The Janson Directive

Rating:
Summary: Missplaced Directives!
Review: Paul Janson thought he had left the world of spies and intrigue behind. The nightmares had faded as well though he still mourned his deceased pregnant wife Helene. Her death at the hands of terrorists occurred five years ago and was the impetus for his leaving Consular Operations, a covert spy unit within the State Department.

The five years have been financially rewarding, as Janson is now a corporate security consultant. The company is his and his reputation allows him to be very selective about his clients. His calm and very orderly life is shattered when, while sitting in a VIP lounge at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, he hears an old operational alias of his being paged. What initially appears to be coincidence quickly turns into an urgent plea for help from Marta Lange on behalf of Peter Novak.

Peter Novak is a Billionaire and philanthropist who oversees the Liberty Foundation. Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Novak is a visionary who has achieved peaceful settlements in some of the most war torn places in the world. While brokering a peace agreement, he was kidnapped by Kanga rebels led by the world-renowned terrorist known as Caliph. They have announced that Novak is to be executed for various crimes within days.

Not only does Janson owe his life to Novak because of a past situation, the very group responsible for killing Helene in a terrorist bomb attack has grabbed Novak. A debt of honor must be paid and Janson quickly assembles a team consisting of some of the most skilled operatives he has worked with in the past. For various stated political reasons, the United States government won't help and it is up to Janson, his four-member team and the resources of the Liberty Foundation to rescue Novak. But things begin to go very wrong from the start of the operation and Janson, feeling his age as well as his old skills returning, becomes aware that he is being used by forces unknown for unknown purposes. Compromised and suspected by his agents of his own government he thought were friends and allies, Janson finds himself soon on another rescue mission. In this case to save his own life and clear his name.

It is extremely difficult to criticize a novel by a novelist now deceased. This novel has all the usual Ludlum elements in that it features complex storylines, plots within plots, rogue elements of the United States government, honor and debts to be repaid as well as a globe trotting spy cast adrift. But it misses the human touch that made some of his work so incredibly good.

Paul Janson is a complex character full of deep emotion and pain according to the novel. And while that idea is constantly reinforced throughout the work, the novel never makes the visceral connection with the reader. There is an emotional detachment to the work, which is difficult to describe, that distances the novel from the reader and renders the repeated emotional references meaningless.

Despite the usual Ludlum elements as noted above, this lack of human connection in the work makes this an average read at best and disappointing at worst. For long time Ludlum fans with a discerning eye, this novel does not reflect the grand master at his best. Rumor has it that at least one more and possibly as many as three more are in the publishing pipeline. One can hope that one of those may reflect the grand master at his writing best.

Rating:
Summary: A gripping saga of terrorism, murder and intrigue
Review: Paul Michael superbly narrates this story of Peter Novak, a billionaire committed to global democracy who faces a determined terrorist/executioner. It's up to Paul Janson, legendary covert operative, to come back from retirement to save him, in this gripping saga of terrorism, murder and intrigue.

Rating:
Summary: Surreal government plot
Review: Peter Novak, multibillionaire philanthropist, Nobel peace prize winner and head of the Liberty Foundation has been kidnapped while trying to broker a peace settlement on the Indian Ocean island of Anura. A terrorist leader there known as the Caliph has refused ransom and plans to execute Novak. Using it's vast resources the Liberty Foundation reaches out to former top Consular Operations specialist Paul Janson.

Janson, now a corporate security specialist, was at one time the top covert operative in his agency. Janson was a resourceful killing machine who had spent 18 months as a POW in Vietnam before escaping. Top executives from Liberty implore Janson to rescue Novak. Janson reluctantly assembles a top notch 5 man team to extract Novak from his fortress-like prison on Anura.

In the midst of this daring raid Janson becomes aware that there is some convoluted government plot behind this abduction. He learns of some secretive information that turns him from the hunter to the hunted. Janson's own government has designated him as a rogue agent marked for assasination. Janson now must use all his elaborate training to avoid the Consular Operations teams sent out to eliminate him.

Ludlum's last offering before his unfortunate demise represents a nice effort in the action and adventure genre he made so popular.

Rating:
Summary: Thrilling Book!
Review: Philanthropist Peter Novak is kidnapped by the Caliph well known and feared terrorist. Novak is due to be beheaded by the Caliph. in an escape proof fortress.Novak's organization, the
Liberty Foundation,calls upon Paul Janson to rescue Peter Novak.
Janson is a former assassin who was employed by Consular Operations. Janson and a team of operatives rescue Novak only to see the plane he is escaping in explode in midair.Janson is marked for death and given a "beyond salvage" status.Janson is then pursued by government assassins. He winds up gaining a partner with Jessica Kincaid and expert sniper. The sniper activities in this book are very interesting.The two of them unearth a huge conspiracy.The true facts about Peter Novak are shocking.This book has aan excellent ending.This is a very good book. Buy it and read it.

