The Bancroft Strategy

“We have taken possession of the package, the note said. Enjoy your stay. Yet what truly made his blood freeze was the sign-off: GENESIS.”

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 own operation goes off course, his mentor and best friend is kidnapped on a similar assignment. Belknap refuses to abandon him and sets off to track him down.

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 show more 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. show less

In this novel, US Intelligence agent Todd Belknap is in Lebanon trying to find an agent who has been kidnapped. On a separate story line, Andrea Bancroft, a hedge fund analyst has been put on the board of her family’s foundation, which has some potentially nefarious dealings. The two story lines intersect in a mess of conspiracy.

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 show more – author of Blood Street show less

Robert Lundlum a prolific writer over 30 books including the Bourne series I've always wanted to sample.
The Bancroft Strategy (2006) is about a wealthy family foundation that seeks to improve the situations in undeveloped countries, sometimes by illegal means. Being aware their decisions can have side unforceen effects
The muscle bound bright hero Todd Belknap ( the hound) faces human and computer obstacles world wide.Even removing his own benchmark Jared Rinehard who was just using him from the beginning.
He marries the herion Andre Bancroft who takes over her uncles roll as boss of the foundation but in the end must eliminate a corrupt South American politician "just this once" to get her project moving. Alas
It's well written contains show more love, action, mystery and a fitting end show less

This novel takes place in the US Naval Academy, following the death of one of the students after being thrown off the sixth floor of a building. Midshipman First Class Julie Markham is under suspicion of the death. Her father Ev, who teaches history at the Naval Academy is trying to put together a defense for her and figure out who actually killed the student. Meanwhile, security chief Jim Hall is trying to make sure there isn’t a killer on the loose at the Academy. Fighting against this is a group of people hell bent in protecting the institution from scandal, which feels true to life when considering what happened at Penn State.

The writing in this novel felt subpar. Also the story line suffered from a severe lack of believability. show more 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 show less

Philanthropists as the bad guys – what could be a more charming plot supposition. If you work in philanthropy (or in a nonprofit) and like a good yarn you will enjoy.

Way too long. The book was finished posthumously by a writer who supposedly knew how Ludlum wrote. A lot of the excess verbiage was unnecssary.

Ludlum spy thriller written by his estate. The book was long and slow to read, don't recommend reading books by the estate or other ghost writers. This story can not be compared to his original books.