Book Review: Best Kept Secret by Jeffrey Archer

Best Kept Secret by Jeffrey Archer

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Jeffrey Archer in his third instalment of the Clifton Chronicles Best Kept Secret has managed to live up to his reputation as a master story-teller. So how does it fare in comparison to the previous two? Well, the book has got all the elements of a fictional bestseller- crime, drama, revenge and romance but, it would be unfair to compare as such. Frankly speaking, the story gets a tad slow in the first half but the latter half makes up for it and how! Lord Archer has introduced some new characters in this part that adds to the spicy drama that unfolds therein. However, some of the old characters that we have grown loving, like Harry’s mother Maisie and Mr Holcombre have been neglected. The limelight has now, somewhat, shifted to the next generation of Clifton’s- Sebastian Clifton, to be precise.
The Best Kept Secret starts exactly from the point where The Sins of the Father left us. The Lord Chancellor is faced with an unenviable quandary following the tie in the vote in the House of Lords as to who should inherit the Barrington family fortune. He is in a state of indecision until the moment comes when he is due to announce his vote that would decide the fate of Giles, Emma and Harry Clifton. And then he looks up at the gallery in the House of Lords, and seeing their faces, he makes a last-minute decision to vote in favour of Giles Barrington.
Presumably, thereafter, Harry and Emma gets married. Giles contests the elections and wins the Bristol Dockland constituency as a Labour MP. Harry becomes a successful author and goes on to tour America as part of the promotion for his detective novel. Emma is engrossed with a new objective in her life- to find out about that little girl found in the study of Sir Hugo Barrington, Emma’s father, on the night of his death. As part of her efforts, she employs Mr Mitchell, the private detective from the earlier parts in this series, who continues to provide his services for a price. Mr Mitchell informs her that the little girl is none other than her half-sister and that her name was Jessica. Furthermore, he adds that Jessica has been residing at Dr Barnardo’s home in Bridgwater. Emma and Harry decides to adopt her as their daughter. But they agreed to keep it a secret from both Sebastian, their son and Jessica.
The twist in the tale comes when Giles falls in love with Lady Virginia Fenwick, who turns out to be a manipulative, deceitful woman whose interest in Giles was only because of his wealth and large inheritance. She creates a rift in the family. Giles becomes too blinded by love to be able to see her devious ploys but it doesn’t go unnoticed by the rest of the Barrington-Clifton family. However, at this juncture, Mrs Elizabeth Barrington meets with her premature death due to breast cancer but before her death, she executes a new will to ensure that Giles is stripped of all his inheritance. On her death-bed, Elizabeth secretly passes on to Harry an envelope with directions to give the envelope to the presiding judge in case Giles contests her new will. Her premonition turns out to be true as Giles, at the behest of Lady Virginia, to whom he had promised the Barrington Hall and the Manor House, goes up in arms against Emma and Grace in a legal battle. The contents of the envelope proves to be a vital and decisive piece of evidence that shifts the tide towards Emma and Grace, as they come out victorious.
Lady Virginia severs ties with Giles and Giles is left broken-hearted. Giles is re-united with his family- Harry, Emma and Grace after he admits his mistake in going against them and apologizes for the same. However, that is not the end of Lady Virginia, who returns with vengeance to destroy the Barrington-Clifton family, this time with Major Alex Fisher, a long time enemy of Giles, by her side. Together they plot their downfall, at first by destabilizing the Barrington Shipping Line where Emma and Giles jointly owned 22 percent stake and then by trying to defeat him in the parliamentary elections. They were almost successful in their bid, if Giles and Co. hadn’t got whiff of their plans, just in the nick of time. The plot builds up really well from thereon, and Giles successfully defends his seat and saves his company from plunging into crisis with ample support from Emma and Harry among others.
The latter half of the plot revolves around Sebastian Clifton who wins a scholarship to Cambridge. Unknowingly, he gets entangled in a world of crime when Don Pedro, the father of his school mate, Bourne Martinez, offers him a job. Sebastian is ignorant of the fact that the job involves importing a statue filled with counterfeit notes from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Britain. Fortunately, the British Government is aware of Don Pedro’s plans and with the help of Harry, they’re able to salvage Sebastian from the situation. Things turns ugly when Don Pedro discovers that he has been tricked in his own game and once he realises his detractors, he decides to make the Barrington-Clifton family pay for his losses. A plan is hatched to kill Sebastian through a fake car accident while he is on his way to Cambridge. However, unexpectedly, Sebastian is accompanied by Don Pedro’s son, Bourne on his way to Cambridge. The climax scene depicts an impending tragic motor car accident where a lorry is about to crush the car driven by Sebastian. Thereafter, the novel concludes with the scene shifting to Cambridge where the admission tutor is about to inform the boy’s father about the death of his son. It isn't clear, however, whether the son in question is Sebastian or Bourne Martinez. Given that, it’s a Clifton Chronicle, we can only hope that Sebastian survives and lives on to add to the drama in the Clifton Saga, if his antics in the Best Kept Secret is anything to go by!
The final word: it’s worth a read and it’s worth your bucks!




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