Books : The Bancroft Strategy

Rating: - The Force of a Hurricane, The Subtlety of a Summer Breeze!
A woman who's just inherited $12m, a US secret agent kidnapped, his best friend on a vigilante mission to rescue him, a modern day philosopher with the best intentions and almost limitless funds, and a mysterious entity that seems to strike fear into the very heart of governments, corporations and individuals in it's bid to dominate the world. All are masterfully drawn together in this fantastic story that will have you gasping for breath each time you close the cover - not that you'll want to close it! On more than occasion the plot will send you reeling much the same as a well placed slap in the face would.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a great spy or action story, it's got generous helpings of both, complimented brilliantly by slower-paced side-stories that blend so seamlessly into the main plot that you just might have to re-read a portion because you'll hardly believe your eyes! The plot will hit you with the force of a hurricane, but at the same time it could be as subtle as a summer breeze.

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Rating: - Too easy to put down or better still don't buy the book
There are some books that I find hard to put down but this is definately not one of them.
This is the first Robert Ludlum book I have purchased but I'm not sure if this is typical of the other books as I have noticed a note on the copyright page saying that "since his death the estate of Robert Ludlum has worked with a carefully selected author and editor to prepare and edit this work for publication" so basically the estate decided that there was more money to be made !!
I managed about 40 pages before the teduim got the better of me and I decided that the book wasn't getting any better and couldn't face the rest of the 520 pages.
This has put me off buying any of the other books by the author but for those who are Robert Ludlum fan's I would be interested to know how this book compares to the ones that were actually written by Robert Ludlum

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Rating: - Awful. Just awful. Don't waste your life reading this.
I normally love this sort of book and I've enjoyed other stories by Mr Ludlum. This one was a dud. It was far too long and plodding for a start. The hero, Todd Belknap was completely indestructable and always prepared for every eventuality. He never got caught out. The jacket referes to the heroine, Angela Newton being asked to join the Newton foundation. In the actual text Newton is never mentioned. Bancroft is so this is somewhat strange.

There are too many loose ends, plot lines not really going anywhere. As for the ending, it was almost out of Mills and Boone. Totally unbelievable and completely ridiculous. I wasted about ten hours of my life reading this. My advice is avoid this book. I gave it one star because that is the minimum value. It should get none.

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Rating: - Don't waste your time or money
This was without doubt one of the worst books I have ever had the misfortune to read - I only finished it because I couldn't beleive just how banal the book was. As for the 'twist' at the end - come on get real. The book has a number of errors the most glaring of which relates to the mobile phone used by the 'death squad terrorist'. As for Todd - the hero -just how many times does he have to get captured and then escape - Houdini would benefit from lessons. The only positive factor is that the book was given to me by a friend (some friend eh!) and therefore I didn't waste my own money. But who is going to recompense me for the tedium and waste of my time? This book should come with a health warning - Boring, tedius, full of mistakes and totally unbelievable.

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Rating: - Not true Ludlum for the die hard fans, but definately worth a read!
As far as all the posthumous Ludlum novels go, this is probably one of the best. It is easy to tell that this is written by a ghostwriter but you do still get the same sense of intrigue, the wonderful worldwide location description and the end of chapter cliffhangers.

Oh and the twist at the end is phenomenal!!!

Dont start reading this in bed if you've got work the next day, because you wont be getting much sleep!!!