The Prometheus Deception - Robert Ludlum

***** Prophetic

I really like Ludlum’s books, although I realize how the author often reuses the same types of characters (especially the protagonist, who, in the end, is always the same) and the same themes. He has the ability, however, to readjust them to situations, settings, and plots that manage to maintain a certain amount of originality. In particular, I am fascinated by his older works, precisely because they show a present that is very different from the current one and in which a spy’s (or similar figure) life was made a little easier by the fact that technology did not permeate every aspect of reality.

“The Prometheus Deception”, on the other hand, is one of Ludlum’s last books (the penultimate, if I’m not mistaken), in fact, it is from 2000, so while reading it, you find yourself inside a more familiar reality. This is even more true thanks to the author’s ability to imagine invasive privacy technologies that, unfortunately, have largely become reality. The incredible thing is that he wrote about it before the 11/9 attack happened, but at times you get the impression that he had the chance to peek into the future to get inspiration.

To tell the truth, I guess Ludlum didn’t really believe that what happens in his book had a chance to come true. His was obviously a creative endeavour. Often a writer shows extreme scenarios just for the sake of trying to imagine the consequences and to create a conflict where throwing their characters almost in jeopardy, to see how they cope. In doing so, however, he was nothing short of prophetic.

Sure, it’s a long book with a truly complex plot, unfolding through a series of characters’ turnarounds and twists around every corner. On the other hand, the word “deception” in the title gives you a hint about that. You have to be patient and go all the way to be able to put all the threads together. When there are a few pages to go, it really seems all lost for the protagonists, but even then, there will be a nice twist, which will change everything, again.

The Prometheus Deception at Amazon.

The Matlock Paper - Robert Ludlum

***** Another accidental hero by Ludlum

A great author such as Ludlum had the ability to enter into completely different settings and stories, at the same time proposing a version of his “flawed” hero, to whom all sorts of things happened in the book and who was at risk of dying more than once, but in the end he could succeed, despite the fact that he always made many false steps and hurt himself a great deal.

In this case, there’s a British university teacher, James Matlock, who is involved in trying to get rid of a huge organization connected to drug trafficking, prostitution, and much more, that involves many American universities. Matlock is not a fool. Being a former soldier, he is full of inventive. However, he finds himself struggling against something bigger than him and in doing so, in an escalation of murders, chases, abductions, explosions and so on, at some point, he will not know how many of the parties are at stake and whether there is at least one that he can trust.

In this book Ludlum, as always, shows a great inventiveness and his ability to keep you turning the pages. Along with Matlock, the reader will try to come up with a tricky net of intrigues and, perhaps, survive.

Although this book is written in 1973, the book is very timely. Of course, there are no mobiles, there is no internet and so many other technologies we can find in action thrillers these years, but the difficulty created by the absence of such means, with the protagonist who is forced to go hunting for telephone booths (!), makes your reading even more enjoyable and the sense of danger more realistic.

The Matlock Paper on Amazon.

The Bourne Legacy - Eric Van Lustbader

***** The heir of Bourne (and Ludlum)

The change of pen is evident, though, I have to give merit to Van Lustbader for trying to approach Ludlum in so many small details (for example, the use of swear words, though not so excessively). But the difference is there. Van Lustbader’s writing is much more tidy, but devoid of the madness that Ludlum gave to his characters and made them fragile, fallible, and hence human. This new Jason Bourne is much more clear headed and controlled. One can take as a pretext the passing of time and a greater maturity of the character, who seems to keep control of his psychosis, but there are aspects that a reader, accustomed to the protagonist of the old trilogy, does miss. Although Bourne mentions the existence of a dual personality within himself, I couldn’t see it. There is no trace in the book of the continuous struggle between Jason Bourne and David Webb in his mind, often full of bickering.

This new, indestructible Jason Bourne reminds me of that of the movies and has nothing to do with the man who continued to live on the brink of failure, both physically and mentally, seen in Ludlum’s books.

I must say that, especially at the beginning, this lack has diminished my involvement in the character’s vicissitudes, until an essential element of the plot was brought to light (the title comes from it). From that point on, Van Lustbader played his cards well in digging into the psychology of the character and in his interaction with his “heir”, pushing me to continue reading and stirring up the pleasure of waiting for the moment when I would read again.

I didn’t like the total absence of Marie, who was only mentioned, while in the old trilogy she was a crucial character in the evolution of the protagonist.

