Honor Among Thieves -- Book Review

The year is 1993. The Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm) just got over with the Americans smirking over their victory & the Iraqis still licking their wounds. It is payback time, feels Saddam. He comes up with a cunning yet daring plan to steal the "American Declaration of Independence". He also has the sarcasm & wit to name it the "Operation Desert Calm".

The story begins in the above said racy fashion and it is an absolute page turner from start to finish. It is a page turner in the beginning because of the simple fact that the racy start builds up momentum to proceed at breakneck speed for most part of the book. It is a page turner during the final stages for the sad fact that you just want to get done with this absolutely hopeless book!!!

What starts off as a Hollywood style Tom cruise movie meanders into a Kollywood style Vijayakanth movie................... Anything & everything that the Hero does turns out to be a success to such an extent that a picnic to the Sun by the Hero has been planned as the plot for the sequel to this novel!!!

I have nothing against the writing style of Jeffrey Archer but it is just that the lack of description of any sort and a wafer thin plot that looks ludicrous at best do not invoke the most favorable reviews. Added to this is the fact that I am big fan of Frederick Forsyth, the master of well researched story telling. Maybe the fact that I look to learn something new from each & every book that I read not being met in this particular novel has caused this sourness.

Bottomline: Read the book till the halfway stage, throw it away, get a ticket to the latest "Gaptun" Vijayakanth movie and watch just the climax. It all would add up to be just the same as reading this novel till the end.