Be Careful What You Wish For: A Novel (The Clifton Chronicles, 4)

The story is good with the cast of people and once again we are left wanting more to see how it all plays out.

(Read in 2014) So, we have another cliff hanger after Be Careful What You Wish For (2014), the fourth edition of the interminable Clifton Chronicles, which is as much about the Barrington family. We will have to wait until 2015 to see who survived the explosion on the maiden voyage of the MS Buckingham, the new crown jewel of Barrington Shipping, now under the chairmanship of Emma Barrington Clifton. As there is a book five, we can presume that some, if not all, Barringtons/Cliftons survive.At least, in the last two books - Best Kept Secret was book 3, and this family has secrets - Jeffrey Archer takes the cliff hanger and then carries the book on a different path. The books have taken us from the 1920s to 1964. Harry Clifton is now a best-selling author of detective books. Best Kept Secret ends with Sebastian Clifton, son of Harry and Emma, driving to Cambridge to start University, with his friend, Bruno Martinez, who was not supposed to be with him. Bruno is the black sheep of the Martinez family, in that he does not follow in the footsteps of his Argentinian criminal father, Don Pedro, and brothers, Luis and Diego. In Book 3, Don Pedro was impressed with Sebastian and hires him to do a job for him in Argentina, of course, not telling him it was criminal. The plan is foiled, so the "car accident" was to eliminate Sebastian. It's not much of a spoiler alert to figure out who was killed.Be Careful What You Wish For becomes Don Pedro's vengeance on the Barringtons and Cliftons in every facet of their lives. Emma's older brother, Giles, who's been Harry Clifton's best friend since their school days at St. Bede's, is rising in the Labour Party. He represents the Bristol district and is a member of Labour despite his wealthy upbringing. The younger sister, Grace, is now a college professor. Martinez attempts to sabotage Giles career.Emma decides to get involved in the family shipping business, founded by her great-grandfather, run into the ground by her father, Hugo. She ascends to the chairmanship, beating out Alex Fisher, Harry and Giles' nemesis from school, who ran against Giles in one election, and is now serving on the Barrington board at the behest of Martinez.While recovering in hospital, Sebastian befriends a banker, Cedric Hardcastle, who hires Sebastian, and later joins the board of the shipping company. Later, Hardcastle hatches a plan for everyone to exact revenge against Martinez, which builds intrigue toward the cliff hanger ending.Then, there's Jessica, Harry and Emma's adopted daughter, the mystery surrounding her, and the cloud that hangs over the cast's relationship to each other. At the very beginning, in Book 1, Only Time Will Tell, Harry's mother, Maise, had a one-time affair with Hugo Barrington, right before she is to marry Arthur Clifton. Arthur, who worked at the docks, mysteriously disappears shortly after the marriage, meaning Hugo could be the father of Harry, as well as Giles, Emma and Grace, and that the four could be half siblings. This is not known until Harry and Emma are about to say their wedding vows in the church. This delays their marriage.Hugo flees to London and shacks up with a Jewish refugee (Book 2, The Sins of the Father). He returns to Bristol upon his father's death, but the woman tracks him down, kills him and herself, and leaves a baby. Since Harry is older than Giles, and Hugo may have been the father of both, the inheritance of the estate becomes a national cause celebre. Harry has no interest in the inheritance, though, he grew up poor. Emma tracks down the orphaned baby. Jessica becomes their daughter, although she may be a half sister to Emma, Giles, Grace, and maybe, Harry. Maise has been mentioned maybe once in the last two books combined. The Clifton and Barrington family trees are at the beginning of Be Careful What You Wish For.I thought maybe Jeffrey Archer drew the Chronicles out so DNA samples could prove the truth. Jessica, who in Book 5 is an award-winning artist at college, finds out her secret, but not the way Harry and Emma wanted.The books are enjoyable to read, even though it is getting wearing and annoying waiting to get closure on this family's chronicle. (less)

Very easy care about the characters.

Those of you who have read the first three books in the series (you should read them in order) will know that at the end of each one Archer leaves you with a cliffhanger (I call them "Clifton" hangers) of an ending so you have to wait on tenterhooks for the next book in the series to be released find the answer. At the end of the last book ("Best Kept Secret") we were left wondering if Sebastian Clifton or his best friend Bruno had been killed in a fatal car accident. I would like to tell you what happens but can't do so because the outcome is important to the plot of this book.Harry is getting used to being a best-selling author of detective novels both sides of the Atlantic. Emma is becoming increasingly involved with the decision of the Board of the Barrington Shipping Company to build a luxury liner, the MV Buckingham, at a time when Transatlantic air travel is becoming the normal mode of business travel. Sir Giles Barrington MP is becoming a more important member of the Shadow Cabinet and is planning to marry again after his disastrous marriage to Lady Virginia Fenwick. Harry and Emma's adopted daughter, Priscilla grows up to become a very talented artist but has never been told the real secret of her birth.In the previous book the Cliftons foil Don Pedro Martinez's efforts to import a huge amount of near-perfect Nazi counterfeit five pound notes hidden in a Rodin statue. Martinez's vendetta to destroy the Cliftons and Barringtons is central to this book. This time he is ably supported by his sons, a former SS officer, Karl Lunsdorf and the IRA. He also uses the notorious Major Alex Fisher (who bullied Giles and Harry at school and nearly got Giles killed at Tobruk) as his proxy on the Board of Barrington Shipping to destroy the firm's plans to build the new luxury liner. Giles' ex wife Lady Virginia Fenwick, is still around and always happy to add her particular brand of poison to the family fortunes.All of this makes the foundation for exciting times in the lives of the Cliftons and Barringtons. While most of the characters were in the previous book, Archer adds a couple of interesting and influential new ones. Cedric Hardcastle is a dour and successful owner of a Yorkshire based Merchant Bank who becomes a member of the Board of Barrington Shipping and has to decide who to support to become the next chairman of the board: Emma Clifton or Major Alex Fisher? Priscilla's future father-in-law, Robert Bingham, who made his fortune as a manufacturer of fish paste, is another larger than life character who gets involved with the family fortunes.Jeffrey Archer is a consummate story-teller and this series continues to display his skills in writing easy-reading and page-turning family-based stories which twist and turn all the time. If you have read the first books in the series this is a must-read which I am sure you will enjoy. My only concern was that most of the baddies in this story are carried over from the previous one.What about the "Clifton" hanger ending? Of course there is one and you can see it building up during the latter part of the book. Of course it leaves you on tenterhooks until the next book is released in about a year. The series keeps on going and going (this one only took us from 1957 to 1964) so it seems there may still be some more Clifton Chronicles to come.