Compared to Ludlum’s books, where I never knew what would happen on the next page, Van Lustbader’s story is quite predictable for those who have a bit of experience in action stories. The fact of following a certain natural pattern of evolution of the story is not a demerit in itself, but, compared to Ludlum’s undisciplined prose, Van Lustbader’s one suffers badly.

Rather, I don’t understand the need in such a well-constructed book to use mean tricks like breaking a scene between two chapters. Every single scene is so well written and arouses such curiosity that there is no need to force the reader not to stop at the end of a chapter.

The last part of the book is perfect, to say the least, as it merges introspection (of all characters) and action in a balanced and engaging way. What a shame Bourne makes an inconsistent choice towards the end, that is, not telling anything to his wife. This is totally out of character. But on the other hand, the fact that he thinks so little about his wife in all the novel, while she was constantly the centre of his thoughts in the trilogy, pushes him away from Ludlum’s Bourne, making him once again less human.

And even the choice made by his “heir” is not sufficiently motivated: it is just a pretext to leave the situation pending.

The epilogue has an open ending, as you would expect, which gives hope for the following novels. This, together with the virtual perfection of the last chapters, especially on the emotional level, has pushed me to give the book five stars, despite its defects, proving once more that the ending of a book has a huge influence on the reader’s opinion.

The Bourne Legacy on Amazon.

The Hades Factor - Robert Ludlum & Gayle Lynds

***** A contagious . . . action thriller

The plot of this novel is well-designed and is focused on a very charismatic and credible male character, Jonathan Smith. Jon, as his friends call him, is a doctor, but also a soldier. He is an intelligent man and full of resources, but not the classic perfect action man. He has faults, makes mistakes, but in the end he is also a bit lucky (as it always happens in novels).

Even if this book wasn’t written only by Ludlum, who would be dead the year after its publication, his touch is evident. In fact, despite being a very long book, it reads just as quickly, almost creating dependency, and has the right balance between action and introspection of the characters.

The theme, that of a pandemic caused voluntarily to obtain a financial return, makes you think. The scenario, although extreme, is however realistic and, precisely for this reason, gives the chills.

The scientific part, although it is not overly developed (for the benefit of the reader, who should not put up with any info-dump), is credible.

Among the characters I particularly liked Marty, a nerd with Asperger’s Syndrome. It was interesting to follow the fluctuation of his thoughts as the levels of the drugs changed in his body.

On the other hand, this novel is not without downsides, starting with an excessive head hopping. It is not functional to the story, so it seems almost causal and sometimes it makes you lose empathy with the characters.

The ending opens to a series of books that can be read separately with limited or no real subplot, which unfortunately sounds like a commercial operation. For this reason I do not think I’ll read more books in this series, because the next two, to which Ludlum participated (I cannot say to what extent) are posthumous, while all others are completely written by other authors.

Despite the downsides, I really enjoyed reading this book, so I still decided to give it full marks.

The Hades Factor on Amazon.

The Bourne Ultimatum - Robert Ludlum

***** The showdown of Bourne

Sumptuous finale of the trilogy. Although intricate, the plot is less difficult to follow than the ones of the first and second book. Maybe this aspect may be considered a flaw, according to my personal tastes (I prefer having to struggle a bit to follow the plot of a book), but it’s compensated by the abundance of events and the unpredictability of the story.

I believe that the best among the three books is the second, but they are all top-notch. And most importantly, they are addictive. I regretted having to slow down the reading for lack of time and this prevented me from fully enjoy the novel.

Here Ludlum uses all his inventive, multiplying the places and the action scenes. The final battle with the Jackal and especially the place where it happens are epic.

Too bad that the character of Marie appears only in the central part of the book and that she isn’t involved in the scene representing the climax of the novel, only to reappear in the epilogue.

The latter is a bit melancholic. Although I know that there are more books about Bourne, I also know that they aren’t really written by Ludlum, who had decided to end his story here.

Again I noticed that Ludlum never uses vulgar terms, but in return swear words abound. All the characters invoke God and Jesus in various ways. This would represent a sort of defect, as it reduces the characterization of the characters themselves (as they all have the same way of swearing), but at the same time it’s his trademark, as well as the continuous use of exclamations like “folly!” or “madness!” (I’m not sure whether he used these exact words in English, because I read his books translated into Italian).

