6 reviews for Shall We Tell The President?
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Shall We Tell The President?
by Jeffery Archer
Description:
After years of great sacrifice and deep personal tragedy, Florentyna Kane’s has finally become the first woman president in America. But on the very day that she is sworn into office, powerful forces are already in motion to take her life. The FBI investigates thousands of false threats every year. This time, a reliable source has tipped them off about an assassination attempt. One hour later, the informant and all but one of the investigating agents are dead. The lone survivor: FBI Special Agent Mark Andrews. Now, only he knows when the killers will strike. But how can he alone unravel a ruthless conspiracyin less than one week? The race to save the first woman president begins now
About The Author
Archer wrote his first book, Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less, in the autumn of 1974, as a means of avoiding bankruptcy. The book was picked up by the literary agent Deborah Owen and published first in the US, then eventually in Britain in the autumn of 1976. A BBC Television adaptation of the book was broadcast in 1990, and a radio adaptation was aired on BBC Radio 4 in the early 1980s.
Kane and Abel (1979) proved to be his best-selling work, reaching number one on The New York Times bestsellers list. Like most of his early work it was edited by Richard Cohen, the Olympic fencing gold-medallist. It was made into a television mini-series by CBS in 1985, starring Peter Strauss and Sam Neill. The following year, Granada TV screened a ten-part adaptation of another Archer bestseller, First Among Equals, which told the story of four men and their quest to become Prime Minister. In the U.S. edition of the novel, the character of Andrew Fraser was eliminated, reducing the number of protagonists to three.
As well as novels and short stories, Archer has also written three stage plays. The first, Beyond Reasonable Doubt, opened in 1987 and ran at the Queen’s Theatre in London’s West End for over a year. However, Archer’s next play, Exclusive, was not well received by critics, and closed after a few weeks. His final play, The Accused, opened at the Theatre Royal, Windsor on 26 September 2000, before transferring to the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in the West End in December.
Archer has stated that he spends considerable time writing and re-writing each book. He goes abroad to write the first draft, working in blocks of two hours at a time, then writes anything up to seventeen drafts in total. In 1988 author Kathleen Burnett accused Archer of plagiarising a story she’d written and including it in his short-story collection, A Twist in the Tale. Archer denied he had plagiarised the story, claiming he’d simply been inspired by the idea.
It has been suggested that Archer’s books undergo an extensive editing process prior to publication. Whilst Archer’s books are commercially successful, critics have been generally unfavourable towards his writing. However, journalist Hugo Barnacle, writing for The Independent about The Fourth Estate (1996), thought the novel, while demonstrating that “the editors don’t seem to have done any work”, was “not wholly unsatisfactory”.
Since 2010, Archer has written the first draft of each new book at his luxury villa in Majorca, called “Writer’s Block”.
In 2011, Archer published the first of seven books in The Clifton Chronicles, which follow the life of Harry Clifton from his birth in 1920, through to the finale in 2020. The first novel in the series, Only Time Will Tell, tells the story of Harry from 1920 through to 1940, and was published in the UK on 12 May 2011. The sixth instalment, Cometh the Hour, was published on 25 February 2016. The final novel in the series, This Was a Man, was published on 3 November 2016.
Archer’s next novel has been provisionally titled Heads You Win, and will be published in 2017, along with another volume of short stories.
Skryf Review
“Good Reading”
Sejal
Shall We Tell the President? is a 1977 novel by English author Jeffrey Archer. A revised edition was published in 1986.In the first edition, a plot to kill the President of the United States, Edward Kennedy, is foiled by a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent working with the head of the FBI. A love story complicates the plot. The book includes descriptive details of official Washington, for which the author lists sources.After the success of Kane and Abel and The Prodigal Daughter, in the revised edition Archer replaced Kennedy with the fictional character of Florentyna Kane, and original Vice President Dale Bumpers with the real-life Senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey. The author makes frequent references to William Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar.
Naman
The story can be considered to be the 3rd part of the trilogy concerning the Kanes’; first being ‘Kane and Abel’ and second ‘The Prodigal Daughter’; both absolutely brilliant books and my favourites of all the Archer novels. So I went into this novel with high expectations. As with any other Archer novel no background read is necessary however the ones who have read the other two books might identify with two, three characters in this book.The Prodigal Daughter ended with Florentyna Kane being declared as the President of the United States of America mid-way through the tenure of the previous under whom she had served as the vice-president; after his unfortunate death. The book starts off two years hence after Kane has been re-elected as President and has taken the Presidents’ oath. [The book provides a very good insight into the Presidents’ inauguration procedure.] And very early on, the author displays that the book will revolve around the Gun Control bill that Kane wants passed forbidding anyone to possess a gun without a valid license.
Abbas
From what I now understand it was changed and updated from the original version of the hardback that was published in the 1970’s. It has been a very long time since I read the first two books in this series “Kane and Abel” and “The Prodigal Daughter” but I was expecting this book to be more about the main character “the president” then it was. Although I liked the book and it was a quick read for me I was hoping to enjoy it more than I did. I’m still giving it four stars because Jeffrey Archer is a great author.
Tisha
They say most criminals are caught because of one, decisive mistake. With that in mind, I wonder how many assassination plots are discussed in clear and certain terms casually over lunch within earshot of the wait staff and other patrons. Not many? Yeah, I didn’t think so either.Also, considering the entire purpose of the rubout was to stall a bill on gun control (one which specifically limits criminal access to firearms), was having a criminal use an illegal firearm on the POTUS really the best strategy? Something tells me that would only hasten such a bill. Aye yai yai.For what it’s worth, the pacing is pretty good and Archer at least keeps you engaged to the end. But that hardly makes up for the nonsensical plot.
Pooja
‘Shall We Tell The President’ is something a bit different from Jeffrey Archer. Instead of his usual character-driven epics, we’re treated to a lean, taut political thriller involving the potential assassination of US President Florentyna Kane. This is a highly readable book; well-paced and fast-moving. There is not much explicit action, but there is certainly plenty of intrigue, and several unexpected deaths. Archer draws on his own political experience and knowledge to portray the lives of politicians, the workings of Congress, and the difficulties in passing the controversial bill that forms the backdrop of the novel. This bill provides a reasonable motive for the various suspects, although you might question whether killing the President is the best way to achieve their aim (wouldn’t public sympathy side overwhelmingly with Florentyna’s cause if she were killed?). The characterisation is a little shallow, but sufficient. Mark Andrews is the young, resourceful hero who is equally at home jumping in front of bullets, conducting painstaking political research, or charming the pants off the lovely Elizabeth Dexter. Dr Dexter isn’t a particularly important character in her own right, but has an essential connection to Andrews’ investigation. The combination of his personal and professional pursuit of Elizabeth adds an interesting element to the story. Unusually, the antagonists remain quite mysterious and elusive even at the very end of the novel, with one appearing to having made a successful getaway. In all, this is a very good read, albeit a little different from some of Archer’s other works. Along with `Not A Penny More…’, it’s probably the best place to start before tackling some of Archer’s more epic works.