 100 bucks but it was worth it.]

*But if you still want a review on the book rather than trust my word for it (good move), here's a review from Pam Norfolk.*

And now for some good news: this will be a five-book saga (it ain't called a chronicle for being a 386-page book), with the second book The Sins of The Father well into its eighth draft, and supposedly picking up where the first book left off.

I can't wait!