2024 the best man: the final chapter review

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The seventh and final volume in Jeffrey Archer’s New York Times bestselling Clifton Chronicles series, This Was a Man, brings the epic saga of the Clifton family’s love, loss, and ambition to a dazzling conclusion.

Harry Clifton’s story began in 1920, as a dock worker in England, and now he is set to write his magnum opus. As he reflects on his days, the lives of his family continue to unfold, unravel, and intertwine in ways no one could have imagined . . .

Harry’s wife Emma, who just completed her time at the Bristol Royal Infirmary, receives a surprise call from Margaret Thatcher. Meanwhile, Giles Barrington discovers a shocking truth about his wife, Karin. Sebastian Clifton becomes chairman of Farthings Kaufman bank, but only after Hakim Bishara’s abrupt resignation. Sebastian’s daughter Jessica is expelled from school, but her aunt Grace comes to the rescue. And Lady Virginia, who is set to flee the country to avoid her creditors, finds an opportunity to clear her debts after the Duchess of Hertford dies—and a way to finally trump the Cliftons and Barringtons.

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01BSNQJIY
Publisher ‏ : ‎ St. Martin's Press (November 8, 2016)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 8, 2016
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 4544 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 416 pages
Reviewer: Regina Kaydo
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Another great read
Review: Final book in the series, it is well worth the read

Reviewer: Anand K. Sankaran
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great conclusion to a mostly good series
Review: I wrapped up The Clifton Chronicles by finishing "This Was a Man" this morning.I would be lying if I did not admit I had tears rolling down my cheeks while reading the last chapter. This book is a very good conclusion to a very good series which is excellent in most part. Some of the last book is in Sir. Archer's favorite territory - politics where it pits a brother who is a leader of the Labor party against the sister who is the minister for the Tories. Very enjoyable to read.This book brings closure to the primary question the series started with - did the two primary protagonists committed incest or not. To find the answer to this question, we go nearly seven decades, four generations, true friendships, constitutional crisis and many mega villains to find the answer.I read these books as they were released, so there was a gap of many months or an year between them. That made the experience better, in my opinion, since it brings me to the one negative about this series.I think this series had three books too many. I think this was a three series book, like Kane and Abel, may be four. I know that Sir.Archer started with a five series book and expanded it to seven, and I think that was a mistake. Some of the characters appear repetitive, some of the plot points appear just to extend the series.Having the break between the books made this more palatable. The really nice thing about these books is they can also stand alone - Sir. Archer provides enough context for series readers to remember what happened and a new reader just enough information to move on. However, I suspect that if you binge read all seven books in one go, as some of my friends are planning to do, you might find it laborious.I admit, I will miss the Cliftons and the Harringtons.

Reviewer: Kindle Customer
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Finale of The Clifton Chronicles reveals powerful love story and long-time friendship
Review: After Book 4 of The Clifton Chronicles, Be Careful What You Wish For, I posited that perhaps Jeffrey Archer was going to take the Chronicles far enough into the 20th century that DNA evidence would reveal if the Cliftons and Barringtons were related more closely than marriage. In the last 50 pages or so, the permanent secretary to Emma Clifton, now Minister of Health under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, mentions the new work coming out of America on DNA. The results are revealed later in a line or two and the story just continues.The finale covers 24 years concluding in 1992. At that point, does it really matter? Giles Barrington and Harry are 72, Emma 71. It was hard imagining them at that age.The last pages were written beautifully by Archer and I did shed a tear.However, as we went one last time through the lives of Sebastian and Samantha, the wild adventures of their now college-age daughter, Jessica, (and now there’s a second child, Jake); Giles and Karin (she lives after the cliffhanger end of Book 6, Cometh the Hour), Grace Barrington, Lady Virginia Fenwick, and Harry and Emma, I found myself wondering “so what?”This was particularly the case with the nefarious Fenwick. Her scheme to defraud a Louisiana businessman by having him pay support for her alleged child by him is uncovered. She is involved in two more schemes. One, Giles has to recruit her for Sebastian and Farthings Kaufman Bank, who decide to help the evil Demond Muller, who was imprisoned, while the “eviler” Adrian Sloane got off scot free in a scheme against the bank. Sebastian ends up having to go to Chicago in search of Muller’s estranged daughter, who is listed as the sole heir. He finds a woman with a child in an abusive relationship and rescues them. She and Fenwick have already worked out a plot.Even worse, Fenwick zeroes in on a widower duke at the wife’s funeral, in order to get money to pay a debt, and marries him, envisioning inheritance. The family gets the better of her, but somehow Virginia still ends up ahead. Why? When was she going to get her due? But, did we need any more of her in the penultimate edition? What did this add to the story?A nice thing happens to Freddie, the “fake child” she has stashed in a boarding school and had her brother tend to, never visiting. Giles and Karin adopt him, though Giles and Freddie’s love of cricket may have played a role. :)Another special moment is Emma and Giles debating the merits of the new health bill in the House of Commons, Emma from the Conservative view representing the government, Giles from the Labour side. Would Giles experience and oratory win out over Emma’s measured delivery and facts?The politics of the family fascinated me. Harry overcame his poverty as a child to attend good schools and become a world renowned writer of detective stories and advocate of an imprisoned Russian writer. Yet, he was a Conservative. Giles, raised in wealth, went to the Labour side. We never know if he was influenced by Harry’s life. Yet, the family worked in Giles’ campaigns and voted for him.Then Emma became enamored of Thatcher and vice versa. No one in the family joined Labour, though you couldn’t quite tell about Karin. Why? Archer is Conservative, which makes this aspect interesting.It was also impressive how much Archer knew about political protocol, ins and outs, banking and wills.At the end, what did we have after seven books and 72 years? Harry was de facto the main character, but breaking the books into sections about the different people, made the family the focus. Until the last section, Harry was in the background. At the end, you have a strong love story, of Harry and Emma. Emma picked out Harry after meeting him for the first time when she was 11 and he was 12. You also have the more than 60-year friendship of Giles and Harry. You have a family, despite being involved in so many public “trials” stuck together.Archer’s women characters are also inspirational. Harry’s mother, Maisie, worked herself from waitress to owning a restaurant, trying to earn enough money to pay the tuition for Harry to attend school. Before she dies she tells Emma she has the ability to do more with her life.Emma didn’t have to work. She became the first woman chairman of Barrington Shipping, building new liners despite the rise of air travel. Then, she chaired the board of a hospital, before joining Thatcher’s cabinet.The Barrington who doesn’t get much attention, Giles and Emma’s younger sister, Grace, is a well-respected professor.Karin was a spy, then double agent. She gets Giles to accompany her to Berlin to help in the destruction of the Berlin Wall. She also medals in a marathon.In the end, it comes back to Harry. (Avoiding spoiler).

