The Apocalypse Watch

May 1, 1995
While Ludlum's readers will probably scoop up his latest thriller come what may, they may be disheartened to find it has a virtually suspenseless plot. Brilliant deep-cover American agent Harry Latham is captured and implanted with a mind-control microchip after he penetrates the secret Austrian headquarters of a contemporary movement to restore the Nazis to world domination. Programmed with false information incriminating legions of high-level officials around the free world, Harry is allowed to escape. Debriefed by the CIA in London, he contacts his brother Drew, also a secret agent for American Consular Operations in Paris. After revealing the name of one Nazi, Harry is assassinated by the sinister Brotherhood of the Watch, prompting Drew--aided by Karin de Vries, the beautiful and mysterious widow of Harry's former partner--to assume his identity. Dodging bullets from a seemingly endless series of assassination attempts, Drew and Karin, who become lovers, try to save the world--or at least London, Paris and Washington, from pollution of their water reserves by toxic attack via Nazi aircraft. Ludlum's first novel, The Scarlatti Inheritance, which appeared nearly a quarter century ago, dealt with Nazis. That his latest does, too, offers scant testimonial to his thematic imagination. His prose hasn't improved in the interim, either; it's still generic and blustery, if capable of hurtling across pages. What has changed is his plotting, once as dizzying yet as balanced as a gyroscope but now wobbly and predictable at the same time. That said, his fans probably won't care that there's absolutely nothing here that Ludlum hasn't done before. BOMC main selection; major ad/promo; audio rights to BDD Audio.

As modern as today's headlines, yet drawing on the horror of the Third Reich, Ludlum's masterpiece captures the listener from the first syllable and doesn't let go until the last tape has ended. Edward Herrmann gives a sterling performance. He moves skillfully from character to character, precisely delivering a captivating range of accents (French, German, British and American). Cleverly timed background music enhances the drama and guides the listener through the plot's many twists and turns. While some text has been omitted in this abridgment, the listener isn't deprived of any intrigue. B.L.W. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine