Cometh the Hour

By: Jeffrey Archer

Narrated by: Alex Jennings

Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's Summary

Cometh the Hour opens with the reading of a suicide note, which has devastating consequences for Harry and Emma Clifton, Giles Barrington, and Lady Virginia. Giles must decide if he should withdraw from politics and try to rescue Karin, the woman he loves, from behind the Iron Curtain. But is Karin truly in love with him, or is she a spy?

Lady Virginia is facing bankruptcy and can see no way out of her financial problems until she is introduced to the hapless Cyrus T. Grant III from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who's in England to see his horse run at Royal Ascot.

Sebastian Clifton is now the chief executive of Farthings Bank and a workaholic whose personal life is thrown into disarray when he falls for Nadira, a beautiful Indian girl. But her parents have already chosen the man she is going to marry. Meanwhile, Sebastian's rivals, Adrian Sloane and Desmond Mellor, are still plotting to bring him and his chairman, Hakim Bishara, down, so they can take over Farthings.

Harry Clifton remains determined to get Anatoly Babakov released from a gulag in Siberia following the international success of his acclaimed book, Uncle Joe. But then something unexpected happens that none of them could have anticipated.

Cometh the Hour is the penultimate book in the Clifton Chronicles and, like the five previous novels - all of which hit the New York Times best-seller list - showcases Jeffrey Archer's extraordinary storytelling with his trademark twists.

©2016 Jeffrey Archer (P)2016 Pan Macmillan

Less eventful than the others.

This one begins and ends well, but the overall character development and motives of the antagonists didn't stack up to the other stories. Likewise, it was like on historical intertwining like the other books.

But if you're a Clifton Chronicles fan it's a must read/listen as will the next one.

Narration is good as usual. Looking forward to the next one.

Disappointing

I recommend Archer's books all the time, but not the Clifton Chronicles. I've come to terms with, but still don't like, how Archer ends his books with cliffhangers. I find it disrespectful to his readers since I believe a book should have a conclusion, satisfying or not. With this latest book, however, I have another gripe. This one, especially early on, had me wondering if all the others were this poor. Now that I have finished the book I wouldn't say the book itself was poor, but that there are some throwaway storylines within the book, ones I did not enjoy at all, and which will be forgotten when I look back at the Clifton Chronicles as a whole. Just filler to sell an extra book? Another reason for me not to recommend this series to others. Disappointing.

I'd be satisfied if this were the last...

...book in the series. The ending here is just fine. This novel covers the the decade of the 1970's, so I suspect there will be more. Cometh the Hour, more than any of the prior five books in the series, stretches beyond credibility. It has been a nice ride, but enough of the Cliftons and Barringtons.

The narration was outstanding.

Clifton Chronicles so far. . .

So, I've now listened to all of the Clifton Chronicles books with only the next and reportedly last one that will be published next year. I began this project of tackling the series because I heard it compared to work by Ken Follett. Well, not even close. That is not to say that I didn't enjoy the series. I did. But the rich detail of Follett's work is not found here. That's one of the things I like about this branch of hIstorical fiction.

Item 2: I agree with all the other reviewers who dislike the cliffhanger ending to each book. It's unnecessary and makes each ending not completely satisfying. Why resort to it? Cometh the Hour does wrap up some of the lingering storylines. I'll get the next/last installment to see how it all works out for the Cliftons and Barringtons and if poor Sir Giles will suffer more heartache. Having said that, I have spent a lot of credits on this series. I doubt I would launch into another Archer series in the future..

Bottom line: It was better than OK, but don't expect to be on your best books/series list.

One more thing: Alex Jennings did a first job on the narration.

Acceptable continuation although not as gripping

The clifton story continues with new twists and developments. However, this book is not as gripping.

not his best

Engaging, but sadly this is only a luke-warm wrap up to a truly brilliant series

Cliches abound

Not Jeffrey Archer's finest work. OK for binge listening but far from great writing or literature. After so many books in this series the characters have become cardboard cut-outs of themselves. Excellent performance, however.

Time for Jeffrey to retire...

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I can't imagine anyone enjoying this piece of work. The plot was painfully weak, lacked any imagination and predictable from the first line.

What was most disappointing about Jeffrey Archer’s story?

For someone I used to revere as the best storyteller in the world, Jeffery's decline over the years has been rather painful for me. 90% of his books have the same plot. But this series is worse. He simply stopped trying. Synopsis of an Archer novel:1) You get into high school and you make an enemy who will be fixated on you downfall for a lifetime2) You go into politics and one you beat this same enemy by a slim margin due to recount3) Your high school enemy tries to take over your company throw an hostile takeover or stock market manipulation.4) You ultimately triumph over this lifelong enemy, then find out he is your step brother

What about Alex Jennings’s performance did you like?

Alex Jennings is exceptional as usual, but he can only read what has been written.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Angry because I paid for such crap (Then again, all the other books in this series have been crappy, wonder why I keep getting fooled)

Disappointing

Granted the authors said this would be a continuing effort from the start, but ending each section in a cliffhanger makes this not 7 books butt one book in 7 chapters. unfortunately I'm working my way to the last in the series despite each one being more disappointing than the previous.
I liken it to the old saying "This is awful you have to try it" you're constantly assaulted by stupid people doing stupid things; and evil people losing for stupid reasons.

As the series progress

I became captivated with this series of mysteries and kept buying the books. However, with each book I realized that I can predict the plot that became repetitive. Also, the author started to make more and more mistakes. The narrator attempt to mimic American accent became more and more ridicules even though Scottish and Swedish accents were pretty good. I am not sure that I will buy the seventh book.