The Parsifal Mosaic

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 show more 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. show less

La historia arranca de las veraneantes playas de la Costa Brava y nos lleva raudamente a través de numerosos países de la Europa Occidental, como en una auténtica película de acción. En el centro de las intrigas, una mujer: Jenna Karas, expoliada y casi vencida por la información y la contrainformación, según las referencias, la vinculan a la temible K.G.B. soviética. Desde la otra orilla, la no menos temible C.I.A. norteamericana y sus poderosos aliados intentan desenmascararla a través de los sutiles y complejos filtros de la política, el alto mundo social y hasta las relaciones sentimentales. Al parecer Jenna Karas posee importante información, lo que hace inviable cualquier forma de ajusticiamiento, al menos, antes de show more conseguir su confesión. Las pesquisas tantas veces iniciadas, se pierden una y otra vez en el desierto de los enigmas, cuando no tropiezan con importantes razones de Estado.
Michael Havelock es el sumo sacerdote de todo este acertijo. Se trata de un policía retirado, cuya hoja de servicios resulta ejemplar para una tarea como ésta, así que se ve obligado a dirigir esta conspiración invisible. Observa y se acerca a Jenna Karas, intentando desposeerla de su secreto. Sabe muy bien que el espionaje es un juego de espejos, y desconfía de sus observaciones. Terceros intereses ponen en peligro la vida de Jenna, así que Havelock no tiene más remedio que intervenir para salvarla. La historia amorosa está servida. show less

A big, fat Ludlum like I love them.
Fast paced, many pieces of a puzzle, lots of sidestracks to keep me alert and thinking while reading.
One of the best I've read so far.

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

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 ...

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.

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