A Matter of Honour

"One of Jeffrey Archer’s more entertaining books, which is saying quite something because he can certainly write an entertaining read. It starts out with a big question – you know there’s a McGuffin, something they’re hunting down. It’s the son of a disgraced army officer who, in the best melodramatic tradition, has been left something in a will that will clear his father’s name. It’s an icon in a Swiss bank and, as he goes to retrieve it, we find out from the point of view again of the villain that there’s more to this icon than meets the eye and our hero is suddenly in a chase for his life and not only that but to clear the name of his father for having assisted one of the Nazis to commit suicide before he met justice. It’s a matter of honour. And at the end we find out that what they were chasing was a document hidden in the icon that was permission for Russia to buy back Alaska from America before a certain deadline. So, it has a ticking clock, fabulous locations, sex, love, honour, everything. Well, it’s not a full-on sex scene. The villain has sex with a woman and then strangles her and the hero falls in love with a girl with an orchestra. It’s not real sex. If you want real sex you have to look at my early work."