Rating: 
Summary: Ludlum at his best!!!
Review: Although Ludlum is not one of my favorite authors, I simply could not get my eyes off the book. it was totally detailed, and not lacking in anything. The climax was what shocked me the most, and I liked the book for that.
Rating: 
Summary: Contrived, convoluted plot twists with no backbone.
Review: Contrived, bloated, disconnected, unrealistic to the extreme. The good Wolfsschanze, the bad Wolfsschanze, the Nachrichtendienst, the Odessa, the Sonnenkinder, the Rache...good god, what does Ludlum do but think up another covert cult when he needs a new plot twist or another shoot-em-up-scene? The motivations of all these various groups are weak and thin and improbable. Trying to keep it all straight is difficult, made more so by that fact that each is just a thin veneer for a plot twist. After a while you no longer care. For those interested in the general plot, a much better alternative would be Robert Harris's "Fatherland."
Rating: 
Summary: Robert Ludlum - Master Espionage Writer Strikes Again
Review: I am hooked on Robert Ludlum's books. I gave up romance after I turned 20, moved on to murder mysteries (Ellery Queen genre), but I never experienced an author that could keep me awake until 3:00 in the morning, not only with one of his books--but with all of them!I have read The Chancellor Manuscripts, all three of the series of the Bourne books, and just finished the Holcroft Covenant, which teases and hints at a sequel in the last few pages, and I'm crossing my fingers there is one (have to still check out his list of books). The Holcroft Covenant deals with Nazi sympathizers and a Covenant that is allegedly going to help all those victims of the Holocaust approximately 30 years after the conclusion of the war. Mr. Holcraft, the son of one of Hitler's closest officers who supposedly committed suicide in the last days of the Reich, is given a letter, written by his father before his death, directing the son to find two other Nazi offspring, go to Geneva, and recover a multi-million dollar account that is dictated to be used to 'help' those victims of war crimes committed during the war. The twist, as expected in any Ludlum novel, occurs about half-way through the book, from a direction the reader would never guess, and involves a woman (the hero always has to get his gal in Ludlum's novels--I love it!), and this right after he encounters an experience that forces him to run for his life, hide from those he loves, and cuts his communications off from any normal life that the hero would normally use if this was real life. While Ludlum's books smack of a 'formula,' I absolutely love it--you know that something unusual is going to happen to the main character, he's going to be forced to give up his normal life to go out and 'save the world,' he'll use life-long aquaintances for help throughout the book (although about 85% end up in a morgue by the end of the story), there's lots of shooting of the bad guys, a damsel in distress who will initially hate the main character, then fall in love with him, and after everybody shoots at each other and more bad and good guys die, the hero either ends up being 'savior' of the world, or he ends up physically chopped to pieces, but survives to take on the bad guys again. Don't try this plot at home--only Ludlum can add enough realistic and believable imagery to convince you of the reality of the story with his details of Europe, lovely descriptions of continental hotels, and travelogues throughout the storyline. If you haven't tried a Ludlum novel, pick one up--any one, and enjoy an espionage thriller that only a master like Ludlum can write.
