Der beste Ludlum: Meiner Meinung nach der beste Ludlum. Platz 2: Das Scarlatti Erbe. Platz 3: Das Jesus Papier. Wiederkehrendes Motiv aller drei Bücher: Gradlinige 60er Jahre Heldenfiguren, die Verschwörungen und Geheimorganisationen aus der Nazi- und Mussolinizeit aufdecken sowie aristokratische Gegenspieler und (ein typisches Ludlummotiv: siehe Bourne Bücher) interessante Frauenfiguren, in die der Held sich auf der Flucht verliebt. Die Handlungsstränge sind faszinierend kompliziert angelegt, mit zum Teil drei konkurrierenden Geheimorganisationen. So eine Art Frühform der Dan Brown Bücher. Später hat Ludlum sich leider von diese Themen abgewandt, zugunsten von Agentenfiguren und Geheimdienstverschwörungen.

My favorite Ludlum. ( )

I would have rated this book one star higher had it not been for some sexually explicit scenes, which I find offensive. Other than those, it was a fun read. ( )

What would happen if in the final stages of WWII, high ranking Nazi officials who knew the 3rd Reich was about to collapse, made a bold move and set the wheels in motion to begin the 4th Reich...but not for a very long time. Noel Holcroft, a young American architectand, unknowingly the son of one of Hitler's closest officers who supposedly committed suicide in the last days of the Reich, is given a letter, written by his father before his death, directing him to go to Geneva, and contact a certain bank.He flies to Geneva where he sees an astonishing document that is the key to a $780 million fund sequestered to aid survivors of the Holocaust. All that is required is his signature.
But the document is a lie and the fund's real purpose is to establish a new Nazi Reich. If Holcraft signs the document, he will be validating his own death warrant...but paradoxically, only by signing it can he prevent the plot he has uncovered from reaching its predestined conclusion. When you read a Ludlum book you know that something unusual is going to happen to the main character, he's going to be forced to give up his normal life to go out and 'save the world,' there's lots of shooting of the bad guys, a damsel in distress who will eventually fall in love with the hero, who will either end up saving the world, or physically chopped to pieces, but he survives to take on the bad guys again. Having said that, I must add that it works, I just keep reading those books and waiting for the twist and the ensuing action. ( )