Book Review: Nothing Ventured by Jeffrey Archer

Title: Nothing Ventured

Author: Jeffrey Archer

Publisher: Pan

Jeffrey Archer’s ‘Nothing Ventured’ marks the start of a brand new series featuring Detective Inspector William Warwick, who is a character written by author Harry Clifton in Archer’s Clifton Chronicles series.

The story opens with William Warwick wanting to join the Metropolitan Police force much to the dismay of his father Sir Julian Warwick QC, who hoped his son would join him in chambers and train to be a barrister. William doesn’t relent and is backed by his mother and his sister Grace.

Joining the London police force straight out of school, he quickly proves himself to his superiors and soon moves from being a patrol officer to fledgling detective for Scotland Yard’s Arts and Antiquities unit. There, he investigates forgeries, counterfeit antiquities, a missing Rembrandt, and a master art thief. 

Throughout the pages we see the character of William Warwick grow more endearing. He’s a well-bred youth full of intelligence and ambition. But we also find him naïve who’s got a lot to learn. Which he does while being surrounded by a distinctive cast of family and colleagues who have the best of intentions in their hearts for him. 

During investigating the theft of a priceless Rembrandt painting from the Fitzmolean Museum seven years ago, he meets Beth Rainsford, a research assistant at the gallery. He falls hopelessly in love with her and the feeling is mutual. However, Beth comes with her own baggage that she's terrified will come to light and strain their relationship. William, the gentleman that he is, rises to the occasion and helps Beth straighten things.

'Nothing Ventured' is wrought with twists, triumphs, and tragedy and Archer cranks it up further with an unexpected ending—a cliffhanger certain to create clamor for the next installment.

Jeffrey Archer, whose novels and short stories include the Clifton Chronicles, Kane and Abel and Cat O’ Nine Tales, has topped the bestseller lists around the world, with sales of over 275 million copies. He is the only author ever to have been a number one bestseller in fiction, short stories and non-fiction (The Prison Diaries). A member of the House of Lords for over a quarter of a century, the author is married to Dame Mary Archer, and they have two sons, two grandsons and a granddaughter.

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I'd like to thank the publisher for letting me review the book. I do hope you end up liking the book when you read it. Thank you so much for stopping by, and happy reading!

* I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

** Picture courtesy: Amazon.in, Google