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Fiction. Thriller. HTML: When Todd Belknap�??a legendary field agent for Consular Operations with a reputation as something of a cowboy�?? is cut loose from the agency after an operation goes wrong, his best friend and fellow agent is abducted in Lebanon by a militia group with a vicious reputation. When the government refuses to either rescue him or negotiate for his release, Belknap decides to take matters into his own hands. Meanwhile, hedge fund analyst Andrea Bancroft gets a surprising call�??she is to receive an unexpected bequest of six million dollars from a cousin she never met. With one condition�??she must agree to sit on the board of the Bancroft family foundation, a charitable organization that is run by the family patriarch, Paul Bancroft. Having never been involved with, or even met, the family�??her mother was briefly married to a Bancroft and cut off all contact many years ago�??Andrea is intrigued. But the foundation, which is dedicated to doing strategic good deeds, appears less and less benign the more deeply involved she gets. What exactly is their involvement with the "Genesis"�??a mysterious group working to destabilize the geopolitical balance at the risk of millions of lives? As events escalate, Todd Belknap and Andrea Bancroft come together and must form an uneasy alliance if they are to uncover the truth behind "Genesis"�?? bef… (more)
User reviews
Todd Belknap, experienced field agent for an undisclosed governmental agency, is incensed when his plans go awry and he is fired. On the same night that his
Andrea Bancroft has long been separated from her moneyed clan after her parents divorced and the clan shunned the wife and daughter. Now, however, she’s been offered a place on the board and is intrigued by the foundation’s charitable work and the enigmatic leader…
I read a lot of these multi-continental, ex-CIA agent saves the world, rich foundation is actually evil thrillers, but this was a particularly well-constructed one. There were two narrator perspectives, but we didn’t flick back and forth between them at motion-sickness-inducing frequency. Yes the ending is totally predictable but the baddie is not AT ALL. The writing was high quality without being difficult – Ludlum’s reputation as the thinking man’s thriller writer (along with Harris) appears entirely deserved on the basis of this book.
One of Ludlum’s weakest points is that many of his novels just have no basis in reality, and this novel suffers from some of these same flaws. Naturally, the Bancroft foundation is an evil, malevolent entity. Nothing about it is remotely believable. There is loads of action and the story moves along, but it’s hard to get past some of these flaws. An enjoyable read but certainly not exceptional.
Carl Alves – author of Blood Street
The writing in this novel felt subpar. Also the story line suffered from a severe lack of believability. It was clear that the author had done his research on the Naval Academy, and that added color to the novel, but the rest of the story was not up to par. Overall, I felt this novel was less than mediocre and I would recommend skipping it.
Carl Alves – author of Blood Street