Book Review: Tell Tale by Jeffrey Archer

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These 14 stories make for an easy read and with their twists and tales are sure to keep you engaged for a good while.

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Jeffrey Archer's latest offering of short stories comes after the seven part series called 'The Clifton Chronicles'. This collection of short stories bear all the hallmarks of an Archer short story. They are simple and intriguing. I think what makes Archer tick for me is that very fact. The engaging stories take you from one place to the other at times on their own and on others through the sheer word power of the author.

I was waiting to read this book from the time Pan Macmillan India sent me the cover and a nugget of information that the book had a story with a Calcutta connection. Later through The Telegraph, I got to know that this story (Double or Quits) was told to Archer by his friend, erstwhile tennis player Naresh Kumar.

Getting back to the boo, I have always liked most of what Jeffrey Archer has written and this time was hardly a disappointment. To my delight eight out of the 14 stories have been inspired by real life events so you can imagine what a delightful activity it must have been to read a story and wonder what is fact and what fiction.

The stories range from that of a simple public car attendant who finds a way to make money, a young boy and his transformation post a visit to Nazi camps, and an officer who travels to a village to solve a murder. In a story set in 1930s a woman challenges the best minds at an Ivy League College and yet another collegiate woman gets much more in a hour's ride that could ever be imagined.

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Title: Tell Tale
Author: Jeffrey Archer
Genre: Short Stories
Paperback: 288 pages 
Price: Rs 399 though I was given a copy by Pan Macmillan India for review 
Language: English
Rating: 4/5

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