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  “Because not only will I be replenishing their pension fund, but I would also allow the management to retain control of the Citizen. And we wouldn’t be breaking the law, because the surplus in our pension fund more than covers the shortfall in theirs.”

  “I still think they’d put up one hell of a fight to prevent you,” said Tom.

  “Not when the Globe reminds the Citizen’s 35,000 former employees every morning that there’s a simple solution to their pension problem. Within days they’ll be demonstrating outside Armstrong House, demanding that the board go along with the merger.”

  “But that also assumes Parliament will wear it,” said Tom. “Think of those Labor members who detest you even more than they did Armstrong.”

  “I’ll just have to make sure that those same members receive sackfuls of letters from their constituents, reminding them that they are only months away from an election, and that if they expect them to vote…”

  Keith looked up to see E.B. standing in the doorway. She stared at him in the same way she had on the first day they met.

  “Mr. Townsend,” she said. “Less than fifteen minutes ago, you and I came to an agreement, an agreement on which you gave your solemn oath. Or does your memory not stretch back that far?”

  Keith’s cheeks reddened slightly, and then a smile slowly appeared on his face. “I’m sorry, E.B.,” he said, “I lied.”

  TITLES BY JEFFREY ARCHER

  NOVELS

  Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less

  Shall We Tell the President?

  Kane & Abel

  The Prodigal Daughter

  First Among Equals

  A Matter of Honour

  As the Crow Flies

  Honour Among Thieves

  The Fourth Estate

  The Eleventh Commandment

  Sons of Fortune

  False Impression

  The Gospel According to Judas by Benjamin Iscariot (with the assistance of Professor Francis J. Moloney)

  A Prisoner of Birth

  Paths of Glory

  Only Time Will Tell

  The Sins of the Father

  SHORT STORIES

  A Quiver Full of Arrows

  A Twist in the Tale

  Twelve Red Herrings

  The Collected Short Stories

  To Cut a Long Story Short

  Cat O’ Nine Tales

  And Thereby Hangs a Tale

  PLAYS

  Beyond Reasonable Doubt

  Exclusive

  The Accused

  PRISON DIARIES

  Volume One—Belmarsh: Hell

  Volume Two—Wayland: Purgatory

  Volume Three—North Sea Camp: Heaven

  SCREENPLAYS

  Mallory: Walking Off the Map

  False Impression

  Praise for international bestselling author

  JEFFREY ARCHER

  “One of the top ten storytellers in the world.”

  —Los Angeles Times

  “There isn’t a better storyteller alive.”

  —Larry King

  “Archer plots with skill and keeps you turning the pages.”

  —Boston Globe

  “Cunning plots, silken style.… Archer plays a cat-and-mouse game with the reader.”

  —The New York Times

  “Archer is a master entertainer.”

  —Time

  “A storyteller in the class of Alexandre Dumas … unsurpassed skill.”

  —Washington Post

  And his novels and short story collections

  THE SINS OF THE FATHER

  “Will keep your blood pressure high and you’ll risk back injury just from being kept on the edge of your seat … I guarantee that anyone who takes this book from the shelves will not be able to put it down.”

  —The Spectator (UK)

  “[Archer] is a master of fiction … Jeffrey Archer has the strange gift denied to many who think themselves more serious novelists. He can tell a story, and he does so with such conviction, such appealing naivety, that you suspend disbelief, and read happily on.”

  —The Scotsman (UK)

  “Archer can plot a story.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  “The Clifton Chronicles saga, which will eventually span a century, from 1920 to 2020, has all the ingredients of compelling novels—rogue aristocrats, low-life scoundrels, wars, and excellently drawn characters … it, siren-like, lures its readers deeper into the lives of its characters.”

  —Business Day (South Africa)

  “Captivating.”

  —Sydney Morning Herald

  ONLY TIME WILL TELL

  “Archer delivers another page-turning, heart-stopping saga, with delightful twists, and a surprise ending … readers will surely wait for the next with bated breath.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “General readers as well as Archer fans will enjoy this unforgettable tale, which abounds with cliff-hangers that propel its intriguing and intricate plot.”

  —Library Journal (starred review)

  “What appears at the outset to be a straightforward coming-of-age tale becomes, by the end, a saga of power, betrayal, and bitter hatred. The novel ends on a deliberately dark note, setting the stage for the sequel … An outstanding effort from a reliable veteran.”

  —Booklist (starred review)

  “By the time you make it to the last page, the drama of Harry Clifton’s young life takes the readers to the edge of the cliff, where they must hang until the next Clifton Chronicle.”

  —Sunday Telegraph

  AND THEREBY HANGS A TALE

  “Archer can make you wring your hands in anguish and guffaw out loud, all on the same page, and he does in these fifteen ingenious stories.”

  —The Star-Ledger (New Jersey)

  “Whimsical … Good enough to turn someone who doesn’t normally read short stories into a fan of the genre. This is the ideal book to pop into a bag or keep in the car.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  SHALL WE TELL THE PRESIDENT?

  “Outrageous and top-notch terror.”

  —Vogue

  “The only difference between this book and The Day of the Jackal is that Archer is a better writer.”

  —Chicago Tribune

  “Authentic, literate, and scary.”

  —Cosmopolitan

  “The countdown is the thing: the pace, the pursuit, the what-next, the how-is-it-going-to-come-out.”

  —Boston Globe

  “Holds the reader in a viselike grip.”

  —Penthouse

  A PRISONER OF BIRTH

  “A compelling read.”

  —Newsday

  “Dynamite … plot twists and a slam-bang finale.”

  —The Washington Post

  “Thoroughly enjoyable.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “Compulsively readable.”

  —Library Journal

  “Gripping.”

  —Vancouver Sun

  “An exercise in wish fulfillment. The good may suffer, but the bad will get theirs in the end. The fun is watching it unfold.”

  —St. Petersburg Times (Florida)

  CAT O’ NINE TALES

  “Archer plots with skill, and keeps you turning the pages.”

  —Boston Globe

  “The economy and precision of Archer’s prose never fails to delight. The criminal doesn’t always get away with his crime, and justice doesn’t always prevail, but the reader wins with each and every story.”

  —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

  FALSE IMPRESSION

  “A worthy successor to The Da Vinci Code.”

  —Liz Smith, New York Post

  “Archer is back in top form with [this] latest thriller.”

  —Library Journal (starred review)

  “Thoroughly imagined … entertaining … thrilling.”

  —Denver Post

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, o