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 in order; this is his second.Some of his older stuff is somewhat dated, but his ability to tell a tell that keeps you reading is unparallelled. And the "About the Author" section of 'The Chancellor' Manuscript' has a wonderful note, by Ludlum himself, about how his twenty years in the theater helped his novel writing trememndously. Three families who live in a posh 'burb of New York; odd things are happening to each of them. A fourth family, the Ostermans, are coming in from Los Angeles.The main character, John Tanner, is a news director for a major network. He is summoned to Washington, DC to discuss his network's FCC licence. When he arrives, however, he learns that he's been gotten to he nation's capital ona pretense, and he is recruited by the CIA to spy on his friends, one of whom, he is told, is a Soviet agent. He is forced to cooperate, and is told that his job is to find out which of his friends is the spy.It's easy to underestimate Ludlum. The old "Soviet Spy Stuff" seems dated, clearly the political problems of yesteryear. And the technology--no cell phones, large main frame computers that use cards, and the attempts of middle aged men to be "hip" in the late Sixties and early Seventies all are anachronistic.His characters, however, are not. The poele Ludlum creates are people we know and can believe in, and their fears and troubles are ours.Ludlum has two types of plot--the story in which an ordinary person is caught up in an intrigue and grows to be capable of extroardinary action, and the "super spy" Jason Bourne stuff, in which the (actions) hero triumphs through superior training.The author's best plots are the earlier type, the ones in which ordinary characters are caught up in extraordinary circumstances. 'The Osterman Weekend' is one of those books, and, despite the differences in age, time, and era, his story is one well worth reading. This is a page turner in the best sense of the word. I'd like to say I'm ending my "Ludlum debauch" and am going to get to more "literary" work, but I'd be lying. My next book is 'The Matarese Circle."
A novel less about espionage than paranoia, quite reflective of its time I suspect. Robert Ludlum's second book has the wrappings of Cold War intelligence but he focuses on a core group of characters, riven by fear and suspicion in a complex battle of counter-espionage.Ludlum's writing doesn't make me fall in love with the material; it's solid but unspectacular, the writer stronger with narrative and pacing than he is with character. Our lead, John Tanner, is rather bland and the other main players don't contain much spark either. Ludlum's writing is noticeably without much humour either, a dab more of dry wit wouldn't go amiss among the prose. Yet it tells a compelling, intriguing tale, tapping neatly into the fear of Soviet infiltration of your next door neighbours and friends - today a historical footnote but then a genuine concern. If it's a touch dated, it's at least a good yarn.Not a book I'd read again, I have to say. The Osterman Weekend is perfectly decent, well structured and flies along its sprightly page count, but there's better espionage tales and better Robert Ludlum out there.
What do You think about The Osterman Weekend (1985)?
Pretty Amateurish Clearly it wasn't unenjoyable since I read it in a single night, but compared to Ludlum's later writing or Clancy's stuff, this story seemed almost childish. Not polished writing at all, and very different from his first novel The Scarlatti Inheritance. While that was very slow and measured in it's plotting this was extremely frenetic. The difference is so glaring it's almost as if he reacted to some negative criticisms of that novel and did a complete 180. But as I said, it wasn't bad, just very unpolished. The story was even a little more unbelievable than most novels of this type and there were quite a few inconsistencies that the author chalked up to coincidence in order to explain the red herrings sprinkled throughout. Definitely not one i'd ever give a second read, but that's the case with most if not all "airplane" novels. It served it's purpose and entertained me for a few hours without making me regret the time spent. As a final note, the kindle version was absolutely appalling with the number of typos present. They aren't uncommon in kindle versions as everything is transcribed with software that started out bad and has slowly gotten better and usually they don't bother me. But they were so bad and numerous in this book that I often wondered if there weren't entire sections of text missing. But since that has nothing to do with the author's work it's not reflected in my rating. Just something I vainly hope amazon will take note of and correct. I won't hold my breath.
—Quagmire
Four dissimilar families get together every so often and have an unusual bond at many levels. The reader wonders if the bond is a natural one or if there is perhaps something external (and sinister) that augments their relationships. This is a classic "who should I trust" type of mystery/thriller. It is a little difficult to get excited about a spy novel in which wire taps and pay phones are state of the art, but it is a nice reminder that a reader's imagination used to be required equipment. I think the Bourne series is much better, but this is an interesting look at Ludlum's style.
—Jeff Anderson
Below is my General review of Robert's books. This one however, I struggled with a bit. Still great, but it took a second time through before I really loved it.Story tellers of Robert's calibre do but come along once every few generations. I went through a period where what he was writing was perfectly suited to my liking. During this period these books were read a few times over until they were falling apart.The only thing I can say is once you've read one of this era of books, if you like them, you'll read the entire collection.
—Tod Hamilton
