Rating: 
Summary: A difficult task made "easy"
Review: Many long-time readers of Jeffrey Archer were probably delighted when he, for reasons we won't discuss here, suddenly had more time to spend writing books... :-) I myself have read all his books, but none of his plays. Jeffrey Archer specialises in very long novels at the same time as short stories: an unusual combination.Short stories are difficult to write, and I know only a handful who do it better than Jeffrey Archer. I don't know what he says himself, but to me it look like Roald Dahl is his role model: the stories often end with an unexpected twist that at the same time is perfectly logical. This time my favourite story is the one about the warm-hearted civil servant trying to build a swimming pool. That story contains another Archer-speciality: the short story that covers a long period of time. A final observation: as a non-native speaker of English, I have always found all of Archer's books very easy to read, but I cannot explain why! The language is not extremely poor, it is on the contrary very good English. So if you find English difficult to read, give Jeffrey Archer a try!
Rating: 
Summary: May not be his best but still a good read
Review: Of the entire collection of short stories in this book, I liked the following best: The End Game, Chalk & Cheese, & The Grass is Always Greener. These 3 seem to be the favorites among readers, based on th various reviews I have seen prior to writing my own. Their plots seem to be very real & interesting from start to end. Stories with legal background were enlightening as you see the loopholes in the profession; interesting at first but the endings were quite so-so. Others like Something for Nothing & A Weekend to Remember were simply ok while Too Many Coincidences was too long. Not all stories were excellent but overall, the book was one good & entertaining read.
Rating:
Summary: May not be his best but still a good read
Review: Of the entire collection of short stories in this book, I liked the following best: The End Game, Chalk & Cheese, & The Grass is Always Greener. These 3 seem to be the favorites among readers, based on th various reviews I have seen prior to writing my own. Their plots seem to be very real & interesting from start to end. Stories with legal background were enlightening as you see the loopholes in the profession; interesting at first but the endings were quite so-so. Others like Something for Nothing & A Weekend to Remember were simply ok while Too Many Coincidences was too long. Not all stories were excellent but overall, the book was one good & entertaining read.
Rating: 
Summary: Clever & cunning writer and characters.
Review: The cliche "master storyteller" is appropo for Jeffrey Archer in this incredible collection of short stories, but perhaps not sufficient. After I had read a couple of the stories and been entranced and stunned by them, I couldn't help but try to figure out where the remaining stories were going as I read them. There's always a twist, a surprise, an "Ooohh, alright."
I'm not a short-story fan but I am definitely a Jeffrey Archer short-story fanatic.
Rating: 
Summary: Not as creative as usual
Review: This book was not as good as I expected having thoroughly enjoyed his previous short story collections. Seeing as more than half of the stories are based on real life events, the creativeness and originality I have come to expect from a Jeffrey Archer short story were just not there. The stories came across basic and predictable, except for the few stories that were original. Actually quite a disappointing read overall.
Rating:
Summary: Some stories were good, others were bland...
Review: This collection of short stories starts of brilliantly and you will be ecstatic as you get going, thinking that you have some great reading ahead of you. Unfortunately the extremely high standard only stays for the first couple of stories and the rest are an effort to get through and certainly not enjoyable. This collection should have been cut short after the first couple of stories. Buy A Twist in the Tale for better Archer short stories instead. The Expert Witness, The Endgame, The Letter, Crime Pays and Chalk and Cheese are literary masterpieces with characters displaying intelligence and plotting skills brilliantly. You have got a rich man with a brilliant plan to find out if his family cares about him or just his money, a criminal determined to become a millionaire without going back to jail, a son who is not his mother's favourite and looks after his bludging brother but has the ultimate revenge as well as other classic themes. Stop reading after once you have read the book up to Chalk and Cheese though, as it is all down hill from there.
Rating:
Summary: Buy a Twist in the Tale instead
Review: This collection of short stories starts of brilliantly and you will be ecstatic as you get going, thinking that you have some great reading ahead of you. Unfortunately the extremely high standard only stays for the first couple of stories and the rest are an effort to get through and certainly not enjoyable. This collection should have been cut short after the first couple of stories. Buy A Twist in the Tale for better Archer short stories instead. The Expert Witness, The Endgame, The Letter, Crime Pays and Chalk and Cheese are literary masterpieces with characters displaying intelligence and plotting skills brilliantly. You have got a rich man with a brilliant plan to find out if his family cares about him or just his money, a criminal determined to become a millionaire without going back to jail, a son who is not his mother's favourite and looks after his bludging brother but has the ultimate revenge as well as other classic themes. Stop reading after once you have read the book up to Chalk and Cheese though, as it is all down hill from there.
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