Rating:
Summary: The work and spirit of a master lives on
Review: Robert Ludlum departed from this side of the veil a couple of years ago. He left a variety of manuscripts prior to his death including THE JANSON DIRECTIVE, which was about 90% completed prior to his death, and then was edited by his long time agent, Henry Morrison and his editor, Keith Kahla.

Ludlum did not invent the master spy novel, but it is doubtful that the genre would exist in its present form without him. The plots are of a basic theme: take a larger than life hero and put him up against impossible odds with the price of failure being the fate of the free world. One would think that the variations on this theme would wear thin and in the hands of a less-able writer they would, and have. THE JANSON DIRECTIVE, however, is the finest of page-turners.

Our hero in this case is Paul Janson, an almost-legendary super-assassin who, weary of the bloodshed and brutality that marked his career, retired from the covert agency where he made his career and hired himself out as an industrial consultant. His retirement abruptly ends, however, when he is contacted by a representative of the Liberty Foundation, a private organization devoted to the cause of peace and democracy throughout the world. It seems that Peter Novak, founder of the Liberty Foundation --- and a man to whom Janson owes his life --- has been kidnapped by the forces of a terrorist known as The Caliph. Worse, Novak has been summarily scheduled for execution within a few days. Janson, at the request of the Liberty Foundation, assembles a crack team of operatives to rescue Novak.

The mission, against all odds, proceeds successfully until, within the span of a few moments, everything turns disastrous. In the aftermath, Janson is inexplicably marked for death by operatives at the highest level of the U.S. Government and finds himself on the run, unable to trust those formerly closest to him. And soon Novak finds himself pursued by Jessica Kincaid, Janson's protégé and an agent of breathtaking ability who knows all of his secrets and his weaknesses. There is a passage dealing intimately with the process of drowning that will leave you gasping for air. Literally every character from Janson to adversaries who pass into and out of the novel in a single paragraph, is interesting. Even the anticipation that all will end well, or reasonably so, by novel's end does not make the journey any less interesting, or compelling.

THE JANSON DIRECTIVE continues Ludlum's fine tradition of suspense writ on a global scale, dealing with topics that seem to be eerily prescient of tomorrow's headlines. Ludlum, through his work and the work which he inspired, truly lives on. There is no better epitaph than that.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

Rating:
Summary: Decent Ludlum
Review: Robert Ludlum's latest thriller is par for the course - an amusing diversion that entertains while you read but is pretty forgettable after you're done. Even now, a mere week after reading it, I find it hard to recall exactly what it was about.

Ah yes, now I remember: An ex-spy named Janson is recruited to save the life of a philanthropic billionaire who is being held by a terrorist. The rescue almost goes okay, but then goes really wrong and Janson is suddenly a fugitive. Janson - like all Ludlum heroes, haunted by the death of a relative, in this case his wife - is caught between the government and the bad guys, and often has trouble figuring out which is which.

At first, this one seems like an atypical Ludlum novel. The terrorist who Janson is up against seems strictly minor league and the global conspiracy that is standard Ludlum is nowhere to be seen. Eventually, such a conspiracy does appear, but while it is a clever enough idea, the main villain - in certain ways obvious from the get-go - has achieved his power in a completely ludicrous way. The sheer dumbness of the villain's rise to power - even though recognized as such by Janson - hurts the plausiblity and quality of the book.

But if this is not a great book, it is still the type of entertainment that Ludlum typically delivers. For those familiar with Ludlum, there will be little disappointment here, and even for those unfamiliar with him, this will not be a bad read. While I cannot wholeheartedly recommend this book, I wouldn't actively steer anyone away from it either.

Rating:
Summary: Decent Ludlum
Review: Robert Ludlum's latest thriller is par for the course - an amusing diversion that entertains while you read but is pretty forgettable after you're done. Even now, a mere week after reading it, I find it hard to recall exactly what it was about.

Ah yes, now I remember: An ex-spy named Janson is recruited to save the life of a philanthropic billionaire who is being held by a terrorist. The rescue almost goes okay, but then goes really wrong and Janson is suddenly a fugitive. Janson - like all Ludlum heroes, haunted by the death of a relative, in this case his wife - is caught between the government and the bad guys, and often has trouble figuring out which is which.

