The Eleventh Commandment

Rating:
Summary: My first Archer novel...
Review: Although I have read J. Archer's short stories, The Eleventh Commandment is my first novel. Hence, I do not have any basis of comparison vs. his past novels, which most readers say are a lot better. Regardless of that observation, I have found this book very enjoyable. The opening scene has caught my attention & the subsequent events are definite page-turners. I agree that the story takes you for a (roller coaster) ride from one country to another & the events may be quite surreal. But what is specifically there which is not believable? For someone who has not worked with the secret service, much more with the NCOs, Connor's every movement is livid & brings us closer to feeling his dilemma. My only negative comment though is on how Mr. Archer portrayed Connor's character...a seemingly flawless person. But overlooking this shortcoming, The Eleventh Commandment is a very enjoyable read.

Rating:
Summary: My first Archer novel...
Review: Although I have read J. Archer's short stories, The Eleventh Commandment is my first novel. Hence, I do not have any basis of comparison vs. his past novels, which most readers say are a lot better. Regardless of that observation, I have found this book very enjoyable. The opening scene has caught my attention & the subsequent events are definite page-turners. I agree that the story takes you for a (roller coaster) ride from one country to another & the events may be quite surreal. But what is specifically there which is not believable? For someone who has not worked with the secret service, much more with the NCOs, Connor's every movement is livid & brings us closer to feeling his dilemma. My only negative comment though is on how Mr. Archer portrayed Connor's character...a seemingly flawless person. But overlooking this shortcoming, The Eleventh Commandment is a very enjoyable read.

Rating:
Summary: KNOW BEFORE YOU SPEAK
Review: I like this authors work very much; his short stories remind me of Maugham, but he seems unable to write anything about firearms
that is correct. He is desparately in need of an editor knowledgeable in this field because the lack of versimilitude en-gendered by these glaring errors are a shock to the readers sensibilities...

Rating:
Summary: I Absolutely Loved This Book
Review: I read this book in three days and could hardly put it down. I have become interested lately in CIA and spy novels, and this book did not disappoint me in any way, in spite of what a couple reviewers below have said about it. What I loved MOST about this book is that you don't expect a CIA assassin to be a truly honorable man, as was this main character. It was really interesting how the author immediately pulls you into the assasin's mind and gets you right on his side.

The reviewers below comment on the plot being implausible--that the CIA would not go around like this assasinating world leaders. I don't think this comment is important. In any novel, we must "suspend our disbelief," and this novel is no different. The more pertinent question in this novel is "What if?" I personally thought it was one of the best plots I have ever read, and I really enjoyed how the characters were one-upping each other. I was really surprised by the twists and turns of the plot as it progressed. And I liked being surprised. An EXCELLENT read.

Rating:
Summary: Not the best book of Jeffrey Archer
Review: I was a little surprised with this book , I expected a lot more from Archer , but this book is full of non believable characters like Helen Dexter and some others.

It tells the story of a secret CIA agent who does a lot of non ofcial work , he was about to retire when a last job was asked to him , kill Zerimski , a russian presidential candidate but he didn't knew this was a trap for him to get caught and for the CIA to get hands clean on the murder of a colombian presidential candidate.

This book is fast and easy reading but most of it is non believable , it's like a movie , short and with a lot of plot holes.

I recommend this book only for Archer fans , I like his work in general , but I didn't like this one that much , it's not that bad but like I said , most of it is non believable.

If you want to read a short an easy reading book maybe you'll like it , but in my case I didn't.

Rating:
Summary: I did not enjoy reading it at all.....
Review: Its Funny to think a person such as Jerrery Archer who has written books as Kane and Abel {which is almost a legend} to write a very mediocre book such as The 11th commandment ... The book starts off well but then it starts to the stuck in the same place for long moments and this is very frustrating and boring ...in short after i finished this book i felt very dissatisfied at the story and the very predictable ending that this book has...ahhh thats one more point the book is extremly predictable all the way .... I will not recommend this book .... look for another book from JA or many other good fiction authors ,i am not going to write a list here.

Rating:
Summary: Good Vacation Time-Killer
Review: Like most authors of this genre, Archer starts out at a high intensity but with fairly plausible characters and plot lines for the first hundred pages, but to maintain the ever-increasing tension, the characters and the plot have to move off into never-never land. By the time you get to the last fifty pages, he's off the charts. But long before that, you're hooked on the adreneline rush and you stick with it until the end. Not a great book, but a pleasant way to kill a rainy weekend at the beach or wait out a blizzard on the ski slopes. I wouldn't buy it, but I'll read a few more of Archer's books from the library to see if they are better or worse than this one.

Rating:
Summary: watch the weather channel
Review: The Eleventh Commandment belongs in Archer's head, not on paperback. It's poorly written with a washy protagonist, and an incredible villian. The plot is threadbare.
For first time readers of Archer: Please don't judge him on this appalling work, he is better than this.

Rating:
Summary: Not great, but a worthy effort
Review: This is a fairly decent book it is well thought out and one tends to have sympathy for the charecters. Some very good plot twists make up for "Huh" moments any of us might suffer from.

I do have some issues with this book

1. it takes a damn long time to get anywhere, once it does it manages to clip along fairly well and the reader tends to get interested but for the first 5 chapters it is just as slow as frozen molasses in winter time. (that's a regional expression we have in the south)
2. Characters are built up and then discarded with no explanation as to where exactly it was that they went or in some cases just killed off conveniently almost as if the author got bored with them.
3. The ending (particularly the very end) is worthless and severed no point at all why I had to struggle to reach the end and find out the ansewer to a question I already knew is totally beyond me.

I did like the story I'm not saying that, its just that parts of it do have their flaws

1. I liked the supporting characters Chris Jackson and Sergi in particular the back and forth between these two is priceless.
2. The author does have a good ear for what he is talking about as far as the technical stuff is concerned I like that.

Overall-Good book but not perfect you should still consider if you are a newcomer, would be a nice introduction to this author.

Rating:
Summary: Absurd story
Review: This is the first book I read from Jeffrey Archer. After hearing good things about him, I thought I should try one of his books, and opted for this one. It was a mistake.

While some of the characters are interesting, the plot is insanly stupid and absurd. It is so far-fetched and not believable, that I ended up reading it through without much interest. The story has the hero, Connor, who is a CIA agent, on a mission in Russia where he is just abandoned by the Agency. And from there on, it is just blah, blah, and blah, and blah, blah blah. Numerous times, I could hear myself say "Ah come on! Give me a break!". It is that ridiculous.

On the other hand, Jeffrey Archer is a very popular authour, so he must do something right? A lot of people will tell you how great a story-teller this authour is, and I will have to agree. This book is like a movie and it is fast paced. So this is a positive aspect of 'The Eleventh Commandment'. That it is short is another one.

With that said, I would not recommend this book unless you are a loyal Jeffrey Archer fan. I will probably try another book from him one of these days, because I'm sure it is not his best. And if, like me, you are new to Jeffrey Archer, then skip this one!