Thou Shalt Not Get Caught
Written: Jan 31 '08 (Updated Feb 05 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Likable hero; interesting international intrigue; excellent narration (recorded book)
Cons: Several small logic gaffs; protagonist is a cold-blooded killer
The Bottom Line: I enjoyed this book, even though the protagonist is basically a ruthless assassin. The international scope and loving family life work well in this book.
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| pvreditor's Full Review: Jeffrey Archer - El undecimo mandamiento / The Ele... |
I always enjoy a good international intrigue novel, and The Eleventh Commandment by Jeffrey Archer didn't disappoint. What this book does a little better than most in this genre is to keep the focus on one individual, and it's a likable individual to boot.
Connor Fitzgerald is a CIA assassin, working in a secret division that the CIA can disavow if necessary. Connor is approaching retirement age but still seems to cheerfully attend to whatever assassination is necessary, flitting to the four corners of the globe to do his dirty deeds. He dispatches a noisy communist contender for the presidency of Columbia, then slips away with his well-honed CIA assassin's skills. With that task done, he's given one final assignment before he can retire: He has to kill a quickly rising presidential candidate in Russia.
Connor, who loves his wife and daughter, is no idiot. He understands the international ramifications of killing this Russian and wants to make sure that this is what his government really wants. His conniving CIA bosses use trickery to make Connor think he's spoken to the president in a phone call that convinces Connor to take the assignment. What the director of the CIA really wants is to make sure Connor gets killed before he can provide information that will implicate the CIA director in the assassination of the candidate in Columbia.
It's all a little complicated and confusing, but what propels The Eleventh Commandment is the likability and cleverness of Connor Fitzgerald. I really wanted him to succeed, even when success meant killing someone.
Does Connor kill the Russian candidate? Can he avoid being killed? Can he take down the ruthless and corrupt CIA director? Getting these answers was actually a little more fun than I thought it would be, considering the protagonist is pretty much a cold-blooded assassin.
And that's one of the problems with The Eleventh Commandment -- it's hard for me to consider liking a guy who willingly kills people with as little conscience as Connor Fitzgerald apparently has. On the other hand, the CIA director and Connor's various targets are all nasty people who seem to deserve their target status. It's just that Connor getting to play god with his sniper rifle seems a little... unsettling.
There are a few inconsistencies in The Eleventh Commandment. The author, Jeffrey Archer, is British and is/was actually a Member of Parliament. When it comes to knowledge of American life, Archer is a little ragged about the details. In one scene, Archer has a character driving a car on the George Washington Parkway in Washington, DC, and the car is run off the road by DC Highway Department vehicles. However, the George Washington Parkway is in Virginia and never runs into DC. There should never be DC Highway Department snowplows on the George Washington Parkway. In another scene, Charlie Gibson is on the TV show Good Morning America at about 6:45AM. However, Good Morning America doesn't come on the air until 7AM.
There are a few other little details of American life that Archer doesn't get quite right. They're all minor and many would think I'm being too picky, but there's an old saying that writers should write what they know about. Archer obviously thought he could pull off writing about action on turf other than his native country, but a handful of minor slip ups give him away.
All that said, I enjoyed The Eleventh Commandment. I liked the sweep of its action, and I admired humble and honest Connor Fitzgerald as the book's hero. If you enjoy international spy thrillers, I recommend The Eleventh Commandment.
I "read" this as a recorded book, narrated by Paul Hecht. Hecht did an excellent job with the narration, especially with his handling of a wide range of accents. Hecht had to portray characters that were British, Australian, South African, Russian, Hispanic and a variety of American regional accents. To my ear, he nailed all the accents, even when some were in the middle of conversations and switching between men and women. This helped keep all the characters separate and it contributed to understanding the story. I recommend The Eleventh Commandment as read by Paul Hecht.
Recommended:
Yes
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