I recommend reading this book (and the whole trilogy) when you can dedicate at least one hour a day to it, so that you don’t lose the rhythm.

The Bourne Ultimatum on Amazon.

The Holcroft Covenant - Robert Ludlum

***** A cursed heritage

Although this is the umpteenth story of a Nazi conspiracy set decades after the end of Nazism, this novel by Ludlum knows how to be original and intriguing. The protagonist, Noel Holcroft, caught me immediately. It’s easy to feel connected to him and worry about him while realising how he is putting himself in trouble. The author, in fact, shows the unfolding of the story from different points of view and the reader is always one step ahead of the characters, both good and bad ones.

This novel shows again the winning scheme, already seen in the Bourne trilogy, of a male protagonist, who is physically strong but in difficulty, and a female one who helps him (and eventually they fall in love).

The only downside I found is the presence of the usual cliché of super-evil and crazy Nazis, who do the worst atrocities without the slightest remorse, and who also have followers willing to kill themselves for the cause. In developing this concept it escapes to me what’s the cause they are pursuing, apart from their folly. Is it possible that they are all crazy? There must be some crazy one, but at least someone should have other motives, such as survival (at least) or self-serving. Brainwashing as the sole engine of actions hopelessly flattens the negative characters, thus belittling the positive ones.

Fortunately, the novel ends with an absolutely unpredictable open ending that makes you forget all the clichés.

 The Holcroft Covenant on Amazon.

The Bourne Supremacy - Robert Ludlum

***** (Almost) nobody is like Jason Bourne

The second book in the original trilogy of Jason Bourne deviates a lot from the first one. Once solved the dilemma about the identity of the protagonist, Ludlum offers new scenarios, threats, and challenges to our secret super-agent.

For the reader, finding the old characters mixes up with the need to remain attentive while reading, in order to understand the tangled plot. Ludlum takes us to China in the 80s and tells us about the socio-political mechanisms of that period, of which he shows a deep understanding. Maybe we don’t catch them all, but we gain an overall picture that fascinates and worries, and that no doubt makes the happiness of any spy story fan (like me!).

In addition, there’s the timeless charm of Webb/Bourne, the damaged hero, on the brink of madness (a word that Ludlum uses very often!), crazy and fragile, not infallible, who can be cold, but also love with depth. Next to him the character of Marie (my favourite after Bourne), as well as those of Alex and Mo, are equally central in the story and engaging. And they are especially essential to call the protagonist back to the reality, so that he can put aside the Bourne that is in him and go back to being David Webb.

The only negative aspect is the presence of some passages that are a little slow and some unnecessary repetition of what happened in the first book.

A trivia about Ludlum’s writing: there isn’t any kind of foul language in his books, he prefers to use euphemisms and metaphors, and yet, strangely, there are a lot of profanities. All the characters, from first to last, at least once invoke God, or Jesus Christ (or variants), but don’t say a single f-word!

The Bourne Supremacy on Amazon.

The Bourne Identity - Robert Ludlum

***** Nobody is like Jason Bourne

I must admit that Jason Bourne is one of my favourite movie characters. Having seen all the movies so far released in this series, I thought it was time to start reading the books by Robert Ludlum, because given the chronological gap between these films and the films I imagined that they were very different. And indeed it is so. Apart from a few salient points of the plot, we are faced with completely different stories result of the socio-political landscape in which they are set.

Approaching a book of the 70s (1979 to be exact) is not always easy, because immediately you notice some outdated aspects of the language and also the settings that differ from what we are used to, especially for people like me who at the time were very young and do not have first-hand memories. However, there are books like this that are timeless. Although the way of narrating undoubtedly changed over the decades, some authors are already ahead of their contemporaries. One of this is the late Ludlum, who with his first book in the series literally caught me. The character of Bourne who suffers from amnesia and is afraid of being a bad person immediately made inroads into my heart. I couldn’t help but love him. Ludlum is so good at diving into his fears and doubts that you must love this “creature” of his. Fragile and deadly, ruthless and tender, Bourne catapults us into a long adventure in Switzerland, France and the United States, where the difference between the good and the bad becomes thin, plunging the character deeper and deeper into an abyss. At every moment we fear for him, both for what may happen to him, and for what he might discover about his own past.

It’s a nice long novel that can be read in one breath, one of those you wait for throughout the day.

The Bourne Identity on Amazon.com.