The Icarus Agenda

The plots are good, the characters are well defined and fleshed out, and the ending is spectacular. There is excitement galore as Evan Kendrick, the protagonist, takes on several Herculean tasks and performs them all very well. Throughout the book there is suspense everywhere, making for good reading. Kendrick is a successful engineer, having worked principally in the oil-rich mideast, making a lot of money before he sold his business, following a terrible "accident" which left most of his company dead. Coming back to the USA he decides to start a new life and run for Congress to oust a corrupt incumbent, and he is successful. While on a solo whitewater rafting vacation, a hostage crisis developes in the mideast, but he is incommunicado with civilization, and only finds out about it when he gets back. At that point he decides to volunteer to attempt a rescue, but insists on doing it anonymously as he disguises himself as an arab terrorist. With the help of Israeli commandos he pulls it off, but after he returns home his cover is blown and he becomes known as the "Hero of Oman". His celebrity and heroism is noted by a small elite group of very prominent people who do not wish to be identified in their relationship to each other. It is a secret group that seeks to propel the hero into the limelight and get him elected to the Vice Presidency, and this activity is the height of intrigue and suspense. The elite group makes the decisions that they hope will push Kendrick to the highest ranks of government, and for this they enlist the expert work of an "aide" who can do anything and everything, and it is amazing what he can accomplish. Because of his successful mission in the mideast, Kendrick finds himself and his friends assailed from several groups, and there is plenty of action in his effort to stay alive, as well as protecting the lives of his friends. His love interest is an Arab-Westerner women, an agent he met while on his hero mission in the mideast who was responsible for saving his life. Back in the USA she is very involved in helping him find and identify those that are trying to kill him. It is she who provides the "happily ever after" part. The ending is too good to give away, but I can tell you that it involves the President and Kendrick and the elite group. It is a very good story from a writer who knows how to write this kind of thing, and is certainly worth reading.

Congressman Evan Kendrick went to Oman to help free the hostages at the American Embassy in Mascat from an arab terrorist cell but once inside the country he found out that the embassy crisis was not an isolated case but one of a serie of well planned violent acts by somebody called Mahdi is directing to create caos in the area and gain control of the economic, political and spiritual lidership over the arab countries. Evan with the help of Manny, Kalila and a Mossad comando destroy the complot but once in USA the congressman is launched as a favorite by a secret society called Inver Brass to the candidature of the vice presidency of United States and again Evan is involved in another trama, this time one of corruption in the highest spheres of Washington.A very well written novel and very actual, some personages, like Mahdi has a clear resemblance with Osama Bin Laden, the Inver Brass Club as the "secret establishment" or the so called power behind the throne which indirectly govern in Washington for generations, the arab-israeli conflict or the nowaday international terrorism histeria. A story that has a little of everything, espionage, terrorism, action, romance, intrigue, policy and philosophical point of views.

Robert Ludlum is one of my 3 favorite authors. He transcends the gender factor in all of his books. I got my son (33 years old) reading his books and even he enjoys the little bit of romance Ludlum puts in his books.The suspense of the plots keep me on the edge of my chair. I work 8-5 Monday through Friday and have often still been reading when my alarm would go off. I have a hard time doing anything else when I have one of his books.

If you like the nonstop action of James Bond's movies, then you will instantly be lured into any of Robert Ludlum's books. Ludlum inserts life into the most thrilling and twisting plots in such a compelling way that you believe they are true. All good books make you want to keep reading; however, in each of the many Ludlum novels I have read there is simply no stopping. Ludlum pulls his readers into his stories and gets them hooked in a way few authors can. The Icarus Agenda by Robert Ludlum is no exception and will leave even the most read Ludlum fan intrigued and involved. Once you start this book, you go from interested to absorbed in about two pages. The scenario involves hundreds of Americans being held hostage in an American Embassy in the Middle East. All divisions of the government are desperately trying to free the hostages; however, only one man who bid farewell to the Middle East long ago after a tragic accident can truly save them. Behind the somewhat simplistic terrorists is a group of wealthy and powerful individuals who will stop at nothing until they have complete control of the region. Ludlum takes us through a heart-pumping journey of one man's fight to save the hostages and break the mysterious group of individuals fueling the terrorism. After what must be one of the most intense struggles for freedom ever put on paper, the reader is only done with part one of the three-part book. The first part of the book could be a novel in itself and if it were, I would still be writing its praises; however after the roller-coaster ride of the first 200 pages, the reader learns that this is only the beginning. The man who rescued the hostages took neither credit nor praise for his heroic accomplishments because he did not want anyone to know what he had done. " No one's to know I've been here. I never talked to you or anyone else." (pg.11) One reason that he did not want people knowing his identity was that he did not want people thinking that he saved the hostages purely for his own well being. He did what he did because the people that were holding the hostages were the same people that had killed his friends years earlier. Out of a desire for revenge, he had performed acts of heroism unseen in the world today. He then disappeared back to his normal life, or at least he tried to. This is where Part Two takes over. The courageous hero's identity is revealed and he suddenly becomes the most hunted man in the world. He is the target of every terrorist organization because of his daring rescue actions at the embassy. The question is though can those around him and those whom he helped by freeing the hostages save him, or are the people that he helped the ones he should be truly concerned about. Compelling twists and turns leaves the reader zealously searching for answers like a mouse in a maze frantically searching for the cheese. One of the only bad things about this book is that it is well over 600 pages long. However, the length of the

Ludlum's books always start slow and lure you in. Icarus is no exception. I only wish that he made this novel the first of a series (like Bourne). The main characters are more believable. I suppose, however, that he may have overfed us Kendrick, as he did Jason Bourne. This book only lasted me a couple of days.