I was surprised to discover online that Jeffrey Archer--so favorably juxtaposed to Salman Rushdie in one of Bridget Jones' Diary's hilarious dinner scenes--seems to be pretty unpopular in the British press, quite aside from the fact that he's been convicted of a felony. (His scandalous lifestyle is straightforwardly presented here.)

Whatever the man's personal flaws, however, his first book, Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less, is a lot of fun. The story begins wheh Harvey Metcalfe, a self-made American millionaire, finalizes an elaborate scam in which he cheats four strangers out of a million dollars. All four of them thought they would be rich; the next day, however, they discover that they are penniless. Stephen Bradley, one of the four strangers and a Harvard mathematics graduate now studying at Oxford, gathers together the other three and makes a proposition: although none of them have ever met each other before, they will now work together to get the one million dollars back from Harvey Metcalfe, using whatever means are necessary. At last, the other three--a doctor, a French art collector, and a lord--agree, and the plot is set in motion.

Not a Penny is an excellent caper novel, concerned less with characters and deep ideas than with cleverly wrought plans played fast and loose against changing circumstances. There are actually four capers in the novel, since each of the victims is supposed to come up with a plan of his own, and each one (except, perhaps, for the last) is exciting, often hilarious, and satisfyingly complex. It's true that Archer takes a great deal of liberties with his characters in order to make these plans work (Harvey Metcalfe in particular often seems more like a gawking child than the shrewd businessman he is supposed to be), but the liberties he takes don't detract too much from the lighthearted appeal of the victims' schemes.

Unfortunately, these capers are described with some of the most mechanical writing I have ever read. Whatever the virtues of Archer's plotting, his writing style is at best workmanlike, and often clunky. He also somehow finds it relevant to include in the book the full versions of various documents--like a job application form, and a British law--even though the information in them is both irrelevant and unexciting. And even his plot falters by the end, when an extraordinary, unbelievable coincidence occurs that sets the stage for several absolutely hilarious scenes--and then robs the rest of the novel of its fast-paced excitement.

Until that point, however, Not a Penny is a fun, light read--and well worth the afternoon it will take to complete it.

Copyright © 2003 Steven Wu