Robert Ludlum passed away in 2001. The book "The Janson Directive" written by him was published posthumously in 2002. The story ended in such a way that the first in a series of novels was born. The Ludlum estate have entrusted to "Paul Garrison" the job of continuing the storyline from that firs...
Admittedly, I've never read any of the late Robert Ludlum's books but I am a fan of the Bourne movies; except the last one with Renner. Van Lustbader received permission from the Ludlum estate and is continuing where Ludlum left off. He seems to be doing it with success in this novel. Many of ...
A HEARTBREAK HIPSTER REVIEWThe Bourne Identity? More like the Bored Identity. Am I right?Anybody? That’s funny right?Oh, well that’s just fine then. Don’t all fucking laugh at once. T- hough I'll stay true to my word. This shit was pretty goddamned boring. Let me take you back to 2002. When rock-...
Robert Ludlum died in 2001. This book came out in 2003 with Gayle Lynds as the co-author. This is the fourth book of the Covert-One series. Covert-One is a top secret U. S. agency that fights corruption, conspiracy and bio-weaponary at the highest and most dangerous level in the society. It is co...
Moscow-a city under siege by hardcore Communists threatening to plunge the country back into Stalinist darkness. Into the heart of the firestorm, American ambassador Stephen Metcalf has been summoned to find the one man who controls the levers of power in absolute secrecy-an official known only a...
This may sound strange, but I read this book's sequel, THE ROAD TO OMAHA, first...I just saw the premise on the back of the book, knew Robert Ludlum's reputation as a great writer, and thought 'Okay, this might be worth a buy.' I had NO IDEA what I was getting into: THE ROAD TO OMAHA became one...
was interested greatly until the man that hooked me gets shot in a phone booth! Hard to keep reading, mind you this IS all in the first two chapters.. so a climax at the front would have to work hard to grab me again. In comes the second man just assigned to MATLOCK and then it JUST gets crazy.. ...
At first I was a bit doubtful that I was going to enjoy this as much as some of Robert Ludlum's later books such as the Bourne series. But I shouldn't have doubted his skill as a writer and I was nearly immediately engaged in the story. As with all of the other Ludlum books I've read, the story a...
Todd Belknap, experienced field agent goes on a mission that goes awry at the same time his best friend, Jared Rhinehart, and fellow agent is kidnapped and will probably be tortured and killed. The State Dept decides not to rescue his friend and it is up to Belknap to rescue him. Andrea Bancroft ...
By Robert Ludlum. Grade: AThe author of 37 novels, Robert Ludlum has been one of the busiest authors in literary circles. The Janson Directive is one of those 5 novels which were credited to Robert Ludlum and published posthumously.The spy game cost Paul Janson everything that was most important ...
Oh my. This book was bad. I was going to say really bad, but in the penultimate chapter I actually was engaged by the plot for about 3 pages.It bothers me when publishers deke the reader with a cover that screams ROBERT LUDLUM'S MOSCOW VECTOR then in tiny letters written by patrick larkin. I want...
My family used to always talk about author Robert Ludlum when I was growing up. My mom and Uncle Bob would speak of convoluted plots, spy thriller tension and a plethora of characters that a reader would have to take notes on in order to keep track of all the development. I had never read a Lud...
Why, oh why, is this book averaging almost four stars?I have to admit, I do enjoy reading a brain-dead thriller every once in a while. Robert Ludlum, a deceased thriller writer, wrote almost 30 novels and had over 200 million copies of his books in print. Needless to say, while his critics savage...
I am reviewing the novel The Cassandra Compact by Robert Ludlum et al which is an excellent thriller which I bought from a car boot sale. This book is the second book in the Covert One series and recently I reviewed the first book The Hades Factor. The series is about a fictional U S counterespio...
Some spy novels get better and more relevant with age, and Robert Ludlum's fabulous The Matarese Circle falls into that category. What it lacks in literary aspirations it more than makes up for in sheer excitement and fun. Written decades ago, its story-line seems almost prophetic, the world fina...
In rating it four stars I have given this novel the benefit of the doubt, since for the first half I really struggled to 'get into it'. This could be attributed to two possible reasons, the first being that I never read enough of it in any one sitting, and left too long in between reads, to reall...
As the Ludlum portion of the Bourne series comes to an end with this book, I must say that this is surely a very thick (in all its senses) book, filled with great nuances. Completing the original trilogy at a time when spy games were all about actual deception and sleight of hand (rather than tec...
By Robert Ludlum. Grade: B+Robert Ludlum is pitted as one of the best and is known as one the bestselling authors of all time. The Sigma Protocol is credited to Robert Ludlum posthumously and is the last novel written entirely by him.Ben Hartman is on holiday in Switzerland when he meets one of h...
CIA case officer Cameron Pryce thought he'd crushed the deadly cabal of powerbrokers and assassins. But like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the Matarese dynasty is back. Now the countdown begins -- and Pryce is already running out of time. "The Matarese Circle, " Robert Ludlum's multimillion-co...