A very interesting series, by an interesting author.

'Be Careful What You Wish For' is a terrific thriller which some reviewers clearly have enjoyed as a 'stand-alone' novel. However, I would recommend reading the three earlier books in the series before tackling this one in order to fully understand the various threads and emotional nuances of this saga of two families, the Cliftons & the Barringtons.The plot should satisfy most fans of thriller novels as it has plenty of unexpected twists and turns, moments of high drama, romance, murder and personal tragedy. In addition, adding to the drama are political battles, boardroom intrigues and skulduggery, international villains and shadowy government agents. With its short, cliff hanger ending, chapters, I found myself reading late into the night and at every opportunity during the day to find out what happens next.However, as readers of the previous novels in the series will now expect, the story ends on a cliff-hanger that will probably have you reaching immediately for the next book in the saga!If you decide to read this novel, I trust you will enjoy it as much as I have. As for me, I will be starting 'Mightier Than the Sword' just as soon as I press the 'submit' button at the bottom of this review ...

Although I feared that this volume, like its predecessor, would be another bullet pointed resume in the lives of the Barringtons and Cliftons, I am pleased to say that it wasn't quite as bad.Yes, there were a lot of short scenes which skipped through a lot of time, but Archer did spend time on the things that were important to this volume - the vendetta Martinez has against the family and the blossoming of Jessica Clifton.I got really absorbed in this volume and so, when the emotional scenes came, I was fully engaged and felt the heartache Archer wanted me to feel.I cannot say any more as it will give away the story, so I'll finish by saying that Archer certainly knows how to end a volume on a cliff hanger!!Despite it being 1am when I finished this, I jumped out of bed and grabbed the next volume - Mightier than the Sword - as I just had to know the outcome otherwise I wouldn't have slept. Damn you Archer for the bags under my eyes!

This is the fourth book in the Clifton chronicles series and this story centres on the Building and launch of a world class passenger liner. But, as may be expected, the tale twists and turns in true Archer fashion. A couple of characters from earlier volumes take on a major role, determined to exact revenge on the Barringto/Clifton families.This series has exceeded my expectation in every way. It's filled with memorable characters who are developing as the years go by. I like the way a smattering of fact is interwoven, particularly with political events and practice and the shipbuilding is similar to that of the QE2 in the 1960s. Nefarious share dealing plays an interesting role in the fortunes of both the company and individuals and a couple of characters get their come uppance.These books may not be great literature but they are well written, with tight plotting. I've found each book totally absorbing. Exceptionally well crafted escapist fiction and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series as some light holiday reading.

The Clifton Chronicles have become an addictive 'must read' series. The only problem is that I tend to read the books within days, then have withdraw symptoms until the next one is published (unfortunately book 5 is not out til 2015) .... If you're anticipating reading any of the Chronicles, you really should start with book one as each one is totally intertwined with the previous book, and worst of all each ends on a massive cliffhanger which only adds to the suspense. As to be expected from a master story teller, the books are incredibly well written with just the right amount of detail, just the right amount of suspense all served up wit well written, flowing prose.All in all - a darn good read !!!!'

I wanted something easy to read, to pass away a few hours during the Christmas break. Big mistake. I started to read "Only Time Will Tell" little realising this was the first book in a series of four, plus another one being released next year. After the first page I was hooked. It is easy and relaxing reading. The characters become people that you care about, apart from Sir Hugo Barrington and Fisher! Won't spoil it for you by explaining more. Okay, I could guess what would happen next here and there, but it didn't matter or spoil my enjoyment. In fact as soon as I had finished the first book I down loaded the other three on my Kindle and have preordered the fifth book in "the Clifton Chronicles". Why did I say earlier the it was a big mistake? Well because I have neglected to do anything else until I had caught up with all the books. There is a cliffhanger in all of them. I could not settle until I had found out what happened next. Thus I finished one book and went straight to the next one. Jeffrey Archer can certainly tell a tale. A warning though. If you read at night you may find yourself, as I did, falling asleep reading because I could not bear to put the book down! Can't wait for book five.