The Sins of the Father (The Clifton Chronicles) (The Clifton Chronicles, 2)

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In Jeffrey Archer’s epic novel, family loyalties are stretched to their very limits as secrets continue to unravel. The Sins of the Father bears all the characteristic twists of a classic Archer novel, and leaves readers wanting more.

Will resonate with anyone who has loved a difficult parent and spent a lifetime trying to work them out’ ALI MILLARThe story of the evil villain,Hugo Barrington reaches its conclusion as well. Harry's mother Maisie Clifton is courted by multiple suitors. Only days before Britain declares war on Germany, Harry Clifton, hoping to escape the consequences of long-buried family secrets recently revealed, and forced to admit that his wish to marry Emma Barrington will never be fulfilled, has joined the Merchant Navy. But his ship is sunk in the Atlantic by a German U-boat, drowning almost the entire crew. An American cruise liner, the SS Kansas Star, rescues a handful of sailors, among them Harry and the third officer, an American named Tom Bradshaw. When Bradshaw dies in the night, Harry seizes on the chance to escape his tangled past and assumes his identity. I thought that the author said it all when he states that “Whatever else he had done, whoever else he had been, he had been my father, and I loved him more than my own life. And he had loved me. Whatever the world thought of either one of us, I had to hold on to that truth. I also had to grasp a new truth. I was not my father. I never had been.”

The phrase, unexamined, has led some to foolishly charge the Almighty with a capricious nature. Some might even be led to think that a philosophy of determinism is evident in the Bible. Nothing could be further from the truth. God does not will suffering upon human beings. God is just and righteous in all of his ways. Determinism is a pagan philosophy. Such a view of God and His universe has nothing to do with the doctrine of predestination or the sovereignty of God. Clifton Chronicles should have been a single book and not broken into five - this becomes much clearer with the Sins of the Father. More like any middle sections of even good stories, this book is meaningless for anyone who does not remember the details of events from Book 1. The story moves along but appears without any plot and certainly without any satisfactory end to any of the major intrigues. The sins of the father is one of those ambiguous titles which may fit more than one character. But the most sinful AND the most fruitful of them is Hugo Barrington. The way the book is written simplifies reading. Each section carries its own motivations and villains. The most enjoyable passages for yours truly were the Maysie Clifton and Hugo ones. By the end of the book there's a question about the rightful heir to the Barrington title and fortune: Is it Hugo's legitimate son Giles; or Hugo's (presumably) illegitimate son Harry? This is the cliffhanger that ends the narrative.Kudos Lord Archer for this powerful piece of work. Keep building and you will surely capture the hearts and minds of many more readers before too long. He assumes the identity of another man,spends time in prison,writes a book and fights in World War II.