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Apocalypse Watch

Apocalypse Watch

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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Interesting
Review: A fun book. It's got great description, exciting scenes, and interesting characters. If you're willing to read long books--if you're not than don't bother--try it.
But mind you the story isn't perfect. For starters it's a complete rip-off of Allan Folsom's The Day After Tomorrow (personal vendetta, science fiction, neo-Nazis, Hitler's incineration being faked, etc.) There are several sob-scenes of people obsessing over their past, far to many "I love you[s]", and what not. And there are also numerous plot-holes: ordinary prostitutes having total clearance in a secret base, getting "ordinary" people to obsessively support the Nazis (not simply the far-right), breaking into tight security areas being a piece of cake, and more.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Unreadable!
Review: American spy Harry Latham reappears after an undercover investigation of a powerful neo-Nazi organization bearing information that could expose Nazi sympathizers - or lead to the *collapse* of democratic states and institutions worldwide! It is up to his brother Drew, and the mysterious Karin de Vries, to save the day! Full of devices and plot twists worthy of a James Bond movie, the story is told almost entirely in breathless dialogue replete with *italics* and exclamation points! If you think it's annoying in a 93-word *review*, try reading a whole 768-page *book* like this!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great start, poor finish
Review: Harry Latham, a deep cover agent, has had his mind altered by some neo-nazis and is released. The release however is made to look like an escape by Harry. In his possession is a list exposing high-ranking officials as undercover Nazis. The list and Harry's reputation are intended to spark a McCarthy-like persecution of innocent individuals who in reality are opposed to Nazism.

The rest of the book deals with Harry's death and his younger brother's attempt to avenge it. The last part of the story would have been believable had the "New Hitler" not been related to Drew's love interest, Karin De Vries. (The love story should have been omitted in my opinion) This is such a disappointment after waiting so long to find out who he is, and what motivated him etc... To add on to the disappointment, some of the 'twists' in the story can be seen a hundred pages ahead which doesn't do much for a 'thriller'.

This is the first Ludlum book I have read, so I have not been able to compare it to his other works. All in all, not a bad book. Just don't feel so disappointed when you reach the end.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Disappointing - even for fans
Review: I am a big Robert Ludlum fan, having read all 18 of his novels published (under the name Ludlum) before 1997 - except The Road to Omaha.

The Apocalypse Watch reads as though it were written by a screenwriter. The plot moves swiftly, and is carried by the dialog. However, there is a conspicuous shortage of descriptive prose. Locations, buildings, scenes, and persons are usually described in one short paragraph. That leaves little room for local color, atmosphere, or character development.

The Apocalypse Watch is a big disappointment for this Ludlum fan. I can't recommend it.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Inept Twaddle
Review: I had never read Ludlum before so I picked this one to sample him. If this is representative of his writing, I am totally at a loss as to why he was so popular. The writing in this book appeared to be unedited and much of the language was unintentionally funny. The character development was haphazard and uninteresting. All the characters were cliched and the action sequences contained no effective build-up and were extremely unexciting. I resolved to finish the book although it was an excruciating 700 plus pages. All I can say is this book made Tom Clancy's writing seem like Shakespeare. Thank God for LeCarre.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not Normal Ludlum!
Review: I have read most of Robert Ludlum's books.This one was difficult to get excited about.The hero of this book is Drew Latham. His brother is doing undercover work on some Nazi organization.His brother dissapears and then reappears. Drew doesn't know if his brother can be trusted or not. Meanwhile this Nazi organization is trying to expand it's power. It is up to Latham to stop them. The book is hard to get interested in.
Read Gemini Contendors it is much better.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Now I know why I don't read Ludlum
Review: I liked how the main characters came from vast and different backgrounds and yet jelled together against a common enemy. And loved the ending where Ludlum uncovered the mystery character who came to me as a completely and shocking surprise.

The big negative is the number of pages in the book. To me it is too long. I think Ludlum could have easily knocked off at least 100 pages from this without the reader realising it.

If you haven't read Ludlum before you might not want to start with this. But if you have already read and liked any of his other books I think you will like this too.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Not one of Ludlum's best
Review: In the past, I have enjoyed Ludlum's novels. So it was with great anticipation that I opened the pages of this one. What a diappointment! After 150 pages I was still waiting for the book to improve, but alas, it was not to be. The main character/ "hero" Drew Latham is so wretched conceived that if stupidity were an Olympic event, he would rate a perfect score of 10 from every judge. He simply isn't believable and neither were any of the other characters. Pass this one by, and reread The Holcroft Covenant or The Matarese Circle.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Sappy dialogue aside, it could be better, but still okay...
Review: It seems to me that Robert Ludlum who, during the 70's and 80's could do absolutely NO wrong when it came to writing the best spy novels EVER, is still living IN the 70's...as far as writing goes. Let's face it, NONE of Ludlum's novels are gonna win any awards based on the dialogue of his characters...b-u-u-u-t if you are searching for the guy who could propel a novel based upon sheer narrative talent alone, Ludlum would win hands down.

As I read 'The Apocalypse Watch' I kept getting the distinct impression--at first--that this was a direct sequel to the wonderful 'Holcroft Covenant'...but that isn't quite the case. Then after reading a bit further, I felt that this was a quasi-re-write of 'Covenant' instead...but again, that isn't quite the case, either. As far as plot goes, it wasn't exactly Ludlum's most original, but I have to say, it certainly moved with the usual pace of his average thrillers. As I read this book, I felt somewhat saddened that truly one of the great Adventure/Thriller authors of all-time had begun to reach that point where his edge, his ability to be fresh has started to come to an end. What seems to have started with 'The Scorpio Illusion' has now continued with 'The Apocalypse Watch' and although I have high hopes for his future novels, it DOES appear that the 'absolute master of the superthriller' has seen the decline of his ability to dominate the audience he himself helped to create. But even so, I still enjoyed this book more than a LOT of other novels released in the past 5 years or so that were hailed as genius literary works of art. In my opinion, Ludlum just cannot escape his earlier novels, and his faithful reading audience has a very difficult time indeed reading his books without comparing them to his other tremendously entertaining novels. If we could do that, his novels (including his more recent ones) would stand up rather well.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Exciting espionage adventure on a well-used subject!
Review: Ludlum is back. Once again, an evil group of former military and industrialists is planning to reshape the world - now who is the protagonist THIS time? Hmmm. Anyway, this is a cracking thriller in the usual Ludlum mould. You'll either love this or hate this, judging by the other review I've read. I loved it, in spite of a few inaccuracies in some of the German grammar(it's Ihrer MAnn and not Ihr Mann, to pick but a few) and military procedures. But then again there's poetic license. In this book, Harry Latham, a Consular Operations agent, has infiltrated a neo-Nazi base and stumbled upon a plan of diabolical proportions. He undergoes neurosurgery and becomes one of them, then returns to Paris where neo-NAzis are infiltrating the FRench government. When he is murdered, his brother Drew is ordered to assume HArry's identity and seek revenge on his death. Along the way there's plenty of plot twists and sticky situations for Drew and his love interest KArin de Vries to get out of. And is her husband really dead? What secret is being held from the world by the Fourth Reich? What exactly is OPeration Water Lightening? Read and find out, you won't regret it. Mainly exciting and page-turning, but sometimes predictacle reading that requires no thought. On the whole, if you're new to Ludlum, try THE MATARESE CIRCLE and THE BOURNE IDENTITY first and then read this one.


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