6 reviews for To Cut a long story Short
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To Cut a long story Short
by Jeffrey Archer
Description:
From the master storyteller comes a masterful collection of fourteen riveting tales of elaborate confidence tricks, political chicanery, immoral behavior, and dangerously illicit affairs, rendered with the breathtaking narrative twists that have become the Jeffrey Archer hallmark. Here are all new stories that will engross and astonish, peopled with a rich assortment of truly memorable characters: the intoxicating woman who appears to her lover only once every six years; the British diplomat who employs his rather creative — if not entirely ethical — financial talents for a greater good; the millionaire who declares himself bankrupt to test the love and loyalties of those closest to him. This is Jeffrey Archer at the top of his form, as he offers us unique fables of our time and civilization, each one shining a harsh yet hypnotic light on that fascinating, complex being called “human.”
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
“Excellent Reading”
Tisha
I have read numerous Jeffrey Archer novels through the years; but this book of short stories bore little resemblance to those mysteries. The fourteen short stories contained in the book varied in length from 2 pages to more than 30 pages. Topics also varied, of course, ranging from confidence games, romantic mysteries, to even some with supernatural characters. Many seemed to take on the flavor of old-fashioned fables with insights into human nature in general. Although I enjoyed some stories more than others, I only abandoned one in the entire book from lack of interest. Archer brought his usual narrative shkills to the composition of these stories, and developed interesting and memorable characters. He led those characters through many interesting plot twists for our reading enjoyment.
Anmol
I have read almost half of this short story collection and I am liking it very much. I wanted to read short stories just because I did not want to start a hard-to-put-down novel during my busiest days (exams!). Now I think it was a good decision. I might not read short stories when I had more time to read novels, so I might not have come across this collection in the first place.Well, the stories are well written and interesting. I thing Archer has squeezed some good thrillers into a few pages. I am still reading this book, rather slowly which I think is the best way to experience the impact of every single of the collection.
parth
I am an avid fan of all Archer books. In general, I avoid short stories, probably because I find myself unable to master the genre, but I was willing to give anything by Archer a chance.I found the the pleasure in reading these that I did in reading his novels. They are well written, with unseen plot twists that grab you when least expected.If you’ve never read anything by Jeffrey Archer, give these a try. Then move on to his longer works which are even better.
Shrawan
As a fan of Archer’s style of writing & especially his short stories, I would not consider this collection of stories as his best ( A Quiver Full of Arrows & Twelve Red Herrings were truly great)Most of the stories are great but few were a bit predictable . Among the good ones, the true stories like The Expert Witness,Crime Pays,A change of heart, Chalk and Cheese were excellent. Overall great but not his best!
Krushali
As far as memory serves this is the first Jeffrey Archer I have read. I am a lover of the short story form and so when a friend, who is a big fan of ex-Lord Archer, lent it to me it seemed a good place to begin as it would be a win-win. If I liked his style of writing then I could throroughly enjoy them and perhaps move on to something more substantial later, if I did not, well it was only a small part of my reading life wasted. I did enjoy the stories but perhaps not as much as I had hoped I would.That, I think, is why i liked particulalry the three I mentioned earlier because they do, at least, give a glimpse of something which manages to throw a healthier glow naturally rather than a cold, unsympathetic shine raking over his rather sordid world view.