Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less

Rating:
Summary: READ WITH SUAVE ASSURANCE
Review: British mystery master Jeffrey Archer never fails to intrigue with his imaginative plotting and incomparable characters. Anyone who has ever been bilked can well relate to the four profiled in "Not A Penny More, Not A Penny Less." We're talking about being stiffed big time here - each lost everything he had to Harvey Metcalfe, con man par excellence.

The four men are strangers but they're brought together by a common goal - get Harvey Metcalfe, and get him good. It's a dissimilar quartet, an Oxford don, a physician, a French art dealer, and an English lord. However, between them they produce a plan that will not only break Metcalfe but make him suffer to boot.

Listeners are treated to an action filled chase that takes them to some of the most glamorous spots in the world - Monte Carlo, Ascot, New York, and London. Revenge is the name of this game, and they won't quit until they've exacted it.

Martin Jarvis reads with suave assurance as he carries us along on a fascinating chase. Can four fellows inexperienced in duplicity out con a first-rate con man?

- Gail Cooke

Rating:
Summary: The Ultimate Revenge Novel---Liberally Laced With Humor
Review: Have you ever wanted to get even? I mean *really* even. That's the plot in Jeffrey Archer's first novel. Four disparate men are each swindled out of their life's savings by a clever con man. How they combine to get even and try to reclaim what is rightfully theirs makes for a brilliantly plotted, fact-paced read peopled by sympathetic characters. Stephen, an Oxford professor, Robin, a Harley Street physician, Jean-Pierre Lamanns, a French art dealer, and James Brigsley, an English lord, all find themselves in identical circumstances. Singularly, they are powerless, but united they develop a plan to win back their lost money without exacting any further punishment than attaining not a penny more, not a penny less, of that which was stolen from them.

Although this is quite different from Archer's later family sagas such as KANE AND ABEL, AS THE CROW FLIES, and others, it is no less ingenious or entertaining. This is a light-hearted romp filled with humor, romance, and revenge. There's also a knock-your-socks off ending to end all endings.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable read with a great ending
Review: Having read a wide variety of authors, I can say that I truly enjoy Archer's entertaining writing, with his abundant humorous and/or dramatic turns. This book is no exception. An American businessman has bilked four different men with an intricate scheme to the tune of $1,000,000. But one of the men is determined to get his money back.

Gathering the victims together, the four men develop individually elaborate plans to recoup their losses from the infamous Mr. Harvey. Each plan is exceptionally creative, daring, and very entertaining as they get all of their money back, not a penny more, not a penny less.

Archer's style creates a very reader-friendly text, with good pace. And the ending is outlandishly funny. A great read.

Rating:
Summary: Early novel shines -- almost
Review: In some ways, this is my favourite Archer novel -- the plot and the characters are wonderful.

The book suffers from his lack of experience (it was his first published novel). The story is slow to get started (considering the length of the novel) and the ending is more contrived than the endings of his later books. Occasionally, the dialogue is stilted, and there are viewpoint shifts that happen without notice.

However, Archer is a great storyteller, and this story just keeps moving. Essentially, this is a revenge tale, in which four men swindled by a master con-artist decide to get back exactly what he stole from them. They embark on a series of scams in order to extract the money from the miscreant. The scams are just barely believable, and one of the strengths of the book is the way that the author drags you in and gets you to believe that these exotic plots can work.

This is an excellent short novel, with lots of light suspense and much to admire. It is well worth the time it takes to read.