Jon Lymon Reviews End Game by Jeffrey Archer

Never read a Jeffrey Archer novel before. And fair play to the guy, the opening of End Game had me hooked, not quite like a pike, but well enough to see me get through this 350+ page hardback in about a week.

There’s nothing spectacular about the language or style, but the plot’s as tight as the lycra some of the athletes featured probably wore back in 2012. There’s not a lead character as such driving the narrative. Warwick’s as close as we get, although his daughter, son and wife all have their own fairly well sketched subplot stories that Archer weaves into the main plot.

And that main thrust concerns another kind of plot – to scupper the 2012 Olympic Games and ruin Britain’s reputation on the world stage.

I don’t think it’s a big spoiler to say that the 2012 Olympics went down well, from the opening royal skydive with 007 to the closing ceremony of which I remember nothing. But Archer takes us into the realms of alternate reality in End Game, suggesting dastardly forces funded and encouraged by unfriendly nations were at work behind the scenes, planning to turn the games into a disaster. Chillingly, some of the events Archer reveals happened behind the scenes actually happened in the run-up and during the games, although which are based on fact, and which come from the author’s imagination are not specified.

Never reveal your sources, right?

End Game is a thriller that takes you on an enjoyable ride without any challenging vocabularly and in which the bad try to outwit the good with a decent helping of treachery thrown in. I enjoyed the filmic and unlikely death at the end that neatly includes some athletic Olympic furniture.

I can’t tell you if this is up there with Archer’s personal best as it’s my first taste of his work, and while it’s unlikely anyone will be handing it any medals, it’s a decent, fast-paced read, but not a patch on the fast-pace we saw from Usain Bolt who, let’s face it, was and always will be the star of this 2012 sporting show.