In an age where crown jewels serve as a euphemism at best for most, British bestselling writer and one-time Tory politician Jeffrey Archer tries to weave a thriller around their theft, almost like a post-Brexit ’wanna be’ clamouring to be let into the heist hall of fame. The heist genre has celebrated everything from robbing Fort Knox to the Royal Mint of Spain, the latter in Netflix’s wildly popular Money Heist.
If Archer, an established master of the racy airport paperback genre, is trying to compete with Netflix and its ilk for passenger eyeballs during a flight, Traitors Gate is probably not the right offering. Make no mistake, the premise is mighty beguiling—about a thief who orchestrates an elaborate heist of the crown jewels. ‘Traitor’s Gate’ refers to the water gate entrance to the Tower of London, which had a rather ironic dual role of housing criminals as well as safeguarding the royal crown, orb, sceptre, and other invaluable state treasures. Putting criminals and treasures under one roof—would that be British irony at work?
However, in Archer’s supposed thriller, it is not the prisoners (they aren’t there anymore) who dare to pull it off, but an ex-prisoner and master criminal Miles Faulkner. He tries to do the impossible— steal the crown jewels while they are being taken to the Buckingham Palace for the Queen to wear while delivering her annual state address to the British Parliament. (The story is conveniently set in the late 1990s, with more than one sarcastic reference, and one glaring factual error, about Princess Diana).
Denne historien er fra October 15, 2023-utgaven av THE WEEK India.
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Denne historien er fra October 15, 2023-utgaven av THE WEEK India.
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William Dalrymple goes further back
Indian readers have long known William Dalrymple as the chronicler nonpareil of India in the early years of the British raj. His latest book, The Golden Road, is a striking departure, since it takes him to a period from about the third century BC to the 12th-13th centuries CE.
The bleat from the street
What with all the apps delivering straight to one’s doorstep, the supermarkets, the food halls and even the occasional (super-expensive) pop-up thela (cart) offering the woke from field-to-fork option, the good old veggie-market/mandi has fallen off my regular beat.
Courage and conviction
Justice A.M. Ahmadi's biography by his granddaughter brings out behind-the-scenes tension in the Supreme Court as it dealt with the Babri Masjid demolition case
EPIC ENTERPRISE
Gowri Ramnarayan's translation of Ponniyin Selvan brings a fresh perspective to her grandfather's magnum opus
Upgrade your jeans
If you don’t live in the top four-five northern states of India, winter means little else than a pair of jeans. I live in Mumbai, where only mad people wear jeans throughout the year. High temperatures and extreme levels of humidity ensure we go to work in mulmul salwars, cotton pants, or, if you are lucky like me, wear shorts every day.
Garden by the sea
When Kozhikode beach became a fertile ground for ideas with Manorama Hortus
RECRUITERS SPEAK
Industry requirements and selection criteria of management graduates
MORAL COMPASS
The need to infuse ethics into India's MBA landscape
B-SCHOOLS SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT INDIAN ECONOMY IS GOING TO WITNESS A TREMENDOUS GROWTH
INTERVIEW - Prof DEBASHIS CHATTERJEE, director, Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode
COURSE CORRECTION
India's best b-schools are navigating tumultuous times. Hurdles include lower salaries offered to their graduates and students misusing AI
