Sins of the Fathers is the 24th book in the JP Beaumont series. Beau is retired from 3 jobs throughout the series but now working as a private investigator. He employs his usual clever analysis of the information and human nature to follow the truth. It's great to see him and his friends and family again. I suppose it wouldn't be necessary to read all the books but they are so wonderful I am glad I have read them all. The passages in Deuteronomy and Jeremiah are very important. The careful student of the Bible will read the rest of the story. The full implication of the covenant of God's grace is that while a second or third generation may experience "the sins of the father," God's mercy and grace extends — not to one or two generations — but to a thousand generations. We know that a thousand in the Bible means "a very long time." What a gracious and beautiful Scripture is this: The Sins of the Father also follows the progression of Emma Barrington, Harry's only love, and his mother Maisie. The novel shares the point of view of four five focal characters that are integral to the story's progression. Archer recounts the happenings of Hugo Barrington, Emma Barrington, Maisie Clifton, Giles Barrington, and Harry Clifton over the years during War World II. Each character is unforgettable and that is what's most enticing about these novels. I have to know what happens to them. It's not an option not to. Emma seeks the help of her Great-aunt Phyllis in New York and her son Alistair who is a lawyer. She learns of Harry's recruitment in the army. The focus remains on the identity of Harry's father,as that would have a bearing on his future.But that identity still cannot be proved,in this book.

For the Sins of My Father recounts the chilling rise and fall of the man who led the Gambino family's most fearsome killers and thieves, through the eyes of a son who had never known any other kind of life. Coming of age in an opulent Long Island house where money is abundant but its source is unclear, Al becomes Roy's confidant, sent to call in loans at age fourteen and gradually coming to understand his father's job description--loan shark, car thief, porn purveyor and, above all, murderer. But when Al is seventeen, Roy's body is found in the trunk of a car, a gangland slaying that places Al between federal prosecutors seeking his testimony and a mob crew determined to keep him quiet. The book is well written. The plot twists and turns. Jance inserts some humor in the story. J. P. Beaumont is now retired from the police force and is working as a licensed private investigator. His wife, Mel, is the Chief of Police of Bellingham. In this book Beau is hired to find a missing girl. She left her new born baby at the hospital and disappeared. Jance seems to have such interesting plots and characters in her books. I enjoyed Lucy, the Irish Wolf Hound. She was a unique character in the story. There was no action in the story, but I was kept engaged through-out. The book is a pleasant change of pace type of book. First, you cant appreciate this book without having read the other, so that is already a dependence, a handicap which must be recognised - it is not a level playing field. Second, the Prisoner's Diary bit is already a borrowed theme from Jeffery Archer's non fiction chronicle of his experiences. Third, knowing that there is a third book coming, one could predict the tied vote in Parliament, but it is a let down for someone who may not want to go further with the trilogy only to find out about the vote. It is as though Jeffery has asked us all to wait through a long commercial break. Many may have forgotten the first one by then.He assumes the identity of another man,spends time in prison,writes a book and fights in World War II. BUT OH MY GOD. I started reading the book at about 4 thinking I would read some chaps during the two hour power cut. Being lazy nowadays - I had convinced myself I am losing my appetite for books. But Archer just proved that my tummy is destined for unseen obesity levels! So even though I felt the good characters were all sooooo good and the bad characters were nothing but bad (and you read about the SAME FIVE YEARS from three or four points of view which gets irritating, especially in Book 1), I still read both books in the series continuously for 10 hours and didn't put them down. This book has been on my father’s shelf for years. He has always told me to read it, and for some reason, I finally decided that now was the time. And what a book this was. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me” ( Exodus 20:5).

The strongest message of the book for me is that what we assume to be factual news is far from that. That baggage-handler defence had everyone going, and turned out to be just a strategy dreamed up by her legal team. And never mind the ongoing bulletins about Schapelle in the women's magazines... Critical thinking needs to be engaged when reading the news, that's for sure. Archer remains a powerful narrator and linguistic sculptor, presenting the reader with a wonderful story that expands with each passing chapter. Renewing the layered narrative approach, the reader is treated not only to numerous plot lines through the eyes of various characters, but also a powerful addition to the central story with each section. The reader may bask in the exciting set of plots on which the novel continues to build. While the story has yet to really focus on a second (or third) generation, Archer had laid the groundwork for this and has a number of storylines ready to blossom. Patience, eager reader, as I am sure it all comes to pass soon.

This 24th offering starts with a missing person’s case. An old acquaintance, Alan Dale, is trying to discover the whereabouts of his daughter, Naomi. It seems she disappeared soon after delivering a baby girl at the local hospital. Jance has J.P. following a convoluted path to finding first Athena’s mother, and then her father. But his ship is sunk in the Atlantic by a German U-boat, drowning almost the entire crew. An American cruise liner, the SS Kansas Star, rescues a handful of sailors, among them Harry and the third officer, an American named Tom Bradshaw. When Bradshaw dies in the night, Harry seizes on the chance to escape his tangled past and assumes his identity.

Fans of intricate family sagas and/or soap operas would probably like 'The Clifton Chronicles' and I strongly recommend this book to them. The Sins of the Father is the second book in Jeffrey Archer’s highly acclaimed The Clifton Chronicles, Archer’s most ambitious work in four decades as an international bestselling author. I have only listened to a few of this series, reading most of them. The narrator has been the same which I appreciate. Most of the story is in Beau's head space and he is in every bit of dialogue so it's great I enjoy the voice for him. I'm not sure about the female voices but they were rather limited, anyway. I was able to listen at my normal 1.5x speed. Unlike other kids at school who's father's were policeman, firefighters, or lawyers Albert DeMeo had no idea what his father did. A devoted family man, Roy DeMeo loved and cared for Al, his two sisters, his mother, and his extended family; but he didn't dress, talk, or act like any of the other Dad's in the neighborhood. With his tailored suits, silk shirts, impeccably shined loafers, pinky ring, and his gun, Roy would go to work late at night, to do business with Albert's many 'uncles'.

Suggest a Verse

In this 24th installment, Beaumont must absorb some stunning information, when an old acquaintance pops up out of the blue asking for J.P.’s help in locating his missing daughter. But even accepting commercial logic perspectives, my problem is with the content novelty. Do I detect a struggle to put in a number of smaller stories for the bulk? Strangely, I enjoyed Hugo Barrington more than the protagonists, he remained true to himself until the end. Many reviewers wondered what Albert DeMeo was miserable about, since he lived a charmed childhood and what I say in his defense is our adulthood certainly clears the childlike cobwebs from our eyes and paints our parents as human beings with feelings and fears and sins of their own. Now apply that knowledge to a person whose father was in the mafia. I am sure there are many inner struggles between right and wrong, as the mafia has been famous for helping people who have been turned away by the police just as much as they've been nightmarishly devilsome in their dealings against people. It is likely such memories of the just and unjust actions of his father plague DeMeo as he walks with his memories today, so I believe he is deserving of a little complaining.