Best Kept Secret

By Jeffrey Archer

Captivating and suspenseful, Best Kept Secret is the third novel in international bestseller Jeffrey Archer’s outstanding Clifton Chronicles. It sees our hero Harry Clifton and Giles Barrington, brother of Harry’s beloved wife Emma, become entwined in the fate of the Barrington family fortune.

It is 1945 and the House of Lords’ vote on who should inherit the Barrington estate ends in a tie, casting a long shadow on the lives of those involved.

Author Harry begins to promote his novel, whilst Emma, after her father’s mysterious death, searches for the girl found abandoned in his office on the night he died.

Politician Giles defends his seat in the House of Commons and finds not only his future but his family’s fortune at stake. Ultimately his fate is dictated by Harry’s son Sebastian, even as Sebastian himself becomes embroiled in an international art fraud.

As they move out of the shadows of war, a new generation of Cliftons and Barringtons comes to the fore, and a thrilling new episode of Jeffrey Archer’s captivating family saga begins.

Continue the bestselling series with Be Careful What You Wish For and Mightier than the Sword.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pan Macmillan
• Release date: Mar 14, 2013
• ISBN: 9780230771475

Jeffrey Archer

Jeffrey Archer, whose novels and short stories include the Clifton Chronicles, Kane and Abel and Cat O’ Nine Tales, is one of the world’s favourite storytellers and has topped the bestseller lists around the world in a career spanning four decades. His work has been sold in 97 countries and in more than 37 languages. He is the only author ever to have been a number one bestseller in fiction, short stories and non-fiction (The Prison Diaries). Jeffrey is also an art collector and amateur auctioneer, and has raised more than £50m for different charities over the years. A member of the House of Lords for over a quarter of a century, the author is married to Dame Mary Archer, and they have two sons, two granddaughters and two grandsons.

Reviews for Best Kept Secret

[charrlygirl · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I've loved this series so far, though I cannot seem to pinpoint why. This book wasn't quite as good as the first two, and it ended on a much bigger cliffhanger.

At this point, it's starting to seem a little silly because nothing ever goes wrong for the Clifton family. Well, maybe I should say: nothing ever STAYS wrong with the Clifton's-they always somehow seem to come out ahead.

I'm going to try the next one just in case it holds a big surprise, (like all the Clifton's die or something), and then I'll decide whether or not to go on, from there.

[yhgail · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Entertainment

[booknerd2-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Mad at the ending!!!

[shannon.dolgos · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It's official, I'm addicted to Jeffrey Archer's Clifton Chronicles.

This one flash forwards a few years, and now Seb is 18 years old. He's gotten himself into some trouble and worried how is parents will take the news. He tried to delay the inevitable meeting with his parents by heading to London, however, he continues to find trouble and ends up getting pick pocketed. However, when his luck changes, and he meets Mrs. Tibby, things start looking up. That is until he goes to see his friend Bruno and ends up on a trip to Buenos Aires with Bruno's father. Young Seb is naive and unaware of the true reason for the invitation that involves international art fraud and counterfeit monies...which may very well lead to the undoing of the Barrington-Clifton families...

[andrew1theqm · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another ripping yarn in this series - this one is mainly set in the 1950s. Jeffrey Archer keeps the action coming in this series chronicling the life of the Cliftons and the Barringtons. He is a master storyteller who keeps you wanting to turn that next page, even when you know things are about to hit the buffers. Plenty of villains as well as heroes in this series, with people coming back to haunt the family. He always ends each book on a cliff hanger! Can't wait to get to the next book.

[gpaisley_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Ok. Decent story, I'm hooked on the series, but basically beach read quality.

[ccookie_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

First words:~Big Ben struck four times.Although the Lord Chancellor was exhausted, and drained from what had taken place that night, enough adrenaline was still pumping through his body to ensure that he was quite unable to sleep~Seems from the reviews here on LT and in other places, that you either love this book or hate it. I’m still loving it!I find that Jeffrey Archer just really knows how to tell a tale. This one takes place from 1945 to 1957 with the younger generation, Harry and Emma’s children, Sebastian and Jessica, coming of age. I really enjoy the cliffhangers, probably because I just started reading the series a couple of months ago and have only had to wait a couple of days before I could get the next one from the library instead of having to wait a year! So many people have reviewed this book indicating that they had not read the previous ones or that they had no idea that the series was to be more than a trilogy. I don’t get that. These were never meant to be stand-alone books. Right from the beginning, when the first book came out in 2011, Archer planned it to be 5 books covering Harry Clifton’s life from 1920 to 2020. He later decided it would be 7 books. Come on people! When a book is number three of a definite series, why would you start with number three?I like the characters. I like that we are up to the time when my life started (1952). I like that the story takes place in the real world, with the real historical events going on around the fictional events of the fictional world of the Clifton Chronicles world. Like the first two in the series I’m giving this one 4 stars also.

[dwwilkin_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

There is a style to Lord Archer that sometimes brings out emotion, but then, in this long work, it becomes far too repetitive and one can skip entire pages of the narrative. One reason is that it becomes repetitive as we jump forwards and back on the timeline, with exposure to how a different character reacts or receives news we have already learned as a reader. And knowing the characters well enough that we know what they will say and do. Archer not advancing the plot but just churning through pages we don't need.Then, the cliffhangar ending forcing a need to read the next and not giving one a complete book for the money. Very skillful as a writing technique, but very mercenary for a man who has made a fortune from his writing.Aside from that, the story flows and we see our previous heroes making way for the next generation to play their part on the stage. Yet, the foolishness of Giles just does not ring true. He was never spineless before, and here we see him very much so. Nor does it ring true that those of a family would never meet the Lady Virginia character. I certainly don't know anyone smart enough to sit on the front bench stupid enough to not see through a woman one dates for years and always seems to not want to meet the mother.

