Archer is best known for his earliest work (Kane and Abel was a deserved best seller) and for his imprisonment on perjury charges. This is his third collection of short stories, which combine fiction and based on true events' (presumably criminal and other cases from his career as a lawyer. In all the stories Archer utilises the form best known by the late Roald Dahl - with a twist in the tale.
Well, that's the theory at any rate. However, in Long Story I found nary an unexpected twist to be found. Without exception the stories were plodding, leaden, unengaging and - worst of all - predictable. From the first taste (the well worn tale of a man who sees Death at a bazaar and tries to escape by running to another town) to the excruciatingly telegraphed "The Grass is Always Greener" (where each person, from the homeless man who sleeps outside a bank to the president of the bank, thinks the person above them has a more carefree life than they), there wasn't a surprise to be found. I did quite like "The Endgame", where a wealthy widower decides to pretend his fortune's been lost in order to test the loyalties of those closest to him, but even then the end came as no shock.
If you want to see what all the fuss was about, read Kane and Abel or one of his earlier collections. Better yet, turn to Dahl's collections or (for delicious wit) go further back and sample the divine Saki. - Alex
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