At first, this one seems like an atypical Ludlum novel. The terrorist who Janson is up against seems strictly minor league and the global conspiracy that is standard Ludlum is nowhere to be seen. Eventually, such a conspiracy does appear, but while it is a clever enough idea, the main villain - in certain ways obvious from the get-go - has achieved his power in a completely ludicrous way. The sheer dumbness of the villain's rise to power - even though recognized as such by Janson - hurts the plausiblity and quality of the book.

But if this is not a great book, it is still the type of entertainment that Ludlum typically delivers. For those familiar with Ludlum, there will be little disappointment here, and even for those unfamiliar with him, this will not be a bad read. While I cannot wholeheartedly recommend this book, I wouldn't actively steer anyone away from it either.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: See book description above.

I was rather apprehensive when I purchased this book, but in hindsight, it was the best purchase I've made in years (as far as novels go). As far as international thrillers go this is by far the best one that carries the Ludlum name. It is truly non-stop action, and along with that you get highly intelligent dialogue and story telling. It seems to be just a step above the normal Ludlum novel.

Keith Kahla was the senior editor that supposedly put this novel together. The publisher says about three quarters of the book was finished when Ludlum passed away.

A truly wonderful work of suspense. I wonder if there's a chance we might see Janson and Kincaid again. That I would surely like to see.

HIGHLY Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best Ludlum(esque) books ever
Review: Since we don't know who the real author is, I'll just call him Ludlum. This easily a top 3 Ludlum book, following perhaps only The Bourne Identity and the Materese Countdown. Some of his posthumous books have been a little shaky, but this really shines. Paul Janson is a (more) realistic superhero, and the character development of him is great. As I was reading along, there would be places where I would have to look back and dig up some seemingly obscure passage to make it all make sense. This is exactly the type of book I like, and I would recommend it to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: ROBERT LUDLUM AT HIS BEST (undoubtedly with an assist)
Review: Suspense - Action - Intricate Plotting - Wonderful Intrigue - All the things which Robert Ludlum provided the reader in his most successful books are contained in THE JANSON DIRECTIVE. This is an action adventure thriller to rival the Jason Bourne trilogy, and fans will hope that a sequel for Paul Janson was also conceptualized before Ludlum's death.

Paul Janson, a retired field operative from the covert agency Consular Ops is clandestinely recruited to attempt an exfiltration of Peter Novak, a billionaire and Nobel Peace Prize winner who has been kidnapped by nationalist rebels on the island kingdom of Anura and is to be executed in three days time. After being informed of the details of the mission by Marta Lang (head of Novak's philanthropy - the Liberty Foundation), when Lang thanked him for providing she and her associates with hope Janson remained silent but concluded that "perhaps false hope was better than none at all". And indeed, on the verge of apparent success a terrible tragedy occurs as Part One ends. For reasons totally unknown to Janson or the reader, a "beyond salvage" is then issued by Janson's former agency and he is targeted for death.

The remaining eighty percent of the book involves unraveling the intertwined mysteries of the life of Peter Novak, the Vietnam wartime experiences of Paul Janson, the role of the secret ops of the U.S. government, the disappearance of Marta Lang, and the continuing role of the masterful Anuran rebel leader, the Caliph, who has also a fateful link with Janson's past.

The intricate nature of the conspiracy as it unfolds rivals the best books of this nature that I have read, and the characters are well drawn, especialy Jessica Kincaid, the young sharpshooter of unbelievable ability (literally, her achievements were a bit too good) who is on the team chosen to pursue Janson, but also several of the bit characters as well including the Russian Grigori Berman. I was especially intrigued by Peter Novak, who Ludlum clearly seemed to model on George Soros in many details. However, Novak chooses to achieve his goals through an activist "directed democracy" rather than Soros' methodology of simply promoting "Open Society". Nevertheless, the existence of Soros as a real life model for the accumulation of such vast wealth makes Novak's character more believeable.

As most of Ludlum's books, this displays deep cynicism regarding the actions of our government, and great understanding of the arrogance of power. I found Janson's contempt for "the best and the brighest" and his analysis of their faults truly refreshing. Several things argue against this being written (rather than plotted) by Ludlum. Most noticably, the contemporary idiom relative to his other books, as well as the more graphic and detailed violence. I was repulsed by a few of the descriptions of torture, as was undoubtedly the intent given their context. However, the fact Ludlum stepped out of character to write THE ROAD TO GANDOLFO and THE ROAD TO OMAHA keep me from reaching a firm conclusion regarding the extent of his role in the preparation of this manuscript. But is is good enough so that the publisher should have informed its readers concerning whatever collaboration occurred in its preparation and provided appropriate credit, as this would not have detracted from its appeal.