[pmaurer_11 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Next segment of the Clifton family. This time it deals with the political career of the brother Giles, and the son, Sebastian. Well done, it kept me interested, but I didn't seem to learn as much as I had with the earlier books.

[elainedav · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Book three in the Clifton Chronicles. Harry is now a successful author with a growing family. Giles is a politician for the Labour party. Emma studies for her own degree and manages to secure a seat on the board of Barringtons. Meanwhile Major Fisher is back on the scene interfering in as many ways as he possibly can! The family saga continues - with so many twists and turns that you literally don't know what to expect next. This particular book has a fantastic cliff-hanger at the end leaving the story nicely set up for book four - which I may just have to read straight away!

[autumnturner76 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was disappointed with Sons of Fortune, but this is more of what I expect from Archer. Great book!

[nyiper · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was, frankly, amazed (!!!), to come to the end of this third book in the series and find out that NO, I was not DONE. Actually, I like the characters and the pace of the story so I have no need to complain but I actually thought this was a trilogy---but no, there are two more books to come---the next one comes out in March or April of 2014. I'm finding that although I love books where the characters continue from book to book, I'm to the point where I want to pick up the next book immediately and not have to wait a few months for the next installment---which will mean I have to pick up older series so that I have all of them sitting there for me. Anyway, Archer, for me, is terrific---exactly the right amount of detail.

[sweetiegherkin · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

In the third book of a series, we find out the ruling of the Lord Chancellor regarding Harry versus Giles as the proper heir to Hugo Barrington, his title, estate, and "all that therein is." Meanwhile, Emma searches for her missing half-sister; Sebastian grows older and more rambunctious; and Giles's political career reaches some highs and lows. In addition, Giles becomes romantically involved with a woman whom only he does not realize is despicable and cunning. Nothing gold can stay, says the poet Robert Frost, and perhaps it's true. The Clifton Chronicles series took a serious downturn for me with this particular title. It's a little bit more plodding at times than the first two books, and it seems to take a while to figure out what the main conflict of the book will be. Spoiler: it's not a single big one but a series a small ones that seem to resolve rather quickly, with a few that are a bit more extended. Some of the conflict situations seemed a bit more contrived also (i.e., the whole Giles-Virginia relationship seemed unlikely to begin with), and the introduction of the nefarious Don Pedro just seems so tacked on and honestly a bit out of place with the rest of the series. Once again, the good people are all so moral and upright while the horrible people (i.e., Giles's sweetheart Virginia) are detestable in basically every respect. There's less of the multiple perspectives in the story telling in this particular book. The first long section is Harry and Emma combined while the next is Giles's take, but honestly the third person omnipotent is used for every section that emerges, and we hear Harry's perspective nearly as much in Giles's section as we did in Harry's own. This is not necessarily a big deal, but it's a bit funny to see how the writing style changes from book to book within the series. We don't see Maisie anymore, which is disappointing, and only hear an occasional reference to her. Archer is clearly working more towards moving to the younger generation (i.e., almost exclusively Sebastian) so that the series can continue to progress. Best Kept Secret ends with the obligatory cliffhanger, but I have to admit that I'm not sure I'm hooked enough to move on to the next one when it comes out.Some notes for the audio book readers: With no sections from Maisie and Emma's conflated with Harry's, there was no longer a need for Emilia Fox as narrator of this book, and her presence is missed. Alex Jennings carries most of the book very well but has this horrendous South American accent and ridiculous evil voice for Don Pedro and his henchmen, although to be fair they are a bit of caricatures in the text.

[simplicity99 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Not worth the read. So incredibly disappointed. I'm a big Archer fan but this book seemed throw together to finish off a trilogy and the ending, while other's call it a cliffhanger, I see as a frivolous and quick finish that left me in disbelief that after all I'd read of these families this is how it ended.

[ajwseven · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Jeffrey Archer has written amazing stories with engaging three dimensional characters, exciting plots filled with unexpected twists and moments that fill any reader with emotion. This third volume of the Clifton Chronicles simply does not live up to Archer's early work. The main characters are not fleshed out well, the peripheral characters are generic and the plot is choppy. Any reader disappointed by this one, should pick up Archer's As the Crow Flies to read a similar story that nails everything this one misses.

[jiraiya_5 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Some random thoughts about Best Kept Secret.1) The beginning was as easy as it was interesting to follow.2) The stakes were nowhere as high this time as in the last book.3) We see quite less both of Giles and Harry, even if the chapters are titled in their name.4) As soon as Major Alex appeared the story began to get murky for me personally.5) The underused mothers of Harry and Giles made me curious about the first Chronicles book.6) ...until that is when the entire mess of Don Pedro's shenanigans began to bog the pacing down.7) Harry's leniency with his son's misdemeanors was a surprise.8) Seb's cretinous tendencies are roughly equal to his passable moments of being a bore.9) Sir Alan was a late addition to the casting and his purpose was negligible.Conclusion :- The inclusion of a Spanish villain was quite jarring and it's clear that Jeffrey Archer, a very European and Anglo Saxon author if there was one, wanted to curry favor with the latino crowd. It wouldn't matter much if the relevant sections of his villainy made sense or were exciting. The first two chapters were so perfect but it didn't last. It's been quite some time since I felt detached towards the fortunes and misfortunes of characters in a readable book. I usually care too much, especially in contemporary fiction. That detachment and involvement soon gave way to indifference. The book ended on a cliffhanger. I might however, not rise to the bait and avoid the unavoidable sequel.