False Impression
By Jeffrey Archer
Large Print Edition Center Point Large Print, 2006
ISBN: 1-58547-731-1
Genre: Thriller
Reviewed by Herbert White - January 22, 2007
False Impression is a fast paced, well-plotted thriller by the Jeffrey Archer. Set against the backdrop of September 11, 2001, this story follows the hunt for a lethal female assassin who, on September 10th, murdered Victoria Wentworth, a wealthy, elderly woman, and cut her ear off. Connected to this gruesome murder is the theft of a Vincent Van Gogh masterpiece. While the FBI and Interpol are on the case, it falls upon an art expert, Anna Petrescu, to discover the truth behind the murder of Wentworth, and to recover the missing painting. Petrescu, who worked in the North Tower of the World Trade Center, lets everyone believe that she died in the tower's collapse in order to facilitate her hunt for the truth, and to escape from the clutches of the FBI, and the same assassin that killed Wentworth. At the same time, Petrescu's boss, Bryce Fenston is also using the destruction of the World Trade Center to cover his own trail, however in this case it's to cover his nefarious financial dealings.
As events unfold, it becomes apparent that the stolen Van Gogh painting, titled Van Gogh's Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear hides a secret, a secret that several people feel is worth killing for. To discover the painting's secret the reader will have to wade through a variety of twists and false leads that Archer has peppered the story with. In addition, in this international thriller, Archer takes the reader around the world, making stops in London, New York, Toronto, Hong Kong, and Tokyo to name a few. The pace is rapid, the story crisp, and the villains numerous. Without doubt, False Impression is a real page turner that will keep you guessing until the very end.
False Impression is the first thriller from the pen of Sir Archer since The Eleventh Commandment (published in 1998) and his incarceration for perjury and perverting the course of justice. It was a long wait for this new offering, but now that Archer's troubles are well behind him I hope that we will not have to wait so long for his next thriller.
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The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown.
When her grandfather is murdered, Sophie Neveu joins forces with Robert Langdon to discover the truth about her grandfather's death, and a search that leads them on a life or death race to find the Holy Grail. (Large Print)
