Helpful Score: 2
**** A little slow starting (like a lot of Ludlum's books), but a nail bitter from then on.
Fast pace with a great plot. Regular Ludlum and a very good read.
Helpful Score: 2
Great thriller! Hero is a combo of a young Jack Ryan and James Bond!
Helpful Score: 2
An interesting story that bounces back and forth between Russia during the Second World War and the present. A current crisis that threatens to plunge Russia back into the dark days during Stalin's iron-fisted rule requires the intervention of American ambassador Stephen Metcalfe. It's up to Metcalfe to change the course of history, just like before.
Helpful Score: 1
Someday somone may write better than Ludlum but I do not think I will be around to see the book.One of his best.
A little dragged out.
Fantastic book! A James Bourne like character set in WWII-era. A bit long but nevertheless a great story. One of the best Ludlum novels I've read.
A little slow at some points in the book but a pretty good read.
A worl at war and the betrayal that can change history.
Another thriller from Ludlum. Fast-paced, tight plot, action packed, and a ton of suspense!
this one got me hooked on ludlum's books.
Typical Ludlum thriller, good book
I enjoyed this Ludlum more than some of his more recent efforts. A little dragged out and predictable but not bad if you like intrigue and suspense.
For Metcalf, returning to Russia is also a personal mission that will stretch across three continents and fifty years into his past where the loyalties of a former love--a woman both impossibly beautiful and possibly treacherous--was tested; where the shadow of a Nazi assassin still haunts; and a debauched German aristocrat manipulated the destiny of everyone he touched. Now, as past and present converge, Metcalf braces himself for a new trial of trust and betrayal,one with chilling implications that could threaten what remains of the free world.
"This WWII-era thriller opens in August 1991 as American ambassador Stephen Metcalfe arrives in Moscow, where Communist hard-liners are attempting to wrest control of Russia from the reform government. The fate of the country will be decided by an official known as the Dirizhor-the Conductor-and Metcalfe is the only man who can convince him to resist the forces of Stalinist darkness. Flash back to 1940, just after the Nazis have signed a nonaggression pact with the Russians. Young playboy/espionage agent Metcalfe is sent by American spymaster "Corky" Corcoran to the U.S.S.R. to enlist an old lover, Lana in a scheme that if successful will change the course of history. Hot on Metcalfe's tail is assassin Kleist, a Nazi Secret Service agent who dispatches his enemies by garroting them with the E string of his violin. These principals and a host of others thrust and parry between Paris, Moscow and Berlin before a final confrontation in an enormous, mock factory fashioned of plywood and cleverly painted canvas."*
*Review borrowed from Amazon.com
*Review borrowed from Amazon.com
ok dated.
ONE OF HIS BETTER BOOKS
Excellent reading...Ludlum will keep you enertained with this book. This book catches your attention from the moment you first open the book.
BILLY T.
BILLY T.
It's the fall of 1940. Nazis occupy France, Britain is suffering the Blitz, America is neutral, and Russia is an uneasy ally of Germany. In the classic Ludlum tradition, one man is called upon to save the free world and change the course of history. That man, Stephen Metcalfe, is assigned is to turn Rudolf von Schüssler into a double agent to implement DIE WOLFSFALLE and trick Hitler into invading the Soviet Union. Paul Michael's French, British, Russian, and German accented dialogue brings this story to life. His portrayal of the Ivy League multilingual Russo-Yank intelligence agent makes Stephen Metcalfe more well defined than the typical Ludlum character.
Hardback but will accept paperback