I remember vividly the first time I read one of Robert Ludlum's novels. I was in high school and had stumbled upon The Bourne Identity. The book oscillated between a plot moving at a frenetic pace and a series of flashbacks allowing you to slow down and get a deeper sense of who Bourne was, and w...
By Robert Ludlum. Grade: ARobert Ludlum is the bestselling author of 37 novels once touted as the best in the world with his blend of sophisticated planning and extreme pace. He is best known for The Jason Bourne Series – The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum among ot...
A Cold saga called "Arctic Event"Aah, people have often recommended Robert Ludlum to me as the best thriller author. But as the fate would have it, I've never before now had a chance to get my hands on him, thats before Arctic Event that is. Well one could very well argue that Arctic Event is not...
The late, great Robert Ludlum (R.I.P.) in his 1980s prime here. Fast-paced, loaded with tension, international intrigue, seemingly endless plot twists, and plenty of action (though not exactly the "non-stop action" that the reviewers for Publishers Weekly and Richmond Times-Dispatch claimed).An ...
I have to admit now: Robert Ludlum is my guilty pleasure.His books are addictive. I don't mind having him as my most-read author. His stories give me cheap thrills. Cheap in both literal and figurative senses. Literal because his books are being sold for about $1 or $2 and they flood the second-h...
Somone gave me a Ludlum title and I didn't have anything to read, and I started on it when I took a flight to St. Louis. I was riveted and got on this Ludlum kick--I must have read six or seven of his books this past month. Something of a debauach, I admit. I decided to read all of his books i...
Ingredients= one Harvard educated whiz-kid lawyer, one disgraced and disgruntled (read: crazy as a loon) Army General, one dwindling disenfranchised Indian tribe, one top secret 150 year old treaty deeding Omaha to said Indian tribe and one non nome amicus curaie filed with the United States Supr...
Having just read this book, I feel as if I've just been let off a maddening, yet thrilling merry-go-round. Ludlum has written a thriller with the premise that J. Edgar Hoover, the infamous Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), did not die a natural death in 1972, but had been m...
Robert Ludlum, come già detto molte volte nelle mie precedenti recensioni è un maestro indiscusso del genere spy-story, tanto da meritarsi l'appellativo di "Mr. Plot", signor complotto. . I suoi libri sono stati tradotti in 32 lingue in oltre 40 paesi. Il totale delle vendite dei suoi libri super...
Evan Kendrick was a successful energy executive in the middle east who left because of the violence there and became a Congressman. He wants to bring down the Mahdi who he thinks killed his associates and he thinks is financing fundamentalists who are holding American hostages so that he could o...
I couldn't find Covert-One #2 in our local bookstores. So, from Covert-One #1 that I read last year, I jumped to Covert-One #3. Anyway, just like in any of the thrillers where there is one recurring character, that of an agent or spy, each part can stand alone.From his resignation from United Sta...
Characters are bland and undeveloped, if at all. Action sequences don't make sense. Overuse of gee-wiz technology that doesn't exist. Events happen (a good guy gets tied up and beaten) which weren't covered in the prior paragraphs.If you can get past the helicopters shooting down MiG-29s and Bour...
Michael Havelock's world ended on a moonlit beach on the Costa Brava. He stood by and watched as his partner and lover, Jenna Karas, double agent, was coldly and efficiently gunned down by his own agency. There's nothing left for Havelock but to get out, quit the game. Until, in one frantic momen...
By Robert Ludlum. Grade: ARobert Ludlum, time and time again, has been touted as the greatest writer of all time. He has been one of the busiest writers in literary circles with numerous bestsellers still warming bookstands. Some of his famous works include the Bourne series.The Apocalypse Watch ...
'One of the best in the territory.' 'An Englishman,' added Lin. 'That wasn't necessary, Major. Any more than your slipping in the word Chinaman in reference to yourself. I'm not a racist. The world doesn't know it, but it hasn't time for that crap.' Havilland crossed to the desk; he placed the at...
The eyes were attacked next, by tear-provoking layers of heavy smoke, thick and translucent—the nostrils reacting immediately to the pungent sweetness of tobacco laced with grass and hashish. McAuliff made his way through the tangled network of soft flesh, separating thrusting arms and protruding...
Its pilot waited for the dual line of flares to be ignited: his signal to land. On the ground was another aircraft, a seaplane with wheels encased in its pontoons, prepared for departure. It would be airborne minutes after the first plane came to the end of the primitive runway, and would carry i...
The reports and memoranda were in file folders in front of each man. The conference in Trevayne’s room had begun with Alan Martin’s description of Ernest Manolo, president of the Lathe Operators Brotherhood of the District of Southern California and the all-powerful negotiator of the AFL-CIO. Acc...
The Agency had deemed it more secure to take over an existing site than to build one from scratch. That way they could gut the structures, creating from the inside the warren of labs, conference rooms and testing sites the directorate required, using their own highly skilled personnel rather than...
A few tresh Hakes of snow spun through the air, brushing gently against the windows of the Brandt Group’s penthouse office suite. Krich Brandt himself stood at the window, looking down through the lightly falling snow at the busy city streets far below. He could feel the tension growing in his th...