Kane and Abel - Archer at his Best

Kane and Abel is one of the most well known and most appreciated novels from Jeffrey Archer. The story revolves around the life of two men born on the different sides of the world on the same day. The circumstances, life path and their upbringing of the two men are vastly different but they are destined to cross path in relentless pursuit of success.

William Lowell Kane is a son of a rich Boston banker and he gets everything a child could aspire for. He is the one born with a silver spoon. He goes to the finest schools in the US, then gets accepted at Harvard and then sets his sight on becoming the chairman of his father's bank.

Wladek Koskiewicz aka Abel Rosnovski on the other hand, is an orphan who is initially raised by a trapper in Poland. His life is full of untold hardship and suffering as he suffers in dungeons and war camps before finally setting foot in the US. After entering US, he climbs up steadily from being a waiter in a hotel to becoming the owner of one of the most successful hotel chains in the world.

Abel loses his close friend on two occasions during the course of his life, and his determination to seek revenge for one of his pal's death make him to cross path with William Kane and these two become involved in life long conflict bent on destroying each other. To make matters difficult for both, the son of William Kane and daughter of Abel Rosnovski fall in love with each other and get married.

Ulimately in their relentless quest only one of them can triumph. The major highlight of the novel is the merging of real historical events in the story. The historcal events which are featured in the novel include the invention of Henry Ford's Model T automobile, the sinking of Titanic, the first world war, the stock market crash of 1929, the second world war e.t.c.

Archer draws the attention of his readers in the very first page and sustains their attention till the very end. The novels spans three generations and is one of the best novels I've ever read. It is a must read for all Archer fans and book lovers in general. He has also written a sequel for this novel titled "The Prodigal Daughter". To read the review of the sequel "The Prodigal Daughter" click on the title. To read about other Jeffrey Archer titles click on the author.