** spoiler alert ** False Impressions, by Jeffrey Archer, is a thrilling murder mystery. This book would receive a thumbs up and a four start rating. It starts out with the murder of a very rich woman in London on 9/10/2003. Victoria Wentworth has her throat slitted, and her ear cut off. From there the book takes off with Fenston, a very rich banker getting the ear of Victoria Wentworth in the mail, and him receiving a phone call that the Van Gogh self-portrait is to arrive to him soon. One of Fenston’s workers has come to know too much about this scheme, so she is to be removed by an assassin. Then the tragic event of 9/11 occurs. This setting and tragic event supports to what is going on in the book very well because not only does it create problems that the characters have to overcome, but also helps their situation at the moment. It soon turns into a cat and mouse chase between a FBI agent, an assassin, and “missing person”, and a well known, rare, very important and expensive painting. The book takes place around the world, supporting the conflict and finally coming to the resolution which comes back to where it originally started. The way the “missing person” uses her friends and surroundings to her advantage and ability is very smart, and very interesting to think about why it is happening.
It is a good read, and very intriguing. It catches my attention from the moment the book starts, even from the prologue. It starts out with action and mystery catching the attention of the reader to keep reading to find out what happened and why it happened. I liked how it starts out with the murder, which doesn’t make the summary on the back keep you waiting to know when it happens. Archer does bore me in a couple parts where it goes into much detail of what is going on, but is for the reader’s own good to figure out what is happening. Although this book has its boring parts, it also has its points of climax throughout the book. When the assassin is about to kill the “missing person,” the book takes a turn, and changes in a way that is not predictable. It changes that the good outcome is obvious, which is interesting.
I mostly liked the way Archer narrates the entire story. He doesn’t just take one sole persons’ view, but everyone’s view in the story. He switches around the views, but makes it in a way the reader does not get confused. He tells the reader what is happening all around the story, if one character is doing something, then what the other character is doing at the exact moment. That way the stories interconnect and make the story more enjoyable to read.
The story has twists in it that make the reader keep going, so he/she won’t stop reading. I would recommend this book to those who like mysteries, murders, and or history of painters. Not only does this book involve murders and mystery, but near the end it ties in a bit of romance. This romance bit keeps the book alive and realistic, because not every mystery has to be fantasy.
You won’t always be able to grasp what is going on, so to read it again would be a recommendation if you are a slow reader. I didn’t always know what was going on, so I just kept reading hoping to understand sooner or later. I loved the characters and their unique personalities that brought unique views to the story, when Archer changed the view of what was happening in the book. It brought the book all together in a good finish. The plot kept changing in a way that you couldn’t put the book down until I figured out what exactly was happening at the moment.
Lastly, the painting that was mentioned throughout the book, was the Van Gogh self portrait. This painting is a real painting, known world wide to many painting collectors. The title of the book comes from the fact that Van Gogh was a Impressionist artist. The False part of the title comes from the fact that the real painting was always somewhere else when to be thought it was real. There was a duplicate to the real painting, a forgery, taking its place just in case nothing had happened to the real painting.
All in all, this book is a good book, good enough to rate a four, in my perspective. It definitely caught my attention, and kept me hooked on to keep reading. It does not receive a 5 because it caused me to fall asleep sometimes. The thrills of the story kept it alive along with the twists. So I would recommend False Impressions, by Jeffrey Archer to you.