An engrossing tale of a missing masterpiece, False Impression is Jeffrey Archer's 12th novel. In False Impression, his love and knowledge of the art world resonates on every page.
Romanian-born Anna Petrescu is the spunky, brainy, and beautiful heroine of False Impression. Anna is not only a former track star, but she also has a Ph. D. in art history from the University of Pennsylvania. She started her career at Sotheby’s and later took a job working for a banking concern, Fenston Finance, whose chairman, Bryce Fenston is a major art collector. Bryce, on more than one occasion, has confiscated the paintings of clients who could not pay their outstanding loans to his bank. When an unknown assailant murders three of Bryce’s clients, FBI agent Jack Delaney starts investigating the wealthy Fenston and his assistant, ex-con Karl Leapman. Meanwhile, Anna, who narrowly escapes from the North Tower of the World Trade Center on 9/11, soon realizes that her own life is in danger. Fenston, she now knows, is an unscrupulous and dangerous monster who would kill anyone in order to get his hands on the valuable painting, “Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear,” by Vincent Van Gogh.
Although she is book-smart, Anna must quickly hone her survival skills in order to elude the brutal Fenston and his hired assassin, Olga Krantz. Anna travels around the world, touching base in London, Bucharest, and Tokyo, and always managing to stay one step ahead of her pursuers. Can Anna outsmart Fenston and keep the Van Gogh safe for her client, Arabella Wentworth?
At first, False Impression shows every sign of being yet another Jeffrey Archer masterpiece, especially when the central character initially makes a keen, on-the-spot decision to use the 9/11 tragedy to disappear and set some wrongs right. Sadly, this is where inspiration ends and the story loses steam. Not only are Anna Petrescu’s feats of theft, evasion and avoidance too convenient for belief, but also any advantage she has in keeping just one step ahead throughout is due more to sheer dumb luck and bungling on the villain’s end rather than anything remotely crafty on her side.
Yet it has all of the elements that readers crave: good vs. evil, the uncertain fate of a priceless work of art, several vicious murders, a dollop of romance, crosses and double crosses, and the obligatory surprise ending. False Impression breaks no new ground but there is definitely an audience for this brand of escapist and formulaic fiction.
In spite of the fact that the story became a bit too predictable towards the end, False Impression does have that Jeffery Archer touch that keeps the readers engrossed.
- Neham Tayal
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