This is my first Archer's book.  How on earth I decided to purchase this book?

1)  It's MPH's top 5 bestseller -- bestsellers means good publicity, a lot of people buy it -- out curiosity or recommendation/good review from other people.
2)  Archer has been in jail, starts writing after his imprisonment period is over, and he reminds me of Micheal Scofield from Prison Break.  Well, it's not that bad imagining some hot and brilliant guy writing a book.  (by the way, aku tak pernah lagi tgk the real pic of this Jeffrey Archer).
3)  The heroine, Anna Petrescu reminds me to Dr Sara Tancredi, again from Prison Break.  Both of them have this weird,unique,n nice-to-said surname.  Petrescu-Tancredi, Petrescu-Tancredi, Petrescu-Tancredi... Got the picture?

The story revolves around this Van Gogh painting, that is being chased by the bad guy, Bryce Fenston dan kroni-kroninya -- who runs a loan company (something like that), and the painting is being hidden/saved by his former employee, Anna Petrescu.  Petrescu decided to risk her life and freedom when understanding the fact that Fenston is only interested in the return money they can get from the painting.  In a way, Fenston doesn't care about anything  as long as he gets what he wants, even if it takes for him to kill other people.

I'm not going to tell everything in detail, because you can get all that by reading the book (duh).  However, reading review from various sources, some come to the extent of stating that this book is much much much better than the writings of my favourite author -- Sheldon.  I totally disagree.  

Somehow, Archer didn't manage to grasp my attention throughout his stories.  The concept is interesting, but certain areas is just predictable, or slightly conflicting with other facts. 

First of all, Bryce Fenston is supposed to be a brilliant and highly intelligent criminal.  I can't feel it~  Somehow it feels as if he depends to much to the only person he trusts, that is his lawyer (forgot his name).  Although in the end, he traps that traitor-lawyer back, but still, I can't feel his power.

The next thing is about the FBI agent who is supposed to follow Anna Petrecu to gain useful information so that they can convict Fenston of various felony   (i'm not sure if I'm using the right expression here).  In the middle of the story, the agent somehow lost track of Petrescu due to some accident between Petrescu and some drunk lorry driver -- but amazingly, those agent manage to find her.  How?  Why?  When?  I don't know.  They didn't tell me..~

Another charming and quite good looking FBI agent (why do they have to use this physical beauty thing), Jack whatever reminds me to Robert Bellamy from Sheldon's 'The Doomsday Conspiracy'.  Apa-apa pun, aku rasa Robert Bellamy berganda lebih hebat dari Jack whatever.  There's no X-factor, just some thrilling chasing game.

I realised that Archer have a kind of writing pattern that goes something like : Ana sedang memikirkan masa hadapannya.  Perkara yang mungkin berlaku kepada dirinya.  Dia teringat akan peristiwa di mana dia telah melanggar kucing di depan rumahnya.  Perasaan yang haru biru, keliru dan berkecamuk.  Pada saat itu kucing itu tetiba ....... 'Eh Ana..Apa yang kau buat atas pokok tu?'  Siti menjerit dari seberang jalan dan mematikan lamunan Ana yg panjang.  Got the picture?  The unfinished sentence part?  The person is in deep thoughts and abruptly disturbed by other party. Once, twice, is acceptable.  When it happens quite often, which is more than twice in that book, it gets annoying.   I just gives me the picture that the writer is out of idea and doesn't know how to end that part of story.

However, on the positive side, the chasing scene is quite interesting and slightly mendebarkan. 

But the ending -- so-so, and it doesn't thrill me as much as the synopsis. 

Aku bagi 2.5 bintang dari 5 bintang.