Harry Clifton sets out to write his magnus opus, while his wife Emma completes her ten years as Chairman of the Bristol Royal Infirmary, and receives an unexpected call from Margaret Thatcher offering her a job. One of the endearing points of this book to me, in fact, is the inside look at British politics, some of which, as a personal aside, could well be applied to the current state of affairs here in the United States. Sir Giles, for instance, quips to his wife Karin: "...you have to understand that being a scoundrel is simply part of a politician's job description." One thing intrigued me is that unlike most of the fictions in which bad guys have to face justice eventually, Jeff Archer let Lady Virginia get away with all her evil deeds and crimes. He even let her attend Harry's funeral and behave properly at the end, given that she had caused so many harms and even death to Harry's family. Maybe this is closer to reality since bad people mostly get away in the real world.

My advice to the readers who have never read anything of Jeffrey would be to read the first parts of this series before this one and your favorite thriller/drama writer would be decided then and there. Maisie Clifton - Harry's mother who after sudden death of her husband Arthur, tries to make ends meet to support her family and Harry's education.

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Sebastian has been elected to the board and has proposed to girlfriend Samantha, but will she be able to live with his ambitions and the lengths he is prepared to go to attain them? This book follows the same format as the previous books in the series and naturally, ends with a big cliffhanger. Her brother Giles is a Member of Parliament but is working hard to get the woman he loves out of East Germany. Harry and Emma’s son, Sebastian is the director of the bank and his former girlfriend, Samantha, reappears with a surprise.

Meanwhile, Lady Virginia is about to flee the country to avoid her creditors when the Duchess of Hertford dies, and she sees another opportunity to clear her debts and finally trump the Cliftons and Barringtons. Halfway into the novel, about the time we are all thinking or should be thinking about Lady 'you-know-who', she arrives as conniving as Archer can realistically make her and oh my gosh, does he do a good job.That being said, I’m finding it hard to get past Harry and Emma’s relationship being, for all intents and purposes, widely accepted within their families and social circles. There’s a decent chance they’re related by blood...and everyone’s just ok with that? I mean yeah, the wedding gets stopped and it’s mentioned once or twice that they can’t do anything in the circumstances but still. Everyone feels sorry for them and is hoping they’ll still get married, even if it can’t be proven that they’re not related? Hmm. I can’t imagine my friends or family being too thrilled at the prospect of me marrying a possible half sibling.