Series: Clifton Chronicles #2
Format Read: Kindle Audio Book
Narrators:
Source: from Audible in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: May 8, 2012
Buying Links: Audible | Barnes & Noble |
Blurb from Audible:
On the heels of the international best seller Only Time Will Tell, Jeffrey Archer picks up the sweeping story of the Clifton Chronicles….
Only days before Britain declares war on Germany, Harry Clifton, hoping to escape the consequences of long-buried family secrets, and forced to accept that his desire to marry Emma Barrington will never be fulfilled, has joined the Merchant Navy. But his ship is sunk in the Atlantic by a German Uboat, drowning almost the entire crew. An American cruise liner, the SS Kansas Star, rescues a handful of sailors, among them Harry and the third officer, an American named Tom Bradshaw. When Bradshaw dies in the night, Harry seizes on the chance to escape his tangled past and assumes his identity.
But on landing in America, he quickly learns the mistake he has made, when he discovers what is awaiting Bradshaw in New York. Without any way of proving his true identity, Harry Clifton is now chained to a past that could be far worse than the one he had hoped to escape.
©2012 Jeffrey Archer (P)2012 Macmillan Audio
Bea's Thoughts:
I've been reading Archer since high school; he was a favorite of both my parents. At this point, he's comfort food: I know what to expect, it's undemanding, and it makes me feel good about my own life. At it's worst, my life has not been the soap opera that his characters live. :D
The story is nothing new, it's classic Archer - poor boy overcomes odds to make good but disaster strikes, the woman he loves is unavailable, numerous obstacles are thrown in the path, etc. If you haven't read book one, read that first as this one builds on that and frequently refers back to it.
Harry Clifton is loyal, honorable, ambitious and hardworking and his fiancee Emma is creative and also loyal. Harry's loyalty and honor result in some unpleasant consequences for him and separate him from Emma. The POV jumps around frequently, there are about five or six different POVs, which I don't mind in print but found challenging to follow in audio. It worked better when I could listen to large portions of the story at a time but didn't when I listened in bits and pieces. The narrators did a fantastic job portraying the characters and that greatly added to the story. Narration-wise, this was well done; story-wise, it's nothing new or fantastic but I enjoyed the twists and was pleased that Archer can still write twists and surprise me while staying well within his comfort zone. It's formulaic but it's solid storytelling and was a pleasant way to spend 10 hours.
Overall, I think audiobooks will work best for me when I can listen in the car while on a long drive. Trying to listen on a daily basis while doing other things just didn't work well for me.
I'm not a big audiobook person myself. Like you I find my mind wanders but I'm listening to an excellent series on audio (because that's the only format that my library has it in) it's the Ursula Blanchard series by Fiona Buckley and it's fantastic and really recommend it.
ReplyDeleteI've seen Archer's books around for years and he is on my TBR list but I just haven't gotten to him yet. I wonder if my library has the first one in the series :)