Book Review -The Matarese Circle

The Matarese circle – Robert Ludlum

As an unabashed lover of Robert Ludlum’s writing it’s a difficult to pick his best novel. For me it’s not the Bourne series of fictions but The Matarese Circle which counts as my favourite.

Two spies –mortal enemies ,one belonging to the KGB- Vasili Talaniekov and the other  to the Consular operations-Brandon Scofield aka Bewoulf Agate must forget their hatred  for the other to save the world from the clutches of the Matarese – an organization born in the foothills of Corsica and sworn to rule the world. The Matarese had only one objective “to rule the world by their own rules”, anyone coming in their way would be killed.

Ludlum at his best, keeps one on the edge of his seat panging to go to the next page to read what happens next. The twists and turns of the conspiracy takes one across Europe and the Atlantic as Talaniekov teams up with Scofield to defeat the Matarese. Danger lurks at each step they take ,psychopath trained killers are sent to track and hunt them down, killers who when captured would rather commit suicide than reveal their identity. The  spy masters  -Scofield and Talaniekov must use their skills and resources to defeat the Matarese and save the world.Both are the best of the best.The manner in which Scofield and Talaniekov uses  ciphers,code language and tactics to be ahead of the Matarese takes the reader through the shady world of the intelligence community and the skills that a top notch intelligence officer must possess.

The origins of the Matarese takes us to Corsica where a padrone  grief struck by the loss of his sons vows revenge on the world by creating an organization to rule it. His method - organized chaos.By funding terrorist organizations,despotic regimes and militant groups the Matarese wants to keep the world at an edge waiting for the moment to strike and proclaim themselves the rulers. Members of the Matarese  hold influential governmental positions and influence policy which would benefit the Matarese. So powerful is their influence that Scofield and Talaniekov both legends in their respective organizations are condemned to death.Scofield and Talaniekov must not only fight the Matarese to save the world but also defend themselves from the very organizations that they thought were their own.

Nothing is know about the leader of the organization the one whose voice is harsher than the wind – the shepherd boy, the boy who had killed the padrone and be the anointed  leader of the Matarese. Scofield and Talaniekov must find and if necessary kill the leader of the Matarese to end their epic struggle and save the world.

I will write no more as one who loves an action packed spy fiction should read the “Matarese Circle” to truly appreciate the writing skills of Ludlum.