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Summary and Reviews of The Janson Directive by Robert Ludlum

The Janson Directive by Robert Ludlum

The Janson Directive

by Robert Ludlum
  • Critics' Consensus (5):
  • Readers' Rating (6):
  • First Published:
  • Oct 1, 2002, 542 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Oct 2003, 542 pages
  • Rate this book

About This Book

Book Summary

Former operative, now security specialist, Paul Janson is called in to rescue an international diplomat only to have his team members killed, himself set up as the