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Friends, this is my review of the book The Bourne Sanction by Eric Van Lustbader, which I read recently. I must admit I really enjoyed Robert Ludlums books. He seemed to have got the mix of action, suspense and intrigue about right. Sadly I felt that in this book Eric did not get it right.
I don't think I have ever read a book where so many bodies pile up just like the chapter numbers. Also the plot line was not that complex. Generally a case of kill or be killed as each event came along. Anyway this being said Jason is unintentionally caught up in a terrorist plot to blow up a major American city. The terrorists are a secret undercover group with links all across the globe. Good excuse for a chase across many countries, and of course not everyone is who they seem. Then we have the assassin who is out to kill Jason as well, along with several American agencies trying to capture him and lock him up. All good fun as they say. An easy page turner. Quite appropriate really as I have not been able to concentrate too much as thinking about my Sunday talk This was book 10 week 8 fiction 9 (audio books 1) non fiction 1
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Friends
This is my review of the book The Sigma Protocol by Robert Ludlum which I read recently. I some times think that I should record somewhere how many pages a book is and even a rough estimate of how many words, as it varies so much. As you may have guessed this was a thick book, over 600 pages of tightly spaced text in the version I read. So again it has taken me a couple of weeks to read, as only manage to read a few pages first thing in the morning with my cup of coffee, before being up and working by 7.30am most mornings. This was an interesting book in so much as though I don't think it has been turned into a film or TV series, I had the distinct impression that the theme and plot lines have been used else where. It is a really exciting thriller that moves around the world, and uncovers one twist after the other. Without spoiling the plot too much there are two main characters – one Anna Navarro a US agent who is set the task of finding out why there has been a string of deaths across Europe, that could have been taken for old age, but are in fact murder. The second main character is Ben Hartmen an investment banker who whilst on holiday in Switzerland meets one of his oldest childhood friends, who then tries to murder him. Ben ends up killing his attacker in self defense, but then finds that all the evidence including the body has disappeared. The story then follows these two characters until they crash into each other and together they need to solve the mystery before they are killed themselves. A very good story and probably the best Robert Ludlum one I have read. So this was book book 48 week 37 fiction 45 (audio books 13) non fiction 3 Friends, this is my review of the Prometheus Deception by Robert Ludlum. This is a book that I have had on my shelf, waiting to be read for some time. In the past I have enjoyed reading Robert's books, and was looking forward to this one. It did not disappoint. I don't think I have ever read a book before, where no-one is who they say they are when they are first introduced. Double crosses, triple crosses, and maybe even a quadruple cross were the norm. Added to this was a fast moving global thriller, that was one minute in Europe, the next in America.
The story line was so fast moving that one did not have time to work out the practicalities, of how things happened. That did not matter it was good fun, right to the last page. So this all being said, what was the book about. Our hero is Nick Bryson, who works for the Directorate, a US ultra secret agency, spying on the spies. He is taken out of retirement to investigate a global conspiracy, that seems to cover all the major countries of the world, linking terrorism, intelligence and crime. The more Nick delves into the issue, the fewer people he finds he can trust. To say any more would spoil the plot. I don't know which came first, but there are themes in the book that have been used for James Bond moves, also the 24 series and the Alias TV series. So this was book 20 week 15 fiction 17 (3 on audio) non fiction 2 Previously when writing these reviews I have thought that in some way I should record the length of the book that I am reading, as there is often a vast variance in the number of pages and for that matter even the number of words on a page. This book was a large one over 750 pages long, with a fairly large number of words per page as well. More like three books instead of one
I have read Robert Ludlum before and have always enjoyed his books, but this was a book that was a very slow starter. Anyone who has looked at my book lists will have realised that I like mystery thrillers and this sort of was the ultimate mystery thriller. It was not until around page 520 that one knew exactly where the story was going. I did find this a big challenge, to me if the pages had been condensed by a factor of 10 then it would have helped. I suppose on the other hand the length of the first part added to the sense of utter confusion and mystery the star had as he did not know what was going on, though neither did the reader. I imagine a lot of people give up. Still that being said the final 250 pages were really good and it was a very clever plot line with, so many twists and turns, fake deaths and finally leading up to the crescendo of preventing global nuclear war..A good alternative to watching the Olympics on TV. This was book 17 week 10 fiction 17 (7 on audio) non fiction 0 This is a very funny book – totally black humuor, and sadly though it was written as to be so over the top in 1992, with all that has gone on in the USA over the last few years is believeable.
To list some of the main characters in the book they are the Wopotami tribe of American Indians, the Filthy Four, the Sucidal Six, and of course Sam Devereaux, General Mackenzie Hawkins “The Hawk” and his various ex wifes. Posing as a member of the tribe he files a law suit against the United States to force it to give land back to the tribe. The trouble is that the land is very important to the Military. As a consequence all the leadership that is in corrupt cahoots with the military go all out to try and stop the case coming before the Supreme Court. A very enjoyable read as book 20 week 19. |
Tim Fuller
Dyslexic doodles on photography, food (growing, cooking & of course eating), faith and other fascinating things. This is a personal blog expressing my views. Archives
November 2015
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