The Aquitaine Progression

I grew up on Robert Ludlum (my Grandfather had many of his books, so it what was around and available), never read this one though. I have to say this is the weakest of all that I've read. It's a lot of the fairly typical grand conspiracy to take over western governments, which is all fine and good (you definitely know what you're getting with Mr Ludlum (I call them thrilling brain candy)). This one just could have done with a firmer edit. The middle half of the book gets a little convoluted and when the main character seems to be making progress, whoops he's caught by the conspirators again. Add to that, the ending is just a little too neat and tidy. An easy fun read, but definitely not his best.

Robert Ludlum specializes in conspiracy theory thrillers and "The Aquitaine Progression" is no exception. This novel is about a secret society of wealthy powerful men who plan to take over the government of the United States, Israel, and a greater part of Europe by staging terrorist attacks, assassinating world leaders, destabilizing governments. Then amidst global panic and confusion, they plan to step into leadership positions and become dictators. Secluded training camps, code words and cryptic messages, clandestine rendezvouses, chase scenes and escapes, false identities, a trail of dead bodies, and a few good men race against time to thaw the villains ambitions and expose their devious catastrophic plot. Danger lurks at every show more corner and no-one can be trusted. One word to the wrong person is sure death. In other words, typical Ludlum fare.

It would be misleading to say this book was in any way realistic. Some scenes are downright hokey. The hero is indestructible, his escapes miraculous, and the plot is preposterous. But even so, it was a page turner. It took me four days to read this 647 page tome and I couldn’t put it down. I became totally immersed - cooking dinner at the stove while holding the book in one hand - reading, staying up until all hours of the night to finish just one more chapter.

And yet, this isn’t Ludlum’s best work. Yes, the methods of espionage were compelling, the strategies for success ingenious: dodging the opponents by latching onto a group of vacationers and drunk college students, in fear of being caught in a lobby checking into a hotel cleverly spending an entire night with a prostitute, and traveling undercover as a priest. Die-hard Ludlum fans might relish overdosing on the chain of narrow escapes and close encounters with guns, knives, needles, drinks laced with drugs, and attack dogs. But the plot was overlong and how many times can one man elude a powerful network of professional undercover agents? show less

Joel Converse, now an internationally recognized attorney for a prestigious New York firm, is a former USAF pilot who had been shot down in the Vietnam War and was captured and tortured before escaping and making his way back across the enemy lines to safety.

As the story opens, Joel is in Geneva, Switzerland acting as counsel to finalize some negotiations for one of his firm’s corporate clients, when an odd phone call draws him to an unexpected meeting at a sidewalk café. During the course of the meeting, a horrendous global plot is laid out before him; a plot that is almost too incredible to believe. It is being brought to reality by an organization that is code-named Aquitaine. And “someone” wants Joel Converse to stop it. show more

Robert Ludlum, always a master of suspense, intrigue and espionage, once again delivers a page-turning read. Full of plot twists and turns, this book kept me up late at night because I just couldn’t stop reading. The characters are well-developed and the plot is fantastic. Some of the dialogue seemed a little implausible, but I credit that to the fact that the book was written over 25 years ago and language has changed a bit since then. I don’t believe that this detracts at all from the story.

The Aquitaine Progression is a swift moving storyline that never lags or loses steam, this book is a must-read for fans of the suspense/thriller genre and of course, for any Ludlum fan. show less

A nice book to read. Enough pages to keep me busy for a while, especially because I read it as a bedtime book :-)
Despite the interesting subject, after page 500 it became tedious and a bit less interesting than the first part of the book.

Interesting, fast paced, slightly on the paranoia side where x WW2 Generals try to takeover the world and a smart NY lawyer called Converse & some M15 agents save the day. Not totally unbelievable.

Generals to revolt + control world

It begins in Geneva. There American lawyer Joel Converse meets a man he hasn't seen in twenty years, a covert operative who dies violently at his feet, whispering words that hand Converse a staggering legacy of death: "THE GENERALS...THEY'RE BACK...AQUITAINE!" Suddenly Converse is running for his life, alone with the world's most shattering secret. Pursued by anonymous executioners to the dark corners of Europe, he is forced to play a game of survival by blood rules he thought he'd long left behind. One by one, he traces each thread of a deadly progression to the hear of every major government—a network of coordinated global violence that no one believes possible. No one but Converse and the woman he show more once loved and lost. The only two people on earth who can wrest the world from the iron grasp of Aquitaine. show less

Thriller about a cabal of former rouge generals bent on world domination