Not as good as its predecessors

ONE thing that is clear straight up is that this collection of short stories by Jeffrey Archer is no Quiver Full of Arrows or Twelve Red Herrings. Cat O Nine Tales by Jeffrey Archer (Pan Books, Pages: 253, Price: Rs 270) is a collection of short stories, some of which will keep you entertained and others that will have you just flip through. All the stories are based the tales that were related to Jeffrey Archer while he was incarcerated in various prisons. The first story of the collection, though meant to grab your attention leaves you wondering what the whole point was.

Subsequent stories do manage to hold some water with the reader, like the story of the man who wanted to get rid of his wife and uses his knowledge water-borne disease as a means to finish. I guess what really comes in the way of every hardcore Jeffrey Archer fan is the fact that these stories are not a figment of his creative imagination but rather stories of the his inmates while serving at the prison. One thing is for sure, you are bound to learn a lot on the daily affairs of British prisons.