THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION

WoW what a book.spellbound till the finish.look forward to reading more writings of Ludlum.Happy to have chosen a fantastic book

As usual it's thriller.

Excellent book. A must read for all book lovers.

Good but expensive.

Excellent

an excellent story writer. My favourite. The way he is taking the readers from one city to other of diferent nation is very fast. Best as far as the suspense is concerned.

The binding isnt good..

Rever a história

A great suspense thriller. A very worthwhile read, could start all over again.

(Spoiler Alert) I have read maybe 7 of Ludlum's books so far, and this one is my particular favorite, even more satisfying than the Bourne trilogy. The plot unfolds almost exclusively from the point of the protagonist who unknowingly is drawn in to save the world, for most of the novel, single-handedly. Because Ludlum writes the plot in a way that the other characters don't offer much info that's known to the protagonist, thus the reader is in the same position as the protagonist- of not knowing- I found the extent to which this was done very riveting. To add to this thrill is that there are good guys and bad guys in each country referrred to in the book, and you don't know (besides a couple of characters) which is good or bad until they're exposed or it's the end of the book. What's particularly nice is that although the protagonist (Joel Converse) has to act as a professional spy (including killing when necessary), it's (somewhat) on the job training, something he figures out as he goes along, since he's actually an attorney. (He does use his prior Vietnam experience to help him make decisions and act.) The plot and flow is very tight and intricately weaved. There's one unnamed, secondary character who pops up now and then in the story, and suddenly, at the end, you find out who he is, and it puts a lot of little pieces together. Unlike the other Ludlum books I've read where a romantic relationship is already established, it's nice to see how Converse and his ex-wife have a relationship that (re-)develops over time. I love the varying narrative formats that help tell the story; besides the normal storytelling, there are briefs and depositions that create the narration. I have to say that the way Converse develops a plan to finally nail the major villains of the grand scheme to take over the world- via lawyerly tools- is brilliant. (I thought that approach, which is stated outright at the beginning of the novel, might be a boring solution.) And for me, this being 2014 in America, there were some scary parallels of countries of people being okay with the government making their security decisions for them without their consent.Only a couple very minor points seemed less than believable to me in the book. One is where the ex- Mrs. Converse is able to fluently speak in code over the phone with her husband, having no prior experience in this area, and being simply a professional artist/painter. Her ability, especially under duress, seemed unrealistic given her lack of experience and her background. The other is when she is assigned to be the radio backup/contact for the raid on island at the end. Again, she has no experience in this, a fact which could seriously jeopardize the mission if she made a miscue. I understand Ludlum's motive in keeping her in the story here, but it wasn't really necessary and stretches believability in my mind.

Aquitaine and the Bourne trilogy set the standard for spy thriller stories. Ludlum was adept at precise description to ensure the reader saw the scenes exactly as the author intended. The theme is equally relevant today. A few political charlatans amass wealth and power to turn world events in their favor. A lawyer with a brave military past is thrust in their path and must morph into a combination of 007 and Rambo to defeat them, all while lamenting a bad marriage and trying not to enjoy dispelling bad guys. The first person omniscient perspective ensures you are thoroughly familiar with all motivations, fears, doubts, likes, dislikes, etc. of every character. Today, Baldacci, Brown, Koontz and others have advanced the art to paint equivalent plots with fewer strokes. Though the plot moves at a reasonable pace, I found myself getting annoyed once in a while at the 6th or 7 th time the protagonist reviewed his POW and marriage flashbacks. At the three-quarter point, as Converse flees through Europe and encounters malevolent pursuers at every turn, Ludlum got into a wash, rinse, repeat cycle that started to wear thin. And then after the adversary is built into an omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient feind, a few do the near impossible and all is well. What? As it feels like someone rang the dinner bell and told Ludlum to wrap it up, he ties up the loose ends as concisely and simplisticly as possible and unicorns go galloping round rainbows as everyone hugs. Definitely worth the read, this is definitely in the top 10 of Ludlum's novels. It's a page turner that while verbose and sentimental at several points, contains a satisfying amount of sneaking, peeking, deceiving, shooting, and running through the heart of circa 1990 Europe.

The book seems to denote the issues in today’s society where extremism desires to destroy civilization and common sense. Great read