I would like to thank Jeffrey Archer, HarperCollins UK, and NetGalley for my advanced copy of Adam and Eve to review. As always, my review is entirely honest & there are no spoilers.
Book Blurb:
THE FINAL NOVEL FROM THE MASTER STORYTELLER
November 11th, 1918. As the guns of the Great War fall silent, two babies draw their first breath.
Eve is the daughter of an Earl. Adam, a shepherd’s son. Yet from their first meeting they form an extraordinary bond that neither privilege nor prejudice can break.
Then on a single September night in 1940, as Hitler prepares to invade the British Isles, their actions will change his mind. Determining not just their own futures but the fate of a nation.
They will show extraordinary courage. They will make unimaginable sacrifices. And the story of what they did will stay with you long after you’ve turned the last page.
From the broads of Norfolk to the beaches of Dunkirk, Adam & Eve is a breathtaking epic of courage, sacrifice, and love forged in Britain’s darkest hour.
‘If there were a Nobel Prize for storytelling, Archer would win’ Daily Telegraph
‘Archer is a master entertainer’ Time
‘Probably the greatest storyteller of our age’ Mail on Sunday
‘Peerless master of the page turner’ Daily Mail
Jeffrey Archer’s book ‘End Game’ was a Sunday Times bestseller.
My Review:
Adam and Eve starts with all the hallmarks of Jeffrey Archer’s usual strengths: pace, clarity, and a premise that promises moral tension. For most of the book, it’s competent, readable, and engaging enough. He breaks all the rules like the master storyteller he undoubtedly is.
My problem:
The first twist is where everything collapses. Archer tries to deliver a shock reversal, but it’s so implausible, so unbelievable, and so coincidental that I found myself shaking my head in disbelief.
Then a strange swap takes place, and instead of deepening the narrative, it cheapens it. Worse still, other twists pile on top of the first one, and each one is less believable than the first.
Why it didn’t work for me:
To be fair to Archer, all the signs are there from the start of the novel that the twists are possible. However, the issue for me was that I found them utterly unbelievable and the result felt contrived rather than clever.
My overall impression:
The book is readable; Archer always is, but the ending leaves a sour aftertaste. It’s hard to recommend a novel whose twists undermine the entire structure. Readers who enjoy neat reversals may tolerate it; anyone who values believable character development will likely find it frustrating.
My verdict:
This was a solid setup undone by twists that ask too much and delivers too little. This is a two-star review because I could not finish it.
Jeffrey Archer: CC BY-SA 4.0
Jeffrey Archer is one of the world’s bestselling authors, with sales of over 275 million copies in 97 countries, and is the only author ever to have been a number one bestseller in fiction (twenty times), short stories (four times) and non-fiction (The Prison Diaries). He was born in London, and brought up in the West Country. He gained a Blue in Athletics at Oxford, was President of the University Athletics Club, and went on to run the 100 yards in 9.6 seconds for Great Britain in 1966. Jeffrey has served five years in the House of Commons as a Member of Parliament, and thirty years as a Member of the House of Lords.
He has written 27 novels, 7 sets of short stories, 3 prison diaries, 3 plays (all of which have been performed in London’s West End) and a gospel. His first novel, Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less was sold to 17 countries within a year. It was also made into a successful serial for BBC Radio 4, and was later televised in 1990 by the BBC. He won the Prix Relay du Roman d’Évasion, a prize that rewards a novel in which readers can ‘escape from everyday life’, for his novel Paths of Glory, and the Prix Polar International Prize for the best international thriller of the year, for his novel A Prisoner of Birth. The Clifton Chronicles, a series of seven novels published between 2011-2017, topped the bestseller lists around the world.
Famous for his discipline as a writer who works on up to fourteen drafts of each book, Jeffrey also brings a vast amount of insider knowledge to his books. Whether it’s his own career in politics, his passionate interest in art, or the wealth of fascinating background detail – inspired by the extraordinary network of friends he has built over a lifetime at the heart of Britain’s establishment – his novels provide a fascinating glimpse into a range of closed worlds.
Jeffrey is also an amateur auctioneer, conducting up to 20 charity auctions a year. He has been married to Dame Mary Archer, Chair of the Science Museum Group, for 55 year, and they have two sons, two granddaughters and three grandsons. He splits his time between London, Cambridge and Mallorca – where he writes the first draft of each new novel.
The fifth book In his new William Warwick novels – the first of which, Nothing Ventured, was published in 2019 – is NEXT IN LINE which was published in September 2022.
This book will be published in October 2026 and is available for pre-order.
oOo
Nicola Harris 