The Scarlatti Inheritance

Another great Ludlum novel. Ludlum's novels are great, once you start one you can't put it done. Ludlum's novels have it all: suspense, excitement, good plots, you name it. I plan on reading all off his novels. I haven't been disappointed yet with a Ludlim novel.

I guess I'm very late for a review of this book, since it's been out for a number of years, but I thought the novel held its own against many of the books that a significant number of the publishers and authors crank out today. Whewwww. I'm new to Robert Ludlum. I shouldn't be because I have been reading novels for 25 plus years. Anyway, I thought "The Scarlatti Inheritance" was a very interesting read. I was fascinated by the author's approach of using the character Elizabeth Scarlatti and her determination to stop her son from helping Hitler's regime. I'm not a big fan of military novels and even less of a fan when it comes to that era of Germany's power during WWII. However the author made the novel seem like I was looking at this time period from another completely different perspective and I guess that's why I found the novel very interesting. I won't go so far as to say it was a super read, but it was a good read and worthy of your time. Have a good day.

Other reviews listed here complain about the pace, development and plotting of this novel. I'd have to say many people are spoiled by some of today's works in that most events are telegraphed to the reader and it ends up being like a typical action movie ... thin and unmoving. To me this book is neither. It has depth and a trio of main characters that are interesting. There are some citations that note this book is formulaic. Perhaps it needs to be taken into consideration that it was written before some of these formulas were developed. I thought The Scarlatti Inheritance was a fine read and the premise was very interestng. A mother -- Elizabeth Scarlatti -- wants to keep her evil son -- Ulster Scarlatti -- from financing the Third Reich in the 1920s. The "hero" of the novel is Matthew Canfield, a government man who is looking to find out what Ulster Scarlatti is doing with more than $200 million in securities. Ludlum does an excellent job of capturing the way people lived in the 1920s, especially the rich.

The Scarlatti Inheritance is a good book. It's best ingredient is the vivid imagination of Mr. Ludlum and his ability to weave a fine plot and have it unfold at a good pace. This book hits the same key that many others do: Nazis and the Third Reich, but it is very original in plot and hero, or as it were, heroine. The ending isn't necessarily what you might expect from Ludlum, but it is definately appropriate. This is worth your plane ride, so read it.

The first Ludlum novel I read was "The Matarese Circle" which made me a Ludlum fan.After reading a series of '80s Ludlum novels,the "Scarlatti Inheritance" seems somewhat strange in the making of the characters.Because this novel begins in the turn of the century and goes to 1950s.I loved the passages in which Ludlum makes his man talk to Hitler.And the last few chapters really do show how misguided we humanbeings can sometimes be.