Rating: 
Summary: Who cares if Ludlum didn't really write this?
Review: I can't believe some of the reviews I've read here, saying that Ludlum didn't write THE JANSON DIRECTIVE. When a book is this entertaining who cares? Isn't it strange that to date, some of Ludlums best work has been published posthumously? (THE PROMETHEUS DECEPTION & THE SIGMA PROTOCOL). Anything's preferable to another of those lousy Covert One novels (Gayle Lynds is a very good writer, but why does she waste her time with that third rate drivel?)
The story centres around Paul Janson, a retired CIA man and now a much wanted and selective security guru after his wife is murdered by one of his nemeses. Predictably Janson finds himself reluctantly returning to the field after powerful Hungarian immigrant Peter Novak, a man who uses his power and wealth to give war torn and Third World countries a shot at democracy, has been kidnapped by terrorists and will be executed unless Janson and his hand-picked team of experts locate and rescue him in time. But the mission goes terribly wrong and Janson finds himself a fugitive on the run from his superiors and his own unit. And that is just the tip of the iceberg....
Admittedly, there are long, rambling passages that readers will skim over to get to the suspense, and the story takes a while to take flight, but once THE JANSON DIRECTIVE gets going theres just no letup. Very highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining Throughout!
Review: I enjoyed this book. It was hard to put it down. The person that put this story together had or has a fantastic imagination. There were two surprises I did not see coming. The clues were there but I was blind sided. You have to admire the person that could think this story through and put it on paper.
Robert Ludlum has to be a master of the English language. I don't think I have ever read a book that had so many words I have never seen before. Some examples: gestalt, menhaden, cudgel, ersatz, foppish. The list goes on and on. When I had a chance to read I did not have access to a dictionary. Yet I enjoyed the book.
Paul Janson, the hero of this book, is one of those larger than life type of guys. He is more than any one man can be, kind of a James Bond without the girls.
Rating:
Summary: Best since Bourne Identity
Review: I have been an on and off fan of Ludlum's for many years. The Janson Directive is one of Ludlum's best. Not since The Bourne Identity has the reader had such an honest human character, one with faults and weaknesses as well as sometimes impossible strengths. The story take the reader across the globe, Asia to Europe to the U.S. The storyline appears simple at first, but develops well into a true spy mystery. A very good book, especially considering its post-cold war subjects. My only complaint would be that the main character, Janson, is just a bit too lucky in all of his actions -- but that's a fault of many of Ludlum's characters.
Rating: 
Summary: Vintage Ludlum, with a touch of "Ghost"
Review: I highly recommend this book without any reservations! Having read or listened to most of the books he had written, this book is in the top tier. It is a good believable read and the protaganist is well thought out. The hero, if you will, is Paul Janson, a less than perfect human being, just like the rest of us. He has a lot of unresolved issues about his past, Vietnam and his government work. Another scarred survivor of the Vietnam War who was good at what he did, almost too good for his own liking. The story moves along very well and has very believable, well developed characters. Ludlum is one of my favorite adventure writers, and I have listened to this book twice this year. If you like a good adventure yarn with ironic twists and turns throughout the story, you would do well to read or listen to this book.
Rating:
Summary: Rumors of his death have GOT to be exaggerated
Review: I know, I know ... but 'he' hasn't written this tightly, this edge-of-the-seat since the Bourne trilogy. If you haven't read Ludlum recently, this is definitely a 'must read', and if you have, boy, do you have a surprise coming! Kudos!
Rating: 
Summary: Certainly Not Ludlum
Review: I really wonder how many people who've been writing reviews about The Janson Directive have read any other Ludlum books. This is not vintage Ludlum. It was certainly not written by him. First, the dialogue is too fresh, and that points to a younger writer. Secondly, after around page 200 or so, after the plane blows up, the story goes downhill. Up to 200, it may have been Ludlum. But after that it just goes down. The suspense of the book died then, replaced by action, too much detail on the technology of the guns or cars being driven, and the angles each shot came from. After the plane exploded, there was only one twist, at the end, that just about anyone could have seen coming. From any other author, this would be a four or a five, but if you put the name Robert Ludlum on a book, I'm expecting something better.
Rating:
Summary: Convoluted and Implausable
Review: I received this book as a Christmas gift and was surprised to see it as I remembered that the author had died a year or so ago.
Whether this was a completed and unpublished transcript or a partially completed transcript that was finished by an unnamed ghost is irrelevant. I found the story line very implausable, unnecessarily convoluted and confusing. Those that are Ludlum fans may enjoy it as a last hurrah, I suppose, but I was glad to finish it so that I could start a more enjoyable book.
Rating: 
Summary: Just OK
Review: I used to look so forward to the publication of a new novel by Robert Ludlum and when I saw The Janson Directive on the book shelves that excitement was renewed. However, The Janson Directive is only a parody of prior works. The premise is the same of most of almost every other Ludlum novel - the reluctant hero who is forced to save the world from a super secret government agency or billionaire. At lease in this case it was not Nazi's trying to establish the Fourth Reich. Add in a female heroine, who the hero saved form being raped, and one has a formula that has been successful. The Janson Directive adopts this formula lock, stock and barrel. It would have been a more entertaining book, notwithstanding the predictable nature, if it had been 100 pages shorter. Unlike earlier Ludlum book, the author at times discusses ad nauseam the details of certain of the events so that even the action loses its impact. Ludlum is still better than most other action writers and I am glad that I read the book because it was entertaining. However, it was not one his best.
Rating:
Summary: The ghost writer surprised me ...
Review: I went into this one with a bit of apprehension, and didn't quite know why. Thinking about it, a few questions surfaced: knowing that this one was merely outlined - and not written by - Ludlum, would it be a waste of time? Reading the flap I thought, "Will I get lost and confused in the plot?" For surely, this has happened in the past with Ludlum books. My fears were allayed when I began to read and immediately became caught up in the story. It reads almost like a compendium of up-to-the-minute knowledge, wrapped around a classic Ludlum plot. Whoever the author is, he/she has a brilliant mind and the ability to write prose with the same or perhaps greater ability than Robert Ludlum himself.
Rating:
Summary: Way too long
Review: If I give 5 stars to the Bourne series, I would have to give this book 2 stars.
- Length: Way too long
- Detailes: too many irrelevant ones. I had to skip many paragraphs.
- Action packed: Not really. Atleast not compared to Bourne series.
- Ending: Huh?!
- Is it worth reading: not really
- So whats next: I think I will close the book on Ludlum after reading the new Bourne book. It seems that all of his works, carry the same story line. It gets boring after a while. So why am I either going to bother with the new Bourne book, even though it is not written by Ludlum? To just say that I have read all of Bourne books and plus the first 3 were awesome.
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