Reader's Choice

That all printed copies, ab initio, of The Eleventh Commandment by Jeffrey Archer (HarperCollins, £16.99 in UK) had "Number One Bestseller" emblazoned on them, possibly says it all about Lord Archer. The Eleventh Commandment ("Thou shalt not be caught") follows the CIA's "most deadly weapon", Irish-American Connor Fitzgerald, from Colombia to Washington to St Petersburg and back again. Always pacey, never dull, Archer masterfully spins intricate webs which have Fitzgerald combatting an unlikely enemy - his own boss, the director of the CIA. Often accused of simply applying the same formula to different plots in his various books, Archer nonetheless succeeds in producing a good, entertaining page-turner. Maybe the pre-emptive "No 1" label isn't cocksure - merely justifiably confident.