I went on a date with one of those guys who make your heart bleed profusely for women folk who had the misfortune of enjoying their presence and that on that fateful day the woman beset with misfortune was none other than moi.
Of the entire fatuous exchange between me and this male version of a homo sapien what was interesting was that we discussed a good number of authors and books and this was a book suggested by this mere popinjay.
To give you a background of what inspired the author to churn out this story is as follows:
In 1973 Jeffrey Archer was advised to invest 1 million in a Canadian company, a visit from Scotland yard in the next year informed him that shares were worthless.
Overnight he was penniless and this rather unfortunate incident inspired him to write ?Not a penny more, not a penny less?.
In my opinion the novel is hardly a patch on his earlier works, which were marvelously plotted, with just the right amounts of romance, wit and savoir-fare. This novel is more like your regular Bollywood potboiler that finds it way to deserted multiplexes Friday after Friday. With loads of masala thrown in, its like a spin a yarn stretched beyond a point to utter disbelief.
The story starts with Henryk Metelski a Pole who lived thru depression and other distressing times and with sheer grit and loads of acumen rose from being a meager messenger boy to a high profile American Financier cum Businessman cum socialite cum page three wannabe?...
He became what few shuddered to dream about leave alone become.
To go with his newly acquired image he chose an equally swish and rakish American name - Harvey Metcalfe.
The very fact that a young messenger boy from a non-mainstream American background could rise to the level of having mega riches definitely was a prima facie evidence of his widely speculated but not yet documented unethical behavior.
One shady deal followed after another and soon Harvey had become a well-heeled, opulent man with a stash of ill-gotten wealth. His reputation was far from being unimpeachable but lack of evidence made him almost invincible and he always managed to get away from the dragnet of the law. Makes you wonder if the American Police were so incompetent and had the effrontery to admit their ineptitude why do Hollywood movies almost canonize them as prodigiously stronger and smarter than mere mortals.
Back to the novel
The author would like us to believe that Harvey was on everyone?s watch list but his near precise and accurate method of executing shady deals never let those muttonheaded cops gain an upper hand?predictable right??
But not until he decides to rob the wrong men.!!!
The astute businessman that Harvey was with 25 years of shady deals behind him, he floats a company called Prospecta Oil in London with empty promises of an oil bonanza and instant riches. To help him pull this ambitious swindle he and his cronies hire a fresh out of B-School goop - David Kesler; an American to play the role of the proverbial scapegoat. Impressed by the fake credentials and phantasm painstakingly created by Harvey and his cohorts Kesler ropes in one innocent victim after another to invest in Prospecta Oil. A whole lot of share market theatrics follows which makes them all believe that Prospecta Oil would help them double their investment and make them rich overnight.
Needless to say Harvey?s plans were anything but so altruistic ?
The shares of Prospecta Oil slumps and Harvey vamooses with the loot and surreptitiously the company and all its employees disappear too.
Fearing the brunt of law David Kesler too scoots off to distant America leaving four hapless Brits with a huge dent errr?cavern in their pocket. A total of 1 million dollars?phew
Overnight an heir to an earldom - young viscount James Brigsley, a London art dealer -Jean Pierre Lamanns, a Harley street doctor - Dr. Adrian Tryner , and a Harvard fellow at oxford - Stephen Bradley find themselves at the wrong end of a masterful million dollar swindle. And all they can barely gasp is gypped, conned, swindled?.
The rest of the novel is about how these four unwitting men gang up against Harvey in an attempt to win back their money without him even having the faintest idea. Soon you have a large-scale crook financier vengefully pursued by 4 of the most intelligent and most varied in expertise; men.
They band together and from the casinos of Monte Carlo to the high stakes windows at Ascot and the hallowed lawns of Oxford, Harvey Metcalfe is shadowed by these four unlikely conspirators as they plan to sting the crook for exactly what they lost. To the penny not a penny more not a penny less
As always there is a surprise element that Jeffrey throws in as Anne the porcelain like delicate beau of the rather doltish Viscount; James. If I write anymore about her I would be almost garroting the life out of this novel, which I don?t intend to. What is rather commendable is that the author takes a very silly plot and yet crafts it into a slick fast paced book. The plot is nothing short of pure bilge. It is extremely earnest in its attempt to prove that the readers are more feebleminded than the half baked dork James. 4 men however intelligent they are manage to fool a master swindle by assuming various guises is too far fetched by any standards.
This is where I would say the novel is like our Bollywood movies. However hare brained the plan is; Harvey is eventually duped. Come what may our quartet emerges with a quiet exhalation of triumph each time. ?makes you wonder is Harvey that perspicacious a crook if he can be fooled by these foolish plans.
The last few exchanges between the victorious Stephen (the wronged mathematician) and his cohorts are absolutely hilarious and so are the jibes hurled at the evidently lamebrained James and the randy Frenchman Jean over the lovely beauteous Anne and James lack of imagination which comes with his inability to churn out master plans like the rest. The repartees are fun to read and makes you chuckle endlessly.
A whole lot of things lead you to a suspension of beliefs. We are made to believe that the corpulent Harvey?s penchant for good life and convivial atmosphere is the reason why he is rendered short of 1 million. Whether its selling a fake Da Vinci painting?or Adrian posing as a famous America Doc Willy Baker the plot is ridden with holes. . You almost guffaw saying that hey I had last heard of this plot in Amar Akbar Anthony or some other typical pot boiler.
So you would give me a questioning look and ask so pray tell me why does this hackneyed trite novel deserve a three star?
Well it does because all said and done.. the master story teller keeps the pace deadly swift never lets it lose its tempo and however pedestrian the plot is you enjoy it cos you are dying to know what happens next.
It is definitely talent which makes you build great stories on firm steady plots but its sheer craftsmanship to make a great story out of a weak, moth eaten plot and Jeffrey Arthur has mastered this. The skilled craftsman that he is, he puts aside temptation to let it maunder, scream or otherwise let the emotions take over.
The plot reeks of a decayed imagination yet instead of creaking and groaning with its weight the novel still rises as a tight, fast paced book.
It?s definitely a good read on a lazy weekend afternoon over heavy scrumptious lunch.
Nothing more nothing less!!!
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