Softcover

ISBN 10: 0553579835 ISBN 13: 9780553579833

Publisher: Bantam, 1998

Twenty years ago, top agents from the CIA and KGB banded together to bring down the Matarese Circle, an international cabal of powerbrokers and assassins whose sole objective was to achieve worldwide economic domination. Now the bloody Matarese dynasty is back--and the only man with the power to stop it may have already run out of time....

CIA case officer Cameron Pryce is hot on the trail of the new Matarese alliance. His only chance to terminate its ruthless activities is to follow the trail of blood money and stone-cold killers right to the heart of its deadly conspiracy.

From the Hamptons to London's Belgrave Square, Matarese assassins have already struck with brutal efficiency, eliminating all who stand in their way. Their chain of violence is impossible to stop--until Pryce gets a rare break. One of the Matarese's victims survives long enough to whisper dying words that will blow the case wide open: the top secret code name for legendary retired CIA agent Brandon Scofield--the only man who has ever infiltrated the Matarese inner circle and lived to tell about it.

Review:

In the audio version of Robert Ludlum's espionage thriller, The Matarese Countdown, the confident voice of actor Stephen Lang (Broadway credits include Hamlet, Death of a Salesman, and A Few Good Men) sets the stage. "He jumped out of the raft and pulled it between the rocks to the sand, securing it to the trunk of a palm ... it was time for the hunt, and hopefully luck would be part of it." And so the chase is on. Lang leads us through a suspenseful tale of inbred corporate corruption and free-market murder.

With his customary polish, Ludlum has devised a mind-bending plot that twists and turns through a complex maze of deadly consequences, pitting his team of heroes against a vicious and all-powerful evil empire. As in the popular prequel, The Matarese Circle, Lang uses his impressive vocal talents to create characters whose accented voices, regional dialects, and identifiable speech patterns heighten the drama. Some might consider the performance over the top, but it is nonetheless skillful and helps carry the action in this far-reaching tale of international intrigue. (Running time: nine hours, six cassettes) -- George Laney

From the Publisher:

"Welcome to Robert Ludlum's world...fast pacing, tight plotting, international intrigue."
--The Plain Dealer, Cleveland

"If a Pulitzer Prize were awarded for escapist fiction, Robert Ludlum undoubtedly would have won it. Ten times over."
--Mobile Register