Robert Ludlum, The Bancroft Strategy

The Bancroft Strategy

Robert Ludlum

St. Martin's, October 2006, $26.95

ISBN 0312316730

Because he is considered the best at locating the target, U.S. intelligence agent Todd "The Hound" Belknap is granted by his boss a much wider degree of discretion than his field associates to accomplish his mission. Currently the Hound is irate that his superiors refuse to try to retrieve captured agent "Pollux" from a Lebanese militia in Beirut. Refusing to leave a peer in enemy hands, the Hound comes out of the warmth to return to the cold. He heads to Lebanon to liberate Pollux or die trying.

At the same time, the Hound begins stirring up local hostility in the Middle East, financial analyst Andrea Bancroft begins to realize that her family's philanthropic foundation is a cover for nefarious disturbing international plots. She digs deeper as she uncovers a connection to a missing American agent in Beirut. Going on site to see what is truly happening, Andrea fears that the Bancroft Foundation is at the core of global unrest, even as she wonders if she is over dramatizing the conspiracy; that is until she meets the Hound.

Though Robert Ludlum of the Bourne fame died five years ago, new thrillers under his name have continued to appear. The latest THE BANCROFT STRATEGY is a fast-paced international thriller starring a lone espionage renegade, a courageous intelligent female, a conspiracy, and a secret cabal with the vortex between them being Pollux. The action never slows down, but lacks the freshness that Bourne contained (and still does). Still this is a fun tale filled with plenty of action that fans of the author will enjoy, even if it is Ludlum-lite.