The Scorpio Illusion: A Novel

by Robert Ludlum

1994

Status

Available

Genres

All Topics

Fiction

Collection

Standard Shelves

Publication

Bantam (1994), Edition: Reprint, 672 pages

Description

Fiction. Thriller. HTML:NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER � �Don�t ever begin a Ludlum novel if you have to go to work the next day.��Chicago Sun-Times Tyrell Hawthorne was a naval intelligence officer�one of the best�until the rain-swept night in Amsterdam when his wife was murdered, an innocent victim of the games spies play. Now he�s called out of retirement for one last assignment. For Hawthorne is the only man alive who can track down the world�s most dangerous terrorist. Amaya Bajaratt is beautiful, elusive, and deadly�and she has set in motion a chilling conspiracy that a desperate government cannot stop. With his life and the life of the president hanging in the balance, Hawthorne must follow Bajaratt�s serpentine trail, a path of seduction, betrayal, and the looming threat of death. Racing from a millionaire recluse�s fortress to the social whirl of Palm Beach, from the Oval Office to treacherous Caribbean waters, Hawthorne will uncover a sinister network of well-placed men and women who exist to help this consummate killer�and the shattering truth behind the Scorpio Illusion. BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Identity. �Breakneck . . . readability.��The New York Times Book Review �A high-voltage tale of drama and suspense.��The Denver Post.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member reading_fox

Not one of Ludlum's finest. Unnecessarily convoluted and complex meaning most of the time you have very little idea what's happening, the shallow characters then make random leaps of intuition and arrive at the correct conclusion. Unfortunetly the reader is as bewildered as before.

Tyller Hawthorne

is a retired navy Commander who suffered some personal upset in a misquided intelligence operation in Amsterdam. He allows himself to be rercuited by MI6 and the French (the significance of this is never explained) to help hunt for a suspected terrorist - we don't get much in the way of details about how this woman and boy were identified! Considering they have all the resources of Bekka valley plus at least two shadowy subversive groups, her plan is known, but then they can't trace her?!

Oh well the plot twists and turns, with narrow escapes by the woman and the hero. Annoying flashbacks introduce various characters of significance, which is normally an indication they're about to be killed a chapter or two later. The bodycount here is huge!

The POV skips between Tyller and Baj the terrorist, and this actually works quite well as you can see the dramatic moments coming, and realise the misinturpretations of evidence the other side makes. However both characters are sketchy and the various bit parts even more so. There is a little banter between two of Tyllers surviving colleagues, but it's stilted and doesn't really work.

Overall, it's over long, over complex, tries too hard and just about enjoyable on a long train ride when the alternative is people watching.

Show Less

4 more

LibraryThing member Nodosaurus

Disappointing, some of the conclusions seem jumped to. The information acquired isn't well supported by events. The book isn't one of his better works.

LibraryThing member imyknott

A good story but with too many foreign phrases and texts.

LibraryThing member AliceAnna

I had started this book shortly before 9/11. The plot of an Arab terrorist trying to commit an act that would put the U.S. and the world in turmoil, whose mission was death to all authority, who randomly kill innocents -- not exactly escapism anymore. It is fiction and the good guys do win and

there was one particularly likable character so it was OK, but I couldn't stop thinking of 9/11 and the death and devastation.

Show Less

LibraryThing member brucemmoyer

Ludlum has this habit of creating character A who is holding a weapon on character B and must dispatch, yet goes into a lengthy monologue, giving B the opportunity to overcome A. Not only is this repeated flaw annoying, it is highly unbelievable. Constant brutal conspiracies abound and they too,

become tedious and equally unbelievable. I know Ludlum has many fans, but I am not one of them

Show Less

Fewer