Kane and Abel

I really like the story-telling prowess of Jeffrey Archer and this second RA Favorite Book of his, Kane and Abel, was just as good as the first. Archer continues to use historical stories as the basis for his storyline and this time he uses the biblical piece of Cain and Abel whom battle to the finish in this 20th century updated version. The two characters (Kane and Abel in this one) come from very different backgrounds, though their desire to destroy each other using current day tactics of successful business men parallels the brute force of many thousands of years ago. The two men are born on the same day, April 18, 1906 but have very different upbringings to eventually become despised enemies, though they never meet each other, except in cases they don’t know they are meeting each other! William Lowell Kane is born in Boston as a third-generation wealthy and powerful banker. Kane is also educated at Harvard and a hard-working, driven man (that is the only thing he shares in common with his rival). Abel Rosnovski (originally named Wladek Koskiewicz) is born in Poland to great poverty, one of seven children, and eventually is given away to a Baron who is later killed, and “Abel” then escapes death and immigrates to the United States. The two men’s lives finally connect while Abel is moving his way up the ladder in the hotel industry when his boss commits suicide after losing all of his assets in the 1929 crash of the stock market. When Abel is about to lose his interest in the hotel chain as well, he reaches out to the bank holding the note and speaks to Kane, who based on policy needs to say no to the request to give Abel a loan to keep the hotels afloat. For Abel this lack of help begins a bitter feud that will persist for 30+ years. The various turns of life’s challenges help ruin both men from the greatness they should have achieved. There are many interchanges between the two men and their careers and at each turn they both attempt to ruin the other. The biggest turn of events occurs much later in the story when the children of the two men end up meeting each other (without knowledge of their lineage) and fall in love. Archer has a way of connecting his stories to real life historical events occurring at the time of the story (presidential elections, stock market collapse, and world wars). There are also a number of special twists that make this thriller a special book. I personally get really engaged in Archer’s work and highly recommend it to others. It was a great book to listen to while flying back home from Rome.