Review: False Impression by Jeffrey Archer (Verdict: ★★★☆☆)

I picked up this book from a friend, who squealed at the mention of Archer; and me seeing her that excited over a book, decided that maybe I should give the book a try. (Thanks, Tze Mee)

Let's be frank, we all know that Jeffrey Archer always deliver when it comes to orchestrating one hell of a page-turning thriller, and this one is not an exception, although I wouldn't say it was one of his best works. 

Here, I am benchmarking False Impression to Kane and Abel, or even Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less, and I've found, to a disheartening effect, that this time, Archer misses the mark.

The story starts by introducing two contrasting characters, Anna Petrescu and Bryce Fenston who we later found out works for the same corporation, with Bryce being Anna's employer. In the book, Anna was initially potrayed as a straight-laced and attractive young woman, who unwittingly changed the way she works and the way she reacted to circumstances after she discovered that her boss turns out to be a conniving art collector, who would stop at nothing (not even cold blooded murder) to land his hand on the much coveted Van Gogh Self Potrait with a Bandaged Ear, an art masterpiece owned by British aristocrat-Wentworth family. Of course, given Bryce's atrocities, with the throat cutting assassin on his payroll and his money laundering backgrounds back when he was in Romania, we know that this man, has been a devil for much longer than when he suddenly took interest in the Van Gogh painting.

See, I  am no art expert, and the only Van Gogh pieces I know are The Starry Night (because of the song, obviously) and Self Potrait with a Straw Hat (because it was in my Art Textbook curriculum, I know, I know, I should have paid more attention in class), but I know for a fact that in this particular book, Archer did not do much research on the artworks, because he described the work from a man-on-the-street point of view, with no explanations given on the brushstrokes and the drawing style of the artists, just plain name droppings and what are the events chronicling the art pieces. It would be a much fascinating read if he can describe the emotions evoked when one see a Monet, for instance, how each brushstrokes tells a tale, you know what I mean. To have a novel to be based on art pieces, and to tell readers that these pieces cost multiple million dollars, the research has to be thorough. Perhaps he could have included snippets of  Van Gogh's in there, just to stir the readers, or even chronicle the story behind the cut ear. 

Anyway, Anna was hell bent to save the Wenthworth's their money worth, by stealing the Van Gogh piece that Wenworth used as collateral for 30 million dollars loan  under her boss' company and purposely misleading her employer with the help of her accomplice, Tina, at a later part of the story and of course, a dashing FBI officer in the form of a Jack Delaney(more on this later). Again, I am left aghast to think that if really, this Bryce Fenston is as dangerous as he claimed to be, can't he think of other way to kill Anna instead of just relying on one former Olympic gymnast-turned-assassin? I concluded before I am halfway through the whole book that, Bryce is, in fact, a toothless tiger.

And of course, just when I was falling in love with Anna because of her sheer bravado and intelligence, she fell head over heels with Jack Delaney, whose presence as a character in the novel did nothing much except for giving her a chase here and there, most of the time being clueless on what is happening around him. I started to think that well, maybe the government decided to task the smarter officers to the 9/11 case, and leave a few in the team to chase some art thief's skirt.

Yes, you read that right. 9/11 incident was used as a backdrop to this drama, and I am not objecting, it really depends on how an author go about it. It can be a casual backdrop, or can be part of an intense story plot, and Archer chose the latter. With Anna being trapped in the North Tower, the story was given a keep-you-on-edge twist, any second now you half expect that the building will collapse, and Anna will beat all odds and survive the fiasco unscathed, and she did! Alongside Fenstons' invaluable documents(hmm. pondering over this)Okay, believable I guess, as the book was first published in 2005, and Google Drive was created in 2007. Amazed as I am that Anna escaped without being injured, I am happy that our heroine received the help she needed in the arms of her good friend Tina, and good samaritans who conveyed the message of unity when the whole country is indeed, in chaos.

ps- But as you read about her ordeal, you just know Bryce, the bad guy will somehow survive. They always do.

At the end of the book, I was abit dumfounded when Tina was conveniently related to Chris Adams Jr,-a victim of Bryce's art penchant; but the story of how Chris Adams was murdered was so prematurely developed that when his name popped out at the end of the story, I had no recollections of who this man was, so I had to flip the pages to refresh my memories. Mind you, I finished reading the book in two days, so any characters, however small their part is, should be at least in my memory bank, this is to tell you that Chris Adams' character is an easily forgettable one.

Never mind that, Bryce is conveniently forgotten at the end of this book, and I wondered aloud. Yes, Tina had downloaded all the relevant documents because she, as much as Anna wanted to nail the head of Bryce and mount it on her wall, but was this actually achieved? I mean, no offence, if Bryce is not a toothless tiger- like i aforementioned, this is where Archer should show the readers the man's true grit ( I am still apalled that Bryce likes Van Gogh paintings, real or fakes).

If you have read Kane and Abel or NPMNPL and think that Archer is a sheer genius, then I wouldn't suggest you this book. However, if you are new to Archer, this might be a gripping and enlightening read, albeit abit cliche.

 Verdict: ★★★☆☆