Sons of Fortune

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

United in their rivalry, Sons of Fortune is the classic tale of two brothers engaged in a power struggle, from international bestselling author Jeffrey Archer.

In the late 1940s in Hartford, Connecticut a set of twins is parted at birth. Nat Cartwright goes home with his parents, a schoolteacher and an insurance salesman. But his twin brother is to begin his days as Fletcher Andrew Davenport, the only son of a multi-millionaire and his society wife.

During the years that follow, the two brothers grow up unaware of each other's existence. Nat leaves college at the University of Connecticut to serve in Vietnam. He returns a war hero, he finishes school and becomes a successful banker. Fletcher, meanwhile, has graduated from Yale University and distinguishes himself as a criminal defence lawyer before he is elected to the Senate.

Even when Nat and Fletcher fall in love with the same girl they still don't meet. They continue on their separate paths until one has to defend the other for a murder he did not commit. But the final confrontation comes when Nat and Fletcher are selected to stand against each other for governor of the state.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Veteran novelist and British politician Archer (Kane and Abel) is currently serving a prison sentence for perjury, so readers can perhaps forgive him if this latest effort falls short of his usual standard. The implausibly plotted novel follows fraternal twin boys separated at birth by a bizarre set of circumstances. Nat Cartwright and Fletcher Davenport are born in Hartford, Conn., in the early 1950s. A meddlesome nurse sends them home with different families. Nat is raised in a lower-middle-class household, attends the University of Connecticut, serves heroically in Vietnam and goes into banking. Fletcher, the wealthy Yalie, becomes a lawyer and a politician. The men are repeatedly thrown into competition with each other, whether for admission to college or in their professional lives, their rivalry culminating when they both run for governor of their home state. The characters are too thin, and their respective worlds too littered with clichs, to offer a satisfying portrait of the baby boomer generation. Contrived plot twists offer little distraction, while the dialogue sometimes reads like a set of photo captions-information without emotion. "When you think about it, they are the obvious predator," says Nat about a takeover threat. "Fairchild's is the largest bank in the state; seventy-one branches with almost no serious rivals." Archer is usually a skillful storyteller, but he drops the ball here. (Jan.) Forecast: Archer, who has had to resign from political office three times because of financial and sexual scandals, usually draws reliable sales, but this weak offering may break the mold. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Booklist Review

In Hartford, Connecticut, during the early 1950s, twin boys are separated at birth. Fletcher and Nat attend competing colleges, fall for the same girl, and have best friends who are the sons of movers and shakers. In the 1960s, Nat is drafted and becomes a hero in Vietnam, while Fletcher goes into law. By the 1990s, Nat's an affluent banker, and Fletcher's a politico on the rise; then, inevitably, their paths come together. Archer's long-anticipated new novel is sure to garner loads of publicity, but much of it may have little to do with the quality of the book: the former Olympic athlete and fabulously wealthy novelist, once a member of the British House of Lords, is currently serving a four-year prison sentence for perjury. Is the novel good? It's actually pretty standard stuff from Archer, author of such best-sellers as The Fourth Estate (1996): broad-stroke character portraits painted on a large canvas, a two-dimensional but somehow compelling saga of ambition and destiny. Fans will be quite pleased, while his critics will note all the usual deficiencies, among them a largely wooden supporting cast and dialogue that is often ludicrous. In a nutshell: a typically slick, well-written, but shallow novel that will benefit from the author's notoriety. --David Pitt

Kirkus Book Review

Twins separated at birth are reunited decades later after many, many twists of fate. The Oxford-educated Archer (The Eleventh Commandment, 1998, etc.) has deposited yet another pile of pages upon us but will likely escape prosecution for the crime. This time, he gives us a pair of twins born in 1950s Connecticut. Through a chain of obtusely convoluted events, the boys are mixed up at the hospital and raised by separate parents, never knowing of their siblinghood. It's a long, long road until they meet again. One, Nat, is a smart but headstrong lad who could have gotten out of Vietnam but feels honor-bound to go, returns a celebrated hero after helping rescue some trapped soldiers, and goes into banking. The other, Fletcher, equally smart and headstrong, becomes a lawyer. Each marries a gorgeous, smart woman and starts riding a rocket to the top. Pretty much the only difference between the two is that Nat has a nemesis from school, Roger Elliot, a cartoonishly rotten brat who always plays dirty. Elliot is an archetype of archetypes who pops up occasionally just to inflict a wrong upon saintly Nat. The 1970s grumble on with only the occasional nod to the passage of time, and eventually the twins are both running for governor of Connecticut-Nat a Republican, Fletcher Democrat-and a final dirty trick by Elliot brings them together in a courtroom where Fletcher defends Nat against a murder charge-while the election is still going on. Most distressing about this dreary business is not that Archer's plot points are so ridiculous or contrived, but that he fails to make it at all entertaining. Flat, bland, covered in wastelands of cliche.