Rating: 
Summary: Good Read, but not Archer's best
Review: After taking time to develop the plots in many of his books (Honor Among Thieves, As the Crow Flies, etc.) Archer writes this book as if he is coming up to a deadline and has to meet it. I enjoyed the book as it kept me turning the pages, but I felt that you could guess what was going to happen before it did, where in other books you were more often than not surprised at the next corner.
Rating: 
Summary: The Doomsday Conspiracy of J Archer---disappointing
Review: This novel was almost an insult for the Archer fans. I did not see any good plot nor articulate coincidences, which the author usually loves. No character development, which is unusual for the author, no witty conversations. I doubt he actually wrote it. I recommend ALL of his previous books up the the Fourth Estate. They have all of the above.
Rating: 
Summary: Archer just wrote on of his best again! Two thumbs up!
Review: I finished the book in just 2 days, can't put it down for too long. Hope he can write a new story faster, I can't wait for his new book again.
Rating:
Summary: Dissapointing Effort-Not Up To His Usual Standards. :=(
Review: Plodding, predictable and pedestrian. After recently reading the Fourth Estate and As The Crow Flies (both teriffic stories), this one didn't even seem to be written by the same author. Jeffrey is a great story teller but I have my own "Eleventh Commandment"...Don't bother with this one!
Rating:
Summary: A disappointing effort from Mr Archer.
Review: HAVING read and liked "Kane and Abel," we were expecting much more from JA. Instead, he gives us a poorly written, inadequately researched and contrived thriller. The opening paragraph of Chapter 35 goes as follows: "The snow was falling heavily as Zerimski climbed the steps to the waiting Ilyushin 62, creating a thick white carpet around its wheels." Where was the editor? As for research, JA acknowledges the help of every current and former national security bigwig but William Casey. Impressive, yes, but he might have employed a few less prestigious types to check his facts. For example, the Spanish phrases he uses are often awkward if not wrong. Also, Helen Dexter becomes CIA director after leaving a NYC law firm after "a dispute with the board" over the lack of female partners. Of course, US law firms don't have boards of directors--they are partnerships. As to the plot being contrived, the idea that the CIA director! would unilaterally order assassinations of world leaders, then try to cover it up with a string of murders at home and abroad is, well, pretty implausible. Things get sillier as the novel progresses. Fans of international political thrillers may still want to check this book out. But we advise waiting for the paperback edition!
Rating:
Summary: Now here is a "swell" read.
Review: Archer has never been one of my favorites - but with The Eleventh Commandment he pulls off a humdinger. Having spent much time in the "old days" in the Soviet Union, with so many "interviews" and "conversations" with the KGB, and weeks in "Leningrad," I can judge the superiority of his research. His portrayal of the Russian Mafia is tight and true. I knew some of them when they had the courage to defy the old regime at a time when hiding was difficult, individual and group resistance very tricky. Actually, some of them helped me - or their parents did - at some cost. It does not surprise me that they have shifted to the new "underworld," their view of humans and their "black" skills that helped some of us (views and skills nurtured, demanded by the old regime - if one wanted to carve out any personal freedom or "excitment"). The depiction of current Russia is not far from the mark. It will make! a great movie.
Rating:
Summary: first-rate
Review: I good read, my type book, and the best thriller I've read since Craig Furnas's THE SHAPE. Archer is a true master of his genre.
Rating:
Summary: A long sigh....
Review: This book made me think about those who were forced into early retirement plan of a downsizing corporate. An easy and quite predictable read. I wish Mr. Archer would force himself into retirement to keep his goodness in our memory instead of cash-in by his deteriorating story-telling ability. I will not read anything from Archer from now on. Thanks anyway, Mr. Archer, for the many good moments that you've contributed to my life. Bye.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but not the usual Archer
Review: Yes, this book is rather interesting, although quite political. The storyline is strong enough, and it just manages to hook you to read through the entire book (I finished it in around 6-8 hours over three days). However, it is not what I expect from Jeffrey Archer, and it is a little too heavy (reading) for my comfort.
Rating:
Summary: Archer continues decline
Review: Although "Honor Among Thieves" remains Archer's nadir, "The Eleventh Commandment" comes close, as did its predecessor, "The Fourth Estate." As with the execrable "Honor Among Thieves," Archer settles for the international intrigue path of cliches and stereotypes. The villains in "Commandment" are as two-dimensional as bad comic book villains and the protagonist has a better shot of veneration than the late Mother Theresa. At its best, the language manages not to offend; most of the time, it is dull. For a "suspense thriller," the book makes a serious mistake by revealing the protagonist's intended target just pages after the Archer manages to set up some suspense over this detail (the CIA director wonders if he will kill the Russian or American president; two or three pages later -- with about 70 left in the book -- Archer tells the reader). As for Archer's use of the University of Notre Dame as an incidental setting (it's where the protagonist went to college, starring, of course, as the football team's greatest quarterback in a quarter century), some more research would have helped. For one thing, he gets the name wrong, putting "University" after "Dame." It's a minor detail, but it casts doubt on all his other setting details. So, why two stars? Partially for the opening scenes, which tease the reading into expecting more from the novel, and partially for the author, whose "Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less," "Kane and Abel" and "The Prodigal Daughter" have long been among my favorite popular novels. Readers unfamiliar with Archer should start with those novels.
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