The Fourth Estate

Rating:
Summary: Another Tasteless Burger out of Acher's Central Kitchen !
Review: Mr. Archer, unless you lost money in the stock market, you don't need to write this lousy one to make some peddy cash. This is a terrible,terrible rerun of your original piece but shown its worst! I could believe you have become a irresponsible writer like your fellow writer, Jack Higgins, always tried to tell something out of nothing! Don't ruin your reputation, you've already got enough money to keep you from becoming a lousy writer! Don't become another Stuart Woods, please!

Rating:
Summary: Poor rerun of Kane and Abel
Review: Like all Archer books this is a story well told but it reads so much like the Kane and Abel saga you could probably change the character names without any great loss. The characters are also so thinly disguised on real press barons that the end is pretty easy to figure out well before the end, A good read but spoilt by the above so it was not hard to put down unlike earlier novels. Disappointin

Rating:
Summary: Unlikeable men battle for news empire
Review: Yawn. A tedious tale from the master of the formula novel. Both the central characters are ruthless, charmless men, with whom it is very difficult to relate or empathise. After a short time I stopped caring who came out on top, because both were so despicable. This novel has many similarities to Kane and Able, but lacks the human element of that work.

Rating:
Summary: Live--and live very well indeed--and let die!!!
Review: One of the best books I have read in the past 19 years of my life (I am 19-years old)? The wittiest encounter up to now? A special award deserving masterpiece? Yes, and perhaps even more than that ... The thick volume is an unpleasant first-sight experience, which only lasts until the story starts unfolding in front of you. With great expertise and authentic ideas in plot as well as in structure, J. Archer justifies the appointed title of the greatest storyteller of all times ... Everyone will enjoy, if not devour during the first night, the shortcomings and the 'smart tricks' of two well balanced characters, controversial but complementary at the same time. The reader will walk through the struggles for power and yet more power along with the barons of the fourth estate, whose main goal is simple: 'rule the world at any cost - not theirs of course'. He will travel to parts all around the world to witness the inevitable steps of self-devastation, since only one will eventually survive ... Jeffrey Archer took me many years to meet through his books, but I will try to remedee hereof

Rating:
Summary: I think I know these people!
Review: This book started out with the end and then explained why, an effective technique that is well used here. The plot is about 2 media empires and how they were built: by "monsters", who did anything to get their way. By portraying the monsters first as boys growing up, we get to see how they changed and became the powerful figures as adults. Every scene is related to something that happens later, but because the men are immoral, only one side is presented. We don't get to see any redeeming qualities of the man who is the worse of two evils, and the man who survives is only too glad to gobble up the empire of the one who fails. That the two lead characters of the book closely parallel the actual lives of media moguls cannot be overlooked. The problem is discerning what is fact from fiction. Since the characters are so overwhelmingly immoral, it detracts from the being able to say "so that's how it was." I can understand why Robert Maxwell wanted to stop the book, it can't be all there is to know about him, nor about his competitor. Overall, this is a minor drawback to a well-paced book about the real world and its power brokers

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating fictional account of powerful media moguls
Review: A serious all-encompassing look at the rags-to-riches versus silver spoon stories as only Jeffrey Archer can do. This is the inspiring story of two men who have each built vast media empires and are now battling to save them. Their daily decisions are fatally influenced by their backgrounds as is the intricate network that links them together. This book is written by an expert in human affairs who writes an easily readable and simply incredible novel. Very highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Heard the taped version of THE FOURTH ESTATE.
Review: THE FOURTH ESTATE by Jeffrey Archer (author of KANE & ABEL, one of my favorite novels of all time) . . .this tale again involves two men . . . though from different backgrounds, they stand face-to-face in an attempt to beat each other and control the biggest media empire in the world . . . I was interested in the stories
of their respective childhoods; by the time they reached middle age, however, I had lost interest in what happened to either of them . . . the ending also did little for me.

Rating:
Summary: Media Moguals - The Dark Side
Review: Some reviewers state there is no heros in this book - it's about the least objectionable person. They are right. It's thinly disguested Maxwell and Murdoch. It's no wonder they sued to stop publicication of the work.

Each character has their share of sleeze. Both were willing to do whatever it took to come out on top. But neither had the good sense to recognize when they should let it go... and let the other ruin each other.

Indeed, ask yourself before the end - which man deserves to triumph. The best of them, the worst of them, neither, or just one of them. The answer might not be what you think.

Rating:
Summary: Dreadful Drivel
Review: This book is an incredible waste of time. Two amoral main characters do not make for an interesting read. Archer goes on at imponderable length to describe the lives of these two slugs passing as kings of the publishing industry. Do not waste your time or money reading this pile of crap.

Rating:
Summary: Great work, of interest today
Review: We hear much of how the media of the world is controlled by the hands of a few men. THis fictionalized account of Rupert Murdoch and Robert Maxwells fight over the worlds media empires will help all those interested in how the media operates in the world today(or more precisely in the 1990s). This book is also a superb read, it combines the flair of real life with the fictionlized account of the private affairs of two great men, both of whom a flawed. A great character study. By far it is Archers best work.