The Parsifal Mosaic

by Robert Ludlum

Hardcover, 1982

Collection

Description

Michael Havelock's world died on a moonlit beach on the Costa Brava as he watched his partner and lover, double agent Jenna Karas, efficiently gunned down by his own agency. There's nothing left for him but to quit the game, get out. Then, in one frantic moment on a crowded railroad platform in Rome, Havelock sees Jenna. Racing around the globe in search of his beautiful betrayer, Havelock is now marked for death by both U.S. and Russian assassins, trapped in a massive mosaic of treachery created by a top-level mole with the world in his fist: Parsifal. Praise for Robert Ludlum and The Parsifal Mosaic "[Robert] Ludlum's narrative imagination is a force of nature."--The New York Times "As fast-paced and absorbing as any he's written."--Newsday "The suspense never lets up."--The Atlanta Journal-Constitution "A crackling good yarn."--Los Angeles Times Book Review… (more)

Rating

(260 ratings; 3.5)

User reviews

LibraryThing member pastakeith

Short Review
Not as compelling or satisfying as The Bourne Identity but still good.

I enjoy the character development, the unveiling of the backstory, and I especially enjoy the 'high tech' feel of a spy novel written in 1982 before the use of the personal computer, the internet, and the cell phone.

Amazing to think how ingrained these advancements have become in our society.

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LibraryThing member yonitdm

I love Ludlum's books usually. This one was hard to get into hard to like or understand the characters. I actually didn't finish it which is very unusual for me. If I had bought it instead of borrowed from the library I might have kept it around and finished eventually but I usually devour his

books in a night or at most a weekend so a month was excessive.

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LibraryThing member FKarr

spy novel which broke the bounds of credulity; Havelock is smarter, stronger, more clever than any person could be; premise of insane Secretary & faked city is ludicrous; I was glad to be finished

LibraryThing member christinejoseph

Mike Havelock - Costa Brava - girl Jenna killed - yes - no? Searching for top level mole.

Michael Havelock's world ended on a moonlit beach on the Costa Brava. He stood by and watched as his partner and lover, Jenna Karas, double agent, was coldly and efficiently gunned down by his own agency.

There's nothing left for Havelock but to get out, quit the game. Until, in one frantic moment on a crowded railway platform in Rome, Havelock sees Jenna. She's alive - and suddenly Havelock is a marked man, on the run from both US and Russian assassins. a massive mosaic of treachery created by a top-level mole with the world in his fist - Parsifal ...

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LibraryThing member Karin7

One of his better books, and if you like this kind of novel, it's a 5.

LibraryThing member joyceclark

Not my favorite Ludlum novel. Lots of talking...and talking...and talking. Picked up considerably when the talking stopped and the action started.

LibraryThing member hhornblower

There is just something fun about well written late 70s to mid 80s spy thrillers. They all tend to be a little fantastical, bordering on silly, but they're just entertaining is some sort of base way. Whether it be unrepentant nazi's having another attempt at world domination, a brain washed CIA

agent, or in the case with this book, Russians raised from childhood in America, indoctrinated in to the Soviet system and able to reach the highest levels of the US Government once they've become adults. Well outside the realms of possibility, but in a pair of good hands, entertaining non-the-less.
I read of bunch of Robert Ludlum when I was twelve and thirteen (it's what my Grandfather had around the house. The copy I read now was one I had given him in '82), but really haven't picked up any since. There is action, but not over-the-top. There is some brief sex, but nothing terribly graphic (I wouldn't have a problem with a twelve year old reading it (or at least my parents didn't). They'd probably spend most of the time wondering what the hell the Soviet Union is, but there you go). It's a book of it's time and written at a time when Robert Ludlum was top of his game.

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