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Summary: An open letter to Ludlum: Retire now!
Review: Dear Mr. Ludlum: At one time you were the best at writing tight stories with conflicted characters working to save the universe from evil circles,contenders, and progressions. Your latest offering is not as totally unrealistic as "The Apocalypse Watch," but your characters in "The Matarese Countdown" never really gripped me and got their hooks into me the way they used to. I spent many a many a long night with the likes of David Bourne because there was a time when once I started one of your tales, I couldn't put you down until your hero had saved the universe and I could finally get some much-needed sleep! You've either gotten lazy or you do not surround yourself with editors who would be so bold as to tell you that what you're turning out right now sucks! I will never again purchase one of your books. Instead, when I am in need of a good spy story with lots of bad spooks, I'll go to my own bookshelves and re-read "The Bourne Identity," or "The Parsifal Mosaic," or the wonderfully funny "The Road to Gondolfo." They were some of your best. It's time to quit and let the newcomers like John Case take up the torch. Sincerely yours, A reader for over 20 years.
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Summary: The Swedish Chef Meets Dudley Do-Right
Review: I bought the book-on-tape of The Matarese Countdown and have been listening to it in my car for the past few days. Big mistake. The dialogue in TMCis so hilariously awful -unintended, I'm sure, by the author and the actor who's reading the book to us -- that I'm laughing too hard to steer the car and see the road. Every German character sounds like Colonel Klink; every Swedish character sounds like the Swedish Chef; you get the picture. All of this comes at you in a pulsing staccato reminiscent of the urgent voiceovers on 50's newsreels. I see from other reviews that much of the dialogue in TMC is punctuated with !, which may explain the breathless narrative. Reading this book couldn't be any better than listening to it, so I recommend that you give it a miss.
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Summary: The Swedish Chef Meets Dudley Do-Right
Review: I bought the book-on-tape of The Matarese Countdown and have been listening to it in my car for the past few days. Big mistake. The dialogue in TMCis so hilariously awful -unintended, I'm sure, by the author and the actor who's reading the book to us -- that I'm laughing too hard to steer the car and see the road. Every German character sounds like Colonel Klink; every Swedish character sounds like the Swedish Chef; you get the picture. All of this comes at you in a pulsing staccato reminiscent of the urgent voiceovers on 50's newsreels. I see from other reviews that much of the dialogue in TMC is punctuated with !, which may explain the breathless narrative. Reading this book couldn't be any better than listening to it, so I recommend that you give it a miss.
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Summary: What happened to Mr. Ludlum?
Review: I can't even begin to descibe this one. The late great Ludlum must have been drunk while writing this horrid novel. I didn't even come close to finishing this one; nothing about it was consistent while everything about it was nonsensical. I love the bulk of his pre-1990 works, and I even enjoyed The Scorpio Illusion and The Apocolypse Watch, but this one is a real stinker. Avoid.
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Summary: Was this really Ludlum?
Review: I've read almost every book Ludlum has written and this was by far the worse. In fact, I found it written so poorly, that I have a hard time believing he actually wrote it. The characters were two-dimensional and the dialog was cheesy. Put the story into an outline, and it's great... but whoever developed this outline into a novel did a poor job. If you're a Ludlum lover, stay away from this book.
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Summary: MATARESE COUNTDOWN
Review: In this book there is a few main things that happen with the Matarese coming back and trying to rule and capture some main people that caused them harm, in many different attempts they blow up building and fire upon civilians and in their efforts they fail.
The author's writing style critiques him away from the author's because his books have more dialogue and then they are more suspense and not as action packed as say Tom Clancy. So I feel that his books are more in depth as of dialogue and they are more keep you guessing types of books.
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Summary: horrible sequel!!!..
Review: Many of Robert Ludlum's novels share a common theme, "powerful people who are out to control the world". Even though the plots are almost always the same, the novels have been well written and are "unputdownable"....but this one is a disaster!!.....All the Bourne sequels were good but this one did not have anything in it. I hated the book. I should have read some of the reviews out here before reading the novel. DO NOT expect it to be even close to the Matarese circle.......
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Summary: pathetic
Review: Okay. Lets face it, Ludlum was never much of a writer, but there was a time when we was a great story teller. He is one of those writers that a reader keeps picking up in the hope that, desptie that last 5 - 10 - 20 years, whatever, he may have a return to what he could once do ( think Stephen King or Peirs Anthony). In this case he falls short of everything he has done since that stuff that was rejected before his name was known and since published just because his name was one it ( oops flash back to the others I mentioned but that is another story ).
There are really only two points needed in this book to dismiss it. The first being that it exists. This book is set up as a sequal to the Materese Circle in which the formerly thwarted bad guys have returned, but the end of the Materese Circle makes it clear that they don't need to return, despite that hero having won his battle he lost his war. In his pleasant retirement he contemplates their victory. Mow they are lost and trying again? The second point is even more grevious ( afterall, we all know that the first story will alway be thrown out the window for a sequal ), the bad guy tries to feed the hero to his pet birds. Even from a writer who would use the same metophores over and over until you were convinced it was simply a macro on his computer, you don't expect Snidely Whiplash villians. In this scean, as the birds turned on their master ( surprising, huh?) I fully expected him to rear up, twirl his mustache and say "curses, foiled again."
If that is what you like, enjoy.
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Summary: Way to cliche - Overly dramatic
Review: The main characters were over-blown with spy personalities. General plot was okay, but could have used some refinement. Worldwide financial cartel decides to wreck worlds economy and the become the savior to gain world dominon. Didn't see enough of how they planned this because Ludlum focused too much on making the heros into cowboys.
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Summary: An unbelievable letdown
Review: Years ago I read virtually everything Ludlum had written.
"The Matarese Circle" and "The Bourne Identity" are two of my favorites and I would recommend them to anyone. This book was horrible. I really tried to read it, but after awhile I just couldn't take the outrageous diaglogue and stupid plot. The original character of Brandon Scofield was an intelligent, soft spoken, man of action. This Scofield was a bufoon!! If he were real, he'd being suing for defamation of character!!! I did manage to read to the end (though I did have to skip several sections) and it was one of the most anticlimatic endings ever. I would love to read some more of his newer books, but after this I'm very reluctant to take the chance. I honestly have a hard time believing he actually wrote this book himself.
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