Rating: 
Summary: TWO THUMBS UP.
Review: A collection of fiction you can't possibly put down. The book is full of variety and suspense; the stories are unpredictable and original. There is not a second rate story in this collection.
Rating: 
Summary: Archer aims at Maugham
Review: A Twist in the Tale, by Jeffrey Archer
3.5 stars out of 5Jeffrey Archer's 1988 collection of twelve short stories is not entitled *A Twist in the Tale* for nothing. The concluding paragraphs of each story--sometimes just the final sentence--inevitably offer the reader some kind of surprise, whether slight and easily swallowed ("A La Carte") or groan inducing ("Just Good Friends") or the product of a sort of dishonest storytelling that leaves one feeling ill treated ("The Perfect Murder"). Among the best of the lot are "A La Carte"--the story of a young man compelled by his father to delay entering his chosen profession--and "Honor among Thieves," in which a wine connoisseur is put to the test by a "humbug." But all of the stories (ten of them are reportedly based on actual events) are worth a read. Archer writes in a commendably straightforward style that is easily digested: it is not surprising that, as the jacket copy of the book informs us, Archer has been hailed as "the natural successor to Maugham."** **See Somerset Maugham's autobiographical *The Summing Up* for his discussion of the three qualities for which he strove in his writing: lucidity, simplicity, and euphony.
Rating:
Summary: Twisted Reading
Review: After reading Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less and A Twist in the Tale, I'm ready to proclaim Jeffrey Archer King of the Twist. Every story in this collection turns on some unexpected event, point of view, or premise, and about the only thing you can count on is that you will be surprised. While not great literature, A Twist in the Tale does provide some entertaining reading. Though the characters are largely forgettable, Archer's narrative voice provides you with just enough distance that you can enjoy what happens to them and how it happens (Not The Real Thing, Just Good Friends). Some of these stories are reminiscent of Edgar Allen Poe (A Perfect Murder, Colonel Bullfrog). In short, entertaining reading. The kind of book you might pick up at a ski lodge and be able to finish in one sitting.
Rating:
Summary: Twisted Reading
Review: After reading Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less and A Twist in the Tale, I'm ready to proclaim Jeffrey Archer King of the Twist. Every story in this collection turns on some unexpected event, point of view, or premise, and about the only thing you can count on is that you will be surprised. While not great literature, A Twist in the Tale does provide some entertaining reading. Though the characters are largely forgettable, Archer's narrative voice provides you with just enough distance that you can enjoy what happens to them and how it happens (Not The Real Thing, Just Good Friends). Some of these stories are reminiscent of Edgar Allen Poe (A Perfect Murder, Colonel Bullfrog). In short, entertaining reading. The kind of book you might pick up at a ski lodge and be able to finish in one sitting.
Rating: 
Summary: this is poor writting from a good author
Review: Archer is one of the authors who started with the potential of Graham Greene but fizzled out later. It seems his writing career is following his political career and it is quite a downhill journey. Short story writers tend to give that twist at the end and the art is to make it implicit. In this books the plots are good but the twists are extremely explicit - short stories should have sleekness and probably Chekov was the king of this. From Britain we have read Roald Dahl - who also has twist at end of every story and that is really what you wait for. The author should be able to keep you guessing and finally bring down the curtain without hitting the bull's eyes. There should be some gray area to provoke our thinking but here more or less in all his stories Archer has hit the bull's eye. One story called "A Chapter of accidents" is really original - rest of the stories are pretty mundane. I think this is a pretty average books and especially compared to his first collection "A Quiver full of Arrows"
Rating:
Summary: Short Stories with Unexpected Endings
Review: I am a big fan of Jeffrey Archer. I love his long novels and deep characterizations. This book was a bit different for me. When I first purchased it, I didn't know it was a collection of short stories. After reading the first story, I left it sitting by my beside for several weeks, then picked it up and read the rest in two days. The only reason I set it aside was that it surprised me when the first story ended--that's when I discovered it was a book of short stories. (I enjoy Jeffrey Archer so much that I bought it quickly, just looking at his name on the cover, passing through an airport, not noticing this book was not a novel like all his others.) Most of these stories can be read in 30 minutes, while the first story might take one hour. The book is very appropriately named, because the very end of each story has a bizarrre "twist" that you don't expect. The twist happens literally in the last sentence or two of each story, and the reader is completely surprised. Compared to most novels, these stories move incredibly fast. In spite of that, characterization is revealed well, as the stories move. There is quite a variety in the stories presented--in one story, he even writes as a woman. I highly enjoyed this book. Anyone who enjoys either short stories, or loves Jeffrey Archer's novels will enjoy it, too. The only reason I have rated it four stars instead of five, is that I personally enjoy novels much more than short stories-short stories end far too quickly for me.
Rating:
Summary: Short Stories with Unexpected Endings
Review: I am a big fan of Jeffrey Archer. I love his long novels and deep characterizations. This book was a bit different for me. When I first purchased it, I didn't know it was a collection of short stories. After reading the first story, I left it sitting by my beside for several weeks, then picked it up and read the rest in two days. The only reason I set it aside was that it surprised me when the first story ended--that's when I discovered it was a book of short stories. (I enjoy Jeffrey Archer so much that I bought it quickly, just looking at his name on the cover, passing through an airport, not noticing this book was not a novel like all his others.) Most of these stories can be read in 30 minutes, while the first story might take one hour. The book is very appropriately named, because the very end of each story has a bizarrre "twist" that you don't expect. The twist happens literally in the last sentence or two of each story, and the reader is completely surprised. Compared to most novels, these stories move incredibly fast. In spite of that, characterization is revealed well, as the stories move. There is quite a variety in the stories presented--in one story, he even writes as a woman. I highly enjoyed this book. Anyone who enjoys either short stories, or loves Jeffrey Archer's novels will enjoy it, too. The only reason I have rated it four stars instead of five, is that I personally enjoy novels much more than short stories-short stories end far too quickly for me.
Rating:
Summary: Another collection of short stories
Review: I am looking at the UK paperback edition which is 269 pages. It is a collection of 12 short stories of varying length, subject matter, and quality. As the author notes, 10 of the stories are based on real incidents. Like most collections, the reader will like some of the stories better than others. It is another collection that I refer to commuters, airline travelers, etc., who are looking for some light reading. The stories, as the collection title implies, have some interesting twists.
Rating:
Summary: Another collection of short stories
Review: I am looking at the UK paperback edition which is 269 pages. It is a collection of 12 short stories of varying length, subject matter, and quality. As the author notes, 10 of the stories are based on real incidents. Like most collections, the reader will like some of the stories better than others. It is another collection that I refer to commuters, airline travelers, etc., who are looking for some light reading. The stories, as the collection title implies, have some interesting twists.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable
Review: It was the first book I had read from Jeffrey Archer, it would definitely not be my last. The stories were all hilariously written and I couldn't stop myself from reading on and on..
| 
