Something you should know, that I didn’t before starting this book, was this is the fourth in a big series, but the book itself doesn’t really tell us this. It doesn’t say “Book 4 in the Warwick Series” or anything like that. Once I realized, some of its flaws started to make sense, so maybe one day I’ll go back and read the previous three books and reconsider this review. I mean, think about it. It’s harder to get into a world when you start in the middle because things are already so established. But again, no real mention of this on the book’s part, so maybe this review is fair after all.
Over My Dead Body is the first Jeffrey Archer book I’ve ever read and it’s in the middle of a series with lead William Warwick at the helm. Apparently he’s an officer who’s really climbed the ranks in the past few years and now works with the high-ups. He has a loving and feisty wife named Beth who sometimes helps him with his capers. And there’s a long-running antagonist named Miles Faulkner who was able to fake his death and is now keeping it chill, but Warwick suspects he’s still alive from the get go. A vacation the two of them are on gets quickly disrupted and William and his closest accomplices try to snag the opportunity to capture or incriminate him.
And that’s about all I can tell you in terms of a straightforward plot, because the book is kind of all over the place.
My dad actually recommended this book to me, and he’s offered two others in the past that I’ve tried out. The first one was Those In Peril by Wilbur Smith, but it really didn’t work for me. The other, however, The Da Vinci Code, is now a top favourite. I couldn’t put it down. And he said I’d devour the Jeffrey Archer books he offered me within days. And you know what? If I’d been less preoccupied, I probably could’ve devoured Over My Dead Body easily. The best thing about this book is it’s very easy to read.
The book is always on the go with something, so I would say if you want a decently long novel that won’t have you annoyed with momentum drags or unnecessary exposition, Over My Dead Body and I suspect the other William Warwick novels are pretty fair bets. You’ll have something that won’t put you into a reading slump. It was much easier to get through than my last read, In The Lives of Puppets. But that can’t disguise the fact these stories are somehow typical and messy at the same time.
It gave me no surprise when I looked Archer up and found he had Conservative political history. The book’s protagonists have a little bit of misogyny sprinkled here and there, like praising one of the women for being old-fashioned in the face of outdated gender norms, and another gleefully saying “Never trust women”. Beyond that, there’s a clear sense of these people being heftily paid for their troubles, staying in the best hotels, booking first-class around the world, the youngsters on their side feeling ready to climb the ranks in the FBI. I’m not saying being in high positions of power makes them unlikable protagonists, but I’m not much of a fan of books that love to tour the beautiful parts of the world without stopping to look at the poverty-stricken from time to time.
And besides Miles Faulkner and his lawyer Booth Watson, the book’s numerous antagonists don’t stick the landing; there are so many that don’t get the attention to be memorable. We hear about the horrors that they’ve done, but a lot of it is talk without show, no real meat for us to enjoyably despise. And it’s not just the antagonists; the book gives itself several different goals it bounces around, and even if the biggest thing is figuring out a way to beat Miles Faulkner, by the end, I just felt disconnected from all the back-and-forth chaos.
Now back to some of the good stuff. William and Beth’s children are cute. Something that happens to Ross about midway through is tragic and memorable. There are some nice action scenes. Miles and Booth as the standout antagonists do a good job as some actually smart characters. Though I’m not familiar with the extent of their criminality, a book with them in the main chairs is one I would pick up. It’s cool to see a bad guy pretty much on the same level as the authorities. As I said, for all its faults, it’s an easy book to get through, even at 363 pages. For what it is, which is a police procedural book in the middle of its series, it’s fine, even if it’s not really my type. So in the end, take it or leave it. Read it on a long car or plane ride, and a fair amount of time will be killed painlessly.
My grade: 2 and a half stars out of 5
William J. McGinn 
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