Heads You Win
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4.1 • 170 Ratings
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- £5.99
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
Heads You Win is the incredible and thrilling novel by the master storyteller and bestselling author of the Clifton Chronicles and Kane and Abel, Jeffrey Archer.
Leningrad, Russia, 1968.
From an early age it is clear that Alexander Karpenko is destined to lead his countrymen. But when his father is assassinated by the KGB for defying the state, Alexander and his mother will have to escape Russia if they hope to survive. At the docks, they have an irreversible choice: board a container ship bound for America or one bound for Great Britain. Alexander leaves the choice to a toss of a coin . . .
In a single moment, a double twist decides Alexander’s future. During an epic tale, spanning two continents and thirty years, we follow Alexander through triumph and defeat as he sets out on parallel lives, as Alex in New York and Sasha in London. As this unique story unfolds, both come to realize that to find their destiny they must face the past they left behind as Alexander in Russia.
With a final twist that will shock even his most ardent fans, this is international number one bestseller Jeffrey Archer’s most ambitious and creative work since Kane and Abel.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Archer's clever novel, a Sliding Doors-ish bildungsroman, fate hinges on the toss of a coin. After his father is assassinated by the KGB in 1968, young Alexander Karpenko says goodbye to his friend Vladimir and flees Russia with his mother. At the docks, they flip a coin to see if they will emigrate to London or New York. In one version of the story, Sasha and his mother journey to London, where he grows up to attend Cambridge, stands for Labour MP, marries well, and becomes involved in political hugger-mugger. In the other version of the story, Karpenko, here referred to as Alex, and his mother move to New York, where he grows up to be a hustler/entrepreneur, marries well, is named the chairman of a bank, and becomes involved in financial- and art-world chicanery. After 30 years, both Sasha and Alex return to Russia to find that their fates are now inextricably linked with the future of their post-Communist homeland. Archer cannibalizes his greatest hits (including Kane and Abel and First Among Equals) even as he emulates the '60s bestsellers of Harold Robbins and Jacqueline Susann to tell his twinned stories of immigrant striving, romance, and dirty dealing, with a surprise last-sentence kicker that points to the present political moment. The result is a fun, fast-paced novel. 300,000-copy announced first printing.
Customer Reviews
Confusing
I like Jeffery Archer and this book is good, but not great. Quite confusing at times and a unsatisfactory ending.
The usual page turner but lazy storylines
Having read this straight after the entire Clifton Chronicles, there were too many repeated storylines; Eastern Europe, rich MPs, night visitors to hotel rooms... a bit of a rehash of earlier books