Not a Penny More, Not a Penny less

Nota penny more, not a penny less: (By Jeffrey Archer)

The novel that I read after DA Vinci Code. and the expectations after reading a novel like DA Vinci code are always high. And reading Not a Penny more, not a penny less made me feel the same excitement that I felt when reading DA Vinci Code. It has the required fun, suspense and twists that would make the reader glued to it. It has clever plans made and changed which holds the reader's interest.

It begins with the story of a boy(Harvey MetCalfe) who becomes a millionaire by learning to understand how the Stock Exchange operates, listening to conversations when working as a messenger boy in stock exchange.

The novel starts with the words "Making a million legally has always been difficult. Making a million illegally has always been a little easier. Keeping a million when you have made it is perhaps the most difficult of all. Harvey Metelski (Jeffrey calls him Metelski at some places and Metcalfe at others) was one of those rare men who managed all three."

Jeffrey details the happenings in stock market and how Harvey makes acquaintance with various people and gets to becomes the millionaire.

Harvey becomes an expert in share fraud. He cheats four strangers(Stephen, Jean Pierre, Adrian and James) into buying shares for a company that he buys by making them believe that the shares would increase. They invest everything they have but in the end, find themselves penniless.

Stephen gathers together the other three to get their money back and decide that they would steal back what they had been cheated of i.e "Not a penny more, not a penny less". In their mission they decide that all four would come up with a separate plan to extract their one million dollars back from Harvery, without him becoming aware of it.

The rest of the story is how they act on their plans and how the change in Harvey's actions make them change their plans is the best part of the story.

In the end, the sudden change of circumstances and state of affairs adds the comical stuff to the novel.

Truly a book that would make the reader satisfied of spending time with.