The Osterman Weekend

This is the first Ludlum book I ever read and it still remains my favorite. For sheet storytelling, suspense and convoluted plot resolution, it remains supreme. It is characterization that drives this book - much more so than the movie - and particularly the interplay among the various guests. This is vintage Ludlum before he became Ludzilla, the author of sagas of immeasurable length. This is also the typical formula that Ludlum uses in his best books - a lone guy gets involved in nefarious activities involving the government and both people and events are not what they seem. The moment when he awaits the arrival of the agent, when the agent walks up and we all hold our breath - the revelation is simply stunning! This is a classic.

After Robert Ludlum passed away, I decided to read several of his books, having loved The Bourne Identity when I read it several years ago, but having stopped reading his books when The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum disappointed. I started with The Holcroft Covenant, reported to be one of the classics, which I really enjoyed. Then I read the final book he wrote, The Prometheus Deception, which I enjoyed more than most.This year, I decided to go back to his early books. I found the second book he ever wrote, The Osterman Weekend, in a used bookstore. The book tells the story of John Tanner, a TV news executive who is summoned to Washington one day and told by a CIA operative that one or more of his best friends, the Ostermans, the Cardones and the Tremaynes is a traitor. They are all gathering for the weekend at Tanner's house in suburban New Jersey and Tanner's job is to get the traitors to reveal themselves so the CIA can swoop in and deal with them.On its own, the book is probably worth three stars. It is a quick and easy read, the suspense grows and the reader has no idea where the plot will lead although double-crosses seem likely. However, until the last few chapters, it doesn't really grip you. However, the book shows flashes of the greatness Ludlum achieved later. An ordinary person is thrown into extraordinary circumstances and must get by on his own wits. Ludlum is a genius at making the ordinary person seem believable and scared and yet be the hero who saved the world. The action in the last few chapters is a foreshadowing of the wall-to-wall action that will be Ludlum's trademark in other books. The insight this gives the reader into Ludlum's evolution as a writer was worth an extra star to me.

A great story which concerns Jack Tanner, a TV journalist who is drawn into a CIA plot to uncover the clandestine Soviet OMEGA group. Only one snag - OMEGA is in his neighbourhood in a small town - and when friend Bernie Osterman brings his family and friends over for a weekend get-together - one of them is the OMEGA plant, but which one? Several unexpected twists and turns along the way which reach fever pitch when Tanner's family become threatened in many ways! And who is the man giving the orders? A classic conspiracy thriller which paved the way for several more that came later, and one could say it inspired the movies ENEMY OF THE STATE and CONSPIRACY THEORY with its the-bad-guys-are-really-the-government ideas! THE OSTERMAN WEEKEND was also made into a movie itself in 1983, which is also well worth tracking down.

This one is pretty impressive! Ludlum scales down his scope and tightens up the suspense! You should not pick up this book if you need sleep. This book is about what is seemingly a normal American family, but Ludlum keeps piling on the twists and tension until you wonder if anyone in the book is who they seem. This is a must read. Read it.

The story line alone was worth the reading of this book