Customer Reviews

A Matter of Honor (G K Hall Large Print Book Series)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the first Jeffrey Archer book that I have read. I can assure you that it won't be the last. I thoroughly enjoyed this adventure-suspense nov el. From the time that Adam Scott opens a letter which was given to him as part of a bequest from his deceased father's will, he is placed on a perilous path between life and death with many unpredictable twists and turns along the way. His search for the Russian icon of St. George and the Dragon coincides with similar searches by the Russian KGB and the Americans. How he manages to locate the icon and to eventually outwit his adversaries makes for an exciting story. I found this book hard to put down once I started it.

When his father dies, Capt. Adam Scott inherits an envelope. According to the terms of his father's will, he may choose not to open it but "should he decide to open the envelope, it must be on the condition that he will never divulge its contents to any other living person." Adam realizes that the envelope must contain the secret that led his WWII hero father into public disgrace and dishonor.

He opens the envelope and begins to unravel its secrets. Suddenly he's being pursued by the KGB. The defense strategy of the USA is in danger of becoming a pawn to Russia's plan to take over. An imaginative story, building suspense, surprising plot twists and lively writing make this a page-turner. If you like John Le Carre and Robert Ludlum's books, you should love this one.

Sunnye Tiedemann (aka Ruth F. Tiedemann)

I have read extensively out of Jeffrey Archers repetoire and have found all of the books not only palatiable, but also intriguing reads.

I read this book 5 years ago, and make it a point to read it at least once a year if not more. This book was one of the best fiction books ever written as far as I am concerned.

It is so easy for the fiction author to fall into a trap and write the same old news, sometimes in a tired, but different way. These books are not interesting. Any author who can offer a breath of fresh air to the genre recieves my hats off, and this is due to jeffrey Archer.

This book isn't typical at all, the plot twists are entirely tough to predict,and even though the ending should have been a forgone conclustion (the hero winning) it was done in such a way that I was still very much interested.

The basis of the story is a guy named Adam who is led through many adventures because of an archaic note he got from his fathers will. This letter to his father was written in german, and in trying to get it translated the adventure begins.

His journey and escapes follow across most of Europe, and the action never stops. Somewhat like a James Bond flick, but 100 times better, and in book form is what I would compare this exciting read to.

Read this book, and when you are done, read all the rest of Archers books, you will enjoy each and every one of them.

I recommend this book highly.

It seemed so innocent. A totally disgraced British colonel Scott sends a mysterious letter to his one and only son. The moment young 17 year old Adam Scott opens the yellowing and fragile envelope, he sets into motion a deadly chain of events that threatens to shake the very foundations and pilars of the free world.

Within days, Adam's lover is brutally murdered by the men that his father set in motion and he's running for his life through the great cities of Europe, pursued not only by the KGB, but by the CIA and his own countrymen as well. Their common intent is to kill him before the truth comes out, before the truth comes out.

These powerful men in smoke and cannabish-filled rooms plot ever more genious means of killing him dead dead dead, Adam finds himself betrayed, sad, and abandoned even by those he holds most dear.

When at last he comes to understand what he is in possession of, he's even more determined to protect it, for it's more than a matter of life and death-it's a matter of honor to his lover (rest his soul), his mother and his brothers and sister.

ISBN 067164159X - Ironically, I picked this one up right after I finished Ludlum's The Gemini Contenders, and they have a lot in common - a secret hidden during WWII comes to light and becomes the responsibility of a later generation and the chase is on. I gave Ludlum 4 stars and give this one 5 for two reasons; Archer's book is an easier read and the hero of his book is around long enough to care about.

Thought to be a traitor, Gerald Scott resigned his commission from the army. When he died, he had little to leave his family, other than the taint of that resignation and an unopened letter from a Nazi war criminal. Adam, his son, inherits the letter and takes a simple one day trip to Switzerland to retrieve the contents of a bank box the letter refers to. From that moment on, Adam's life is anything but simple. Chased by the Americans, the Russians, the Swiss and the British, and unaware of the secret he's got in his possession, Adam has to get to safety. First, he has to solve the mystery of his inheritance, figure out where safety is and who he can trust, and manage to stay alive doing it all.

The secret itself seems a tad silly, but other than that, the story is fast-paced and very easy to follow, putting it a little bit above some overly convoluted thrillers I've read.

- AnnaLovesBooks

As usual with Archer's books, I could not put this one down. His thrillers are always terrribly exciting, but I especially enjoyed this one. It is a novel about an ordinary person, who through certain circumstances, becomes drawn into international espionage through following up on a letter received as part of his father's will. I read the entire thing in one day and evening, starting in the morning, and finishing at midnight. And you won't be able to put it down either ! !

