The 11th Commandment

I wasn't sure about Jeffrey Archer's The 11^th Commandment at first, it seemed like any other modern thriller from its back cover. There was the same *CIA, FBI, mafia and a lone detective playing multiple roles* kind of story. Since I'd already borrowed it, I began reading and found it too fast paced for my liking, may be because I had been reading the slow paced Inheritance Cycle before that. Connor Fitzgerald is the CIA's best man and he's close to his retirement. However his last mission takes him to Russia, where he's supposed to assassinate the presidential candidate, Victor Zeremski, an aggressive leader looking to reignite the Cold War.

Part two of the book caught my attention. It reminded me of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, especially its last couple of pages. If you've read it you can guess what happens in The 11^th Commandment. Fitzgerald's friend Jackson makes the ultimate sacrifice to get him out of Russia, and from thereon, I couldn't put the book down until the very end. The numerous twists and turns in the story, taking you from the Oval Office in the White House to a Russian Mafia boss's luxurious hideaway outside St Petersburg, make it a must read.

It’s the first Jeffrey Archer book I've read; I hope his other books are as good as this one!