Reviewer: Karen Adams
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A great read.
Review: As always lots of twist and turns. Mostly happy endings. But in the end I cried. Now to find something else to read.

Reviewer: Yadalam
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Archer the master of storytelling!
Review: The finale to the Clifton Chronicles, Archer manages to keep you glued to the pages even though it's the seventh book. His character building and touches of humor and humanity keep you wanting more. The story takes a full U turn to create a curtain call on all the characters. Its raw, its humorous, its entertaining, its Archer

Reviewer: AK Don
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Storytelling done right. A great read.
Review: Outstanding! This is not a review of just "This Was A Man", but rather the whole series, The Clifton Chronicles. Archer's characters are larger than life, but somehow also become old friends and real people. Even the "bad guys" are interesting and engaging. You actually look forward to finding out what Lady Virginia's next con job will be. Some of you may have read my review on Ken Follett's series, The Century Trilogy. Both cover much of the same time periods and world events. In Follett's series, historical events are presented through the eyes of the characters, who are often flawed and sinister and not perticularly likeable. Archer's focus is the lives and development of his characters, with history as a rather passive backdrop. His characters are the story. Follett's characters may be realistic, but Archers are far more interesting and more endearing. They strive to make the world a better place and represent the best (and worst) of humanity. You cheer them on and wish them the best, and feel their anguish when things go awry. An uplifting and engaging series, and I recommend it wholeheartedly.

Reviewer: joan dodson
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Not as spell bounding as the previous books
Review: The first 5 books in the series were great and interesting. Very disappointed in the last book. Some characters stores were not completed. And a couple chapters described scenes that were completely unnecessary ( ie) the blow by blow description of a cricket game. And lengthy court trials. This last book of the series was not worthy of the Author's talent.

Reviewer: Mark thomas
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: From start to finish a very good read I could not but this book down it is now 3 o’clock in the morning

Reviewer: Shwetha113
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Best series and I thoroughly enjoyed all the seven books. The lucid writing and fast paced plot with such wonderful characters kept me always on the edge of my seat. I feel sad this is the last book of the series.

Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: A remarkable and captivating story from beginning to end. I loved all seven books and wept and laughed intermittently. Thank you Jeffrey Archer!

Reviewer: Cliente Kindle
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I loved this last of the seven books. Harry Clifton captured my attention immediately from the first book! Every character in all of the Clifton Chronicles has been well crafted but it's Harry that stands out in a brilliantly simple way. From the back streets of the docks to international best selling author and political human rights activist! Harry travels through life as one of the most humble of men, but leaving a gigantic impression and human example of compassion and gentleness wherever he travels. He truly came alive through Archer's pen and soon became parte of my everyday life as I read one book after another. All the other characters in the Clifton chronicle books were written just to build him up and support his story as his life progresses. I read all seven books in about 10 days and recommend them to those who enjoy family sagas...especially those that are enhanced and supported by the world's real history being played out on the pages of Archer's novels! I'm not ashamed to say that I shed quite a few tears as I read the last chapter realizing just how much I had become involved in Harry Clifton's life story.These are not just books to read but they are stories that drag you deep into the plots until you've become part of all seven of them, standing on the outside looking in and living each scene through Harry and his love story with Emma, through their family and their friends!!!A great experience and not just a simple read!!!

Reviewer: Alma
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Como todas las novelas de Jeffrey Archer te envuelven en su trama, cual crisálida para que formes parte de la transformación. Al final te deja un extraño sentimiento de felicidad y satisfacción porque sus personajes son como cualquier humano en busca de la excelencia.