Although the details of Mr. Archer's personal life rival the plots of his novels - from near bankruptcy, to Britain's political inner circles, to prison cell - none of it gets in the way of his well-deserved reputation as an outstanding storyteller.

Next to "Kane & Abel" and "As the Crow Flies" this book is among my three favorites from Archer and I highly recommend it.

Set in the summer of 1966 with Lyndon Johnson in the White House, Harold Wilson at #10 Downing, and Leonid Brezhnev in the Kremlin, "A Matter of Honor" pits a most resourceful but unlikely British protagonist, Adam Scott, against an equally resourceful Soviet antagonist, Alexander Romanov.

When Adam's father, a disgraced military officer, dies, he leaves to his only son the princely sum of 500 pounds and two letters. The first is a missive from Adam's father, explaining the events that led to his resignation from the military, the circumstances that led to his possession of the second letter, and an expression of confidence that his son would conduct himself honorably should he decide to open the second letter and pursue whatever secrets it might contain. When Scott's curiosity gets the best of him, he opens the second letter and finds that it is from a now-dead elite member of Hitler's Third Reich - a man that Scott's father had been assigned to guard during the Nuremberg trials.

As one might guess, it is this second letter that proves to be the crux of the story. It leads Scott to a bank vault, deep beneath the streets of Zurich, containing an obscure work of Russian art - an icon - smuggled out of the country during the downfall of Czar Nikolai II. At the same time, the Kremlin has learned that this painting contains a secret that could forever shift the balance of power from West to East at the height of the cold war. Romanov, a rising KGB star, is tasked with finding the icon and returning it to the Motherland so its embedded secret can be unveiled to the world. While Romanov is not told the nature of the secret, he knows only that its contents must be acted on within 30 days and the clock is ticking.

The ensuing chase reveals that Mr. Scott's will to survive and ability to think on his feet are indeed a match for the best the KGB has to offer. It also presents an opportunity for Scott to restore his father's - and his family's - honor. Hence, the name of the book.

Archer gives us an outstanding plot that is authentically placed amidst the political tensions of the mid-1960s. I enjoyed every moment of this book. The characters are nicely developed, the cheetah-like pace kept me turning the pages until well into the night, and the story had an ending that while rather predictable, was highly satisfying nonetheless.

If you enjoy a good political thriller from the world as it was 40 years ago, along with a healthy dose of Mr. Archer's formidable imagination, don't pass up this book.

This is the fourth book I've read by Jeffrey Archer. I enjoyed Kane & Abel and The Prodical Daughter, and was lukewarm on The Fourth Estate. This one had an intriguing plot that kept me guessing right up to the end.

The adventure begins when Adam Scott, a former captain enlisted in the army, has a yellowed envelope bestowed upon him in his father's will. To discover what its content is, he visits a Swiss bank with his girlfriend, Heidi, from clues in the letter placed in the envelope. Meanwhile trouble brews in Russia due to a painting called "the Czar's icon" of Saint George and the dragon among Russian agents of the KGB.It seems that the painting, which has been lost for 15 years, contains a concealed document that marks a compromise between the United States and the Soviet Union that will be invalid in a few days (on June, 20,1966, to be exact). At the same moment, Adam discovers that the icon was the object bequethed to him, unaware of the dilemma in Russia. It is then when Heidi is kidnapped and murdered by Alex Romanov, leader of the search for the icon, that the Englishman realizes the Russians will do anything to retrieve the icon back. Running across Europe for his life and to reach England, he is pursued by agents of the CIA, the KGB, and his own countrymen. 'A Matter of Honor' is not only intriguing but conveys morals that everyone needs to grasp and the love of a son for his father we all comprehend. With its historical settings and characters (i.e., President Johnson), Jeffrey Archer's novel is sure to be a winner with most of us.

It's 1966, and Adam Scott received 500 pounds and an envelope in his father's will. The envelope contained the key to his family's lost honor, and leads to an item in the vault of a Swiss bank - a Russian icon thought lost, that also contains a secret.

The secret is so powerful, the KGB will do anything to get it's hands on it. A top agent is assigned unlimited resources. When Adam retrieves the icon moments ahead of him, he suddenly finds his girlfriend dead, and himself on the run from the KGB, the CIA, British Intelligence, and the Swiss police. Armed with only a small amount of money and his own wits, can he survive the hunt - and restore his family's lost honor?

There is no doubt his novel heavily influenced Dan Brown (Da Vinci Code), as the elements of a hunted man, an enemy with only a code name, and a hero who seizes opportunities all come into play.