"Be Careful What You Wish For", by Jeffrey Archer
The Clifton Chronicles book #4
The fourth novel in the Clifton Chronicles series picks up minutes where the “Best Kept Secret” left. Set in England and spanning the years 1957-1964 we follow the Clifton-Barrington family saga in their face off with Don Pedro Martinez, a smuggler who became a staunch enemy in the preceding book and is hell-bent to destroying them.
You definitely need to read the three first books before you get to this one. We do not have many details and the characters’ background to have a complete idea of what the Clifton Chronicles are about. (It would be a big miss on your part). Mr. Archer weaves an “unputdownable” story with the use of such simplest possible words. He is so easy to read, I wanted to keep reading just to find out what was happening to the Cliftons and the Barringtons and in what kind of troubles they managed to get into this time (the best part in my books). The story contains thrilling surprises page after page and is plotted with skills to play a cat-and mouse game with us. The tension and the built-up are terrific and have kept me on the edge of my seat.
No family saga is without a villain, this book has a good one, a well-drawn and believable character. While telling this tale, Mr. Archer's characters, even in the midst of blazing run-ins maintain their British elegance and dry sense of humour. What a treat to read.
Being a marvelous storyteller and a tease that he is, has managed to leave the story with an excellent cliff-hanger that constrains us to get the following installment (I already have it).
“Be Careful What You Wish For” is thoroughly engaging.