Interesting book this one, took me a while to read too but really got me hooked.
I started the book off in paperback form, having liberated it from a same pile of "books for charity" from my parents as Forsyth's "The Devils Alternative"; but after a few chapters I bought an Amazon Kindle (more of that later), so the first book I downloaded was this beast from Ludlum.
I say beast as it clocks in, in paperback form, at about 850 pages; which although not huge, it's the longest book I've read in years. I usually read books about 400 or so pages as I can never get my mind around reading an epic length book - I'm not sure I have the attention span for it! but this one, despite the length, really gripped me.
The story follows a lawyer named Joe Converse who is enlisted to help out in a fight against a growing threat of global instability and dictatorship. As the book is well worth reading, I'm not going to give out any spoilers (even though the book is 27 years old or so!). I've not read a Ludlum before, so wasn't sure what to expect from his style; but it turns out it's in the classic thriller/spy mould. One thing I did like about this book was its linear progression. Everything took place in order, no time jumping. And even more impressively, there were no sub plots to speak off. Every time the story jumped away from the main Converse character, it was to relay the story of what was happening to the major players at the time, and linked it to the main story directly. This made it really really easy to read, you could turn off the part of the brain that was trying to link things and work out what was happening elsewhere and just enjoy the ride.
Good character work, you actually like the heroes and dislike the bad guys; although the pointless killing of Converse's father was an odd plot device - it served no point at all and wasn't really wrapped up in at the conclusion of the book (Joe never mentions him again after he finds out he is killed; hell, he at the end when he is looking at his new life he doesn't lament on it at all). Also the sudden change in Joe's wifes character is odd, but explained to some extent. A few too many new faces are thrown in quickly at the start of the final third, but if you are on the ball you can run with it.
It's definitely worth reading this, even at £4.99 on the Kindle it seems a bargain - but even better see if you can find a copy in a charity shop.
