AS THE CROW FLIES (Jeffrey Archer) - May 23/12

This insanely epic book - it does, after all, chart the central character's life from adolescence to old age - certainly has its moments and it's always well written, but it's impossible to overlook the feeling that it's often much longer than necessary. Archer occasionally bogs the prose down in page after page of descriptive passages involving the running of the business, which isn't terribly exciting and results in a fairly plodding midsection. But the ongoing inclusion of irresistibly pulpy elements - eg the continuing feud with his nemesis, the revelation that his son killed himself because he learned that he was sleeping with his half-sister, etc - buoys the reader's interest on a fairly regular basis. **1/2 out of ****