Rating: 
Summary: Leaves a taste like junk food in your mouth
Review: I realise that Ludlum's glory days are long gone, but his last few books which were (at least in part) ghost-written were still fairly gripping and entertaining reads. This book is not. It is set in wartime Europe, initially in Paris, later in Moscow and finally in Berlin. Our hero, Stephen Metcalf is an American working for the Allies in an undercover capacity. He is curiously inept and also governed far too much by his feelings for a beautiful Russian ballerina, in one of the least convincing romances that I have read. It is a miracle that he survives to the end of the book, given how gullible he is and how prone to error. The first half of the book is reasonably compelling, but it runs completely out of steam with about 150 pages to go. The plot twists are implausible and signalled so far in advance that they come as no surprise. The dialogue is laughably bad and the character motivations are quite ridiculous. It's a shame to see the Ludlum name sullied like this.
Rating: 
Summary: Taut World War II and Cold War Espionage Thriller
Review: When Robert Ludlum died, he apparently left behind a number of partially finished manuscripts that are being completed, polished and published posthumously. Although The Tristan Betrayal has Mr. Ludlum credited as the author, I think that cautious readers should assume that this book is only partially his. I have chosen to evaluate the book as though a new, unknown author rather than Mr. Ludlum wrote it. That said, I thought that The Tristan Betrayal is a cut above the average espionage thriller written today. There's an abundance of action and a balanced plot that will keep you curious enough to want to get to the end. It's not quite the page-turner that will keep you up until the wee hours in the morning to finish it, but I did keep going until 12:30 one night. The book contains two intertwined story lines. The briefer one involves the coup against Gorbachev in the early 1990s just before the collapse of the old U.S.S.R. Former ambassador Stephen Metcalfe has been summoned by an old friend to help foil the coup. The key player is a mysterious Communist bureaucrat known as the Conductor. Can Metcalfe persuade the Conductor to withdraw his support from the coup? Or will nuclear holocaust and civil war follow? The longer story line is a flashback into the early days of World War II just after Hitler and Stalin formed their nonaggression pact. In this story, Stephen Metcalfe is a young espionage agent working for a small group authorized by FDR himself. He's picking up intelligence in Paris when his organization is penetrated by the Gestapo. Metcalfe barely escapes the fate of his colleagues who are assassinated by a dangerous counterespionage agent for the Germans. Arriving in Switzerland, Metcalfe is given a new assignment in Moscow that is even more dangerous than the situation he left behind. Before the story ends, his actions rekindle an old love and set off a series of international actions that have major consequences for the war. I cannot remember reading very many stories that involve overcoming both the Nazis and the Communists. Such opponents provide wonderful grist for all kinds of social commentary, and make it easy to root for the good guys and gals. Even rarer, the book has a pretty credible love story in it. That plot structure is held together with lots of action as Metcalfe dodges watchers and pursuers. Although the action and plot aren't as intricate as a Le Carre plot, I found the book to be more than entertaining. Ultimately, this book is based on the idea that one person can make a difference. As I finished reading it, I began to wonder what one thing each of us could do to make a large difference to those we love and to the world. That final reflection was a worthy gift for having read a fine novel.
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