Rating:
Summary: Robert Ludlum - Master Espionage Writer Strikes Again
Review: I am hooked on Robert Ludlum's books. I gave up romance after I turned 20, moved on to murder mysteries (Ellery Queen genre), but I never experienced an author that could keep me awake until 3:00 in the morning, not only with one of his books--but with all of them! I have read The Chancellor Manuscripts, all three of the series of the Bourne books, and just finished the Holcroft Covenant, which teases and hints at a sequel in the last few pages, and I'm crossing my fingers there is one (have to still check out his list of books). The Holcroft Covenant deals with Nazi sympathizers and a Covenant that is allegedly going to help all those victims of the Holocaust approximately 30 years after the conclusion of the war. Mr. Holcraft, the son of one of Hitler's closest officers who supposedly committed suicide in the last days of the Reich, is given a letter, written by his father before his death, directing the son to find two other Nazi offspring, go to Geneva, and recover a multi-million dollar account that is dictated to be used to 'help' those victims of war crimes committed during the war. The twist, as expected in any Ludlum novel, occurs about half-way through the book, from a direction the reader would never guess, and involves a woman (the hero always has to get his gal in Ludlum's novels--I love it!), and this right after he encounters an experience that forces him to run for his life, hide from those he loves, and cuts his communications off from any normal life that the hero would normally use if this was real life. While Ludlum's books smack of a 'formula,' I absolutely love it--you know that something unusual is going to happen to the main character, he's going to be forced to give up his normal life to go out and 'save the world,' he'll use life-long aquaintances for help throughout the book (although about 85% end up in a morgue by the end of the story), there's lots of shooting of the bad guys, a damsel in distress who will initially hate the main character, then fall in love with him, and after everybody shoots at each other and more bad and good guys die, the hero either ends up being 'savior' of the world, or he ends up physically chopped to pieces, but survives to take on the bad guys again. Don't try this plot at home--only Ludlum can add enough realistic and believable imagery to convince you of the reality of the story with his details of Europe, lovely descriptions of continental hotels, and travelogues throughout the storyline. If you haven't tried a Ludlum novel, pick one up--any one, and enjoy an espionage thriller that only a master like Ludlum can write.
Rating:
Summary: Best Ludlum ever - Pretty darn good
Review: I read Holcroft Covenant on a rainy weekend in a tent in a river valley. In a search to try and find a Ludlum as good as this I've read a stack Ludlum books about a metre and a half high. The rest of his books don't come near to this. I reccommend it highly.
Rating:
Summary: Good Story-line, but could have a better ending.
Review: I read this book with a high expectation. The start was good until the middle and then it drags and then it picks up again. But the end leaves a lot of unanswered questions. Which may be good as it needs a sequel. I thought the author should have created a better end.
Rating:
Summary: what is going on?
Review: I recently read the Icarus Agenda, my first Ludlum book, and was very impressed, so I thought the Holcroft Covenant would be just as good. I read the first 12 chapters (1/3 of the book) and stopped. I was completely lost and had no idea what was going on, and I didn't care--the characters weren't that interesting. I'll try another one of his books though.
Rating: 
Summary: Not impressed with the writing style
Review: I tried Robert Ludlum because I'm on a spy/espionage kick right now. This was the first one that I picked up and I gave it about 75 pages and decided to discontinue reading it. I would agree with a previous reader who said that the story was "mildly interesting." The writing style, however, left me very unimpressed. I've never read Danielle Steele but it seems to me that she and Ludlum are in the same league. Character development is simple and cliche-ish. I did not get drawn into the book. It's no wonder that John Le Carre is the best of this genre.
Rating:
Summary: Edge of your seat from begining to end. One of the best!!!!!
Review: I'm not much of a reader but a book on tape listener. This book I READ in 2 days. I couldn't put it down, EVER!! If your looking for action and excitement. A twisting turning mystery with a surprise ending, This is the book.
Rating:
Summary: what is going on?
Review: I've recently found that in all the Robert Ludlum books I've been reading, and in some cases re-reading after several years, that his early work is by far his best. If you're new to this author, this is a good starting point - and this plot was re-used in part for his later effort THE APOCALYPSE WATCH, also worth checking out. This riveting story which has almost come true concerns a vast fortune left in a Swiss bank account by Hitler's aides for the SONNENKINDER project, a plan to start a Fourth Reich and take over the world. Sounds familiar? One of the earlier inspirations for many more novels of this nature, including Clive Cussler's ATLANTIS FOUND in part! Noel Holcroft, one of the Sonnenkinder, must use every trick and desperate measure in the book(no pun intended) to get his hands on the fortune to prevent the Fourth Reich getting their way. Along the way, he finds that he cannot trust anybody he comes into contact with as his trail leads him to Brazil, Switzerland and England. As usual, Ludlum never fails to surprise the reader - who is really the professional assassin TINAMOU? The answer does not come until near the end, which is a surprise in itself! Overall, a very fine read!
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