Synopsis
When CIA assassin Connor Fitzgerald is captured by the Russians, he must do all he can to keep the "eleventh commandment," which dictates that agents must never disclose their ties to the CIA. With his life depending on the outcome of a power struggle between the president and the CIA director, Fitzgerald finds himself between a rock and a very cold, hard place.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 1998-07-01 |
| Size | | Length: | 359 pages | | Height: | 9.8 in | | Width: | 6.3 in | | Thickness: | 1.2 in | | Weight: | 20.0 oz |
Publisher's Note
Connor Fitzgerald is a professionals professional. Holder of the Medal of Honor. Devoted family man. Servant of his country. But for the past twenty-eight years, Fitzgerald has been leading a double life as the CIAs most deadly assassin. And only days before his retirement from the CIA, he comes across an enemy who, for the first time, even he cannot handle. The enemy is his own boss - Helen Dexter - the director of the CIA. Dexters stranglehold on the agency is threatened by one decision, and her only hope of survival is to destroy Fitzgerald. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, a formidable new foe is threatening the United States: a ruthless hard-line Russian president, who is determined to force a new military confrontation between the two superpowers.From emergency meetings in the Oval Office to a Russian mafya bosss luxurious hideaway outside St. Petersburg, The Eleventh Commandment sweeps readers off their feet from the first paragraph. As in Jeffrey Archer's previous bestsellers, The Eleventh Commandment features enough plot-twisting ingenuity, exotic characterization, and narrative surprise to take the art of thriller writing to a new level. In his latest novel, Jeffrey Archer is at the peak of his page-turning powers.
The internationally bestselling author of such outstanding novels as "Kane & Abel, As the Crow Flies", and "The Fourth Estate" now presents a powerhouse thriller of global politics and international intrigue. Just days before his retirement, the CIA's most deadly weapon, Connor Fitzgerald, comes across an enemy he cannot handle: his new boss, a female Director of the CIA.
Industry Reviews
From the first line, former British M.P. Archer (The Fourth Estate, etc.) navigates a nonstop, rocketing ride. Middle-aged Connor Fitzgerald is a happily married man, decorated veteran and devoted father; he's also an "NOC," a "non-official cover officer" for the CIA specializing in assassinations. The killing of a Colombian drug lord leaves Connor out of sync with the Democratic president's policy, so the director of the CIA, a woman, sets Connor up to take the fall in a fake assassination of the leading candidate for the Russian presidency, an unreconstructed Stalinist. Connor (aided by an ex-CIA deputy director whose life he once saved) gets out of a St. Petersburg jail and falls into the hands of the Russian Mafia. Wheels spin within wheels until the slam-bang climax during the new Russian president's visit to Washington. Some plot details, including the final twist, are a tad hokey, and Connor keeps his much-touted charisma under wraps, yet Archer sweeps us along (and even finds time to write himself into the plot as London's mayor, a position he's seeking in real life). The only boo-boo here is Archer's unwitting revivification of flamboyant Redskins owner and Northern Virginia tycoon Jack Kent Cooke (though he was a character). In any case, readers won't mind the occasional giddiness: this isn't Tolstoy, it's fun. Simultaneous Harper audio. (June)
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