The Ares Decision - Robert Ludlum/Kyle Mills

THE ARES DECISION

A Covert-One novel

ISBN - 978-0-7528-8379-3

FIRST PUBLISHED - 2011

PAGES - 420

GENRE - Espionage/Thriller

BINDING - Paperback

AUTHOR - Robert Ludlum and Kyle Mills

BEST-SELLERS - The Paris Option, The Cassandra Compact, The Hades Factor

SYNOPSIS - [From the back cover]

When a US Special Forces team is wiped out by a group of normally peaceful farmers in Uganda, Covert-One operative Jon Smith is sent to investigate.

Video of the attack shows even women and children possessing almost supernatural strength, consumed with a rage that makes them immune to pain, fear and all but the most devastating injuries.

Smith finds evidence of a parasite infection that for centuries has been causing violent insanity and then going dormant. This time, though, it's different. And as Smith and his team are cut off from all outside support, they begin to suspect that forces much closer to home are in play.

FL Speak - And Covert-One is back! Kyle Mills joins the writing team as the co-author of this incredible series where we were first introduced to the enigmatic Jon Smith. A brief recap perhaps? hmm?

For the new comers to the Covert-One world, Jon Smith is an army doctor. He's a research scientist working for USAMRIID and is also a top operative of a top-secret U.S agency called Covert-One who reports directly to the POTUS.

When an elite special ops is taken down in Uganda by an army of mad villagers, Smith is asked to find the source of the matter. He travels down to Uganda with an old friend, Peter Howell (who is a recurring character) and meets up with a doctor who's an expert in parasites. What they discover can destroy the world if not stopped. However as in all Ludlum novels, its never that easy. The Iranians want the virus to declare war on the U.S and the CIA wants the Iranians to be interested in the virus so that they can finally nuke the country to dust. And in those political crossfires, Smith and his team are stranded with the most dangerous terrorist whose hands are on the virus.

Randi Russel, another regular in the Covert-One world makes an appearance as well although I'm not very happy with the field action she has received. She's a top class operative as proved time and again in the previous novels. However it looks like she will have some major role in the next books, if they are written.

When word is spread to Russell that Jon is somewhere in Africa, her ears prick up. But when the man who gave her the message is killed, she fears for Jon's safety. A failed assassination and a brief encounter with a top intelligence head makes her realize that the CIA she works for may not have America's safety in mind.

Some fast paced action in Africa and in Iran with the added bonus of reading an almost medical thriller combined with espionage makes Covert-One a wonderful read. After Ludlum's death, the quality has gone down a notch though. The details which wove magic are less, the dialogues less catchy and less field action to some of the major characters may disappoint a few long time Covert-One fans. Nevertheless, its Jon Smith we love and we still read him.

All in all, a perfect Covert-One setting. A deadly plot, a deadly delivery. Thank you Kyle Mills.

My Rating - 4 stars out of 5

PRICE - INR 245/- [Flipkart Price]

The Bourne Objective - Eric Van Lustbader/Robert Ludlum

Robert Ludlum's 'THE BOURNE OBJECTIVE'

A Jason Bourne novel

ISBN - 978-1-4091-1781-0
PAGES - 437
FIRST PRINTED - 2010
BINDING - Paperback
GENRE - Espionage/Thriller

AUTHOR - Eric Van Lustbader

BEST-SELLERS - Second Skin, The Bourne Sanction

INFO - Jason Bourne was created by Robert Ludlum. The original Bourne trilogy which included The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and the Bourne Ultimatum was written by Robert Ludlum. Eric Van Lustbader started to write on Jason Bourne after Ludlum gave him permission. Since then there have been 5 more Jason Bourne novels. Robert Ludlum passed away in 2001.

SYNOPSIS - In Jason Bourne's fragmented memory lies the image of a young woman's murder. Before she died, she entrusted him with a ring - a powerful artifact that some would kill for... Now Bourne is determined to find the ring's owner and discover its true purpose.

Bourne's trail leads him through layers of conspiracy to Russian mercenary Arkadin - a graduate of the same CIA covert training programme as him: both men have equal skills, equal cunning and equal force. But as Bourne circles closer to Arkadin, it seems their ultimate showdown is not of their own making. Someone is playing puppet master and they want to know: who is the deadlier agent?

EXCERPT - "It's not that I'm not grateful, Dad. But really, you're an idiot for coming out here in the middle of the night. What did you do? Follow me? And how did you get in here?" She followed him into the kitchen.

A callused hand came over her mouth and, at the same time, the Glock was wrenched out of her grip. A deep swirl of masculine scent. Then she saw her father lying unconscious on the floor and she began to struggle.

"Stay still," a voice whispered in her ear. "If you don't, I'll take you upstairs and blow your daughter's face off while you watch."

FL Speak - Finally a Jason Bourne book after ages and i don't know whether I should be happy or wring Eric Van Lustbader's neck. Its been so long since i last read Bourne, that i almost forgot how crap Eric turned him into.

People, the only Jason Bourne books worth reading are the original trilogy that Robert Ludlum himself wrote. After that, its all crap compared to the original. However, for a time pass read, this books will serve.

In the Bourne Objective, we find Jason being a pawn of CI, Treadstone and what not! For the love of Jason Bourne, I DO NOT understand why Lustbader keeps on writing about him and degrading his profile. Bourne was almost 40 by the time of 'The Bourne Ultimatum'. And it looks like time has stopped. And what's more crap is that Lustbader had managed to make Bourne into a deranged James Bond. A womanizer and a killer with amnesia. For the second time. And well, he's second wife was murdered too...

Jason Bourne is the ultimate agent. The best of all the goddamned agents authors have created so far. Robert Ludlum's greatest achievement. And now, after his death, Jason Bourne is completely lost.

We all remember Bourne's greatest enemy. Carlos. Now that he's dead, Jason has a new enemy. Someone who might just be better than him. And why not? He was the creation of Treadstone too. The same Treadstone that created Jason Bourne to go after Carlos. In this book, the CI and Treadstone try to play Bourne against Arkadin. And in between, throw the Middle East, the Russians and another power-hungry multinational company. The plot is ridiculous. Bourne goes hunting for a ring which unlocks a drive in a laptop which is supposed to have the secret location of the legendary King Solomon's gold. Yeah! Sounds corny.

So Bourne has the ring, Arkadin has the laptop and the multi-national cult called Severus Domna wants both. On top of that, the Russians want Arkadin, Treadstone wants to pit Jason and Arkadin and see who survives, the CI wants Jason dead because he's a liability. The first 200 odd pages bored the life out of me that I had to take a 2 day long break. And after I resumed, i wished I never took that darned break. The pace increases tenfold as the characters start to meet. Moira and Soroya, on different missions by different agencies meet with Arkadin, both unknown to each other's missions and that when the real writing starts.

As Jason and every one makes their way to Tineghir for the ultimate face-off, Bourne must keep his wits with him if he is to survive his own death. With his memories lost and treachery all around him, the only option available is to team up with the enemy to defeat the larger enemy. The only question is, who will betray whom first?

Nice end. I loved the the later half of the book. Jason Bourne still has the edge. Though I still wish Robert Ludlum wrote a few more books of him. Don't get me wrong, Jason Bourne is my all time favorite. I just feel sad that Robert didn't write more about him.

P.S| A Jason Bourne novel is a must read for espionage lovers!

My Rating - 3 stars

PRICE - INR 206/- [Flipkart Price]

A most wanted man .. by le Carre

Synopsis:
A half-starved young Russian man in a long black overcoat is smuggled into Hamburg at dead of night. He has an improbable amount of cash secreted in a purse round his neck. He is a devout Muslim. Or is he? He says his name is Issa. Annabel, an idealistic young German civil rights lawyer, determines to save Issa from deportation….
Annabel, an idealistic young German civil rights lawyer, determines to save Issa from deportation. Soon her client’s survival becomes more important to her than her own career. In pursuit of Issa’s mysterious past, she confronts the incongruous Tommy Brue, the sixty-year-old scion of Brue Frères, a failing British bank based in Hamburg.

And they have some how set off a chain of events implicating intelligence agencies from three countries.

Excerpt:
A further good reason to ignore the boy was the classical music that the station authorities boom at full blast over this section of the concourse from a battery of well-aimed loudspeakers. Its purpose, far from spreading feelings of peace and well-being among its listeners, is to send them packing.


Despite these impediments the skinny boy's face imprinted itself on Melik's consciousness and for a fleeting moment he felt embarrassed by his own happiness. Why on earth should he? Something splendid had just occurred, and he couldn't wait to phone his sister and tell her that their mother, Leyla, after six months of tending her dying husband, and a year of mourning her heart out for him, was bubbling over with pleasure at the prospect of attending her daughter's wedding, and fussing about what to wear, and whether the dowry was big enough, and the groom as handsome as everybody, including Melik's sister, said he was.

So why shouldn't Melik chatter along with his own mother? Which he did, enthusiastically, all the way home. It was the skinny boy's stillness, he decided later. Those lines of age in a face as young as mine. His look of winter on a lovely spring day.

Review: This book seems to be a bit predictable at few places along the course of reading, but yet it engages you enough to keep reading. Each of the character is as complex as any human and as simple as the idea they live with. The end leaves you shocked. Its nothing that you would have expected and the last that you would have imagined. Issa , his lawyer Annabel, banker Brue are all worthy of being loved and empathized with but it was a completely another character that I felt so sad for. As a back cover states, this is "a first-class novel about the most pressing moral and political concerns of our time." No argument here.Pick it and you are in for a treat of completely new style of thriller.


Rating 3.25/5


Other details:
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Scribner (October 7, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1416594884
ISBN-13: 978-1416594888
Price : 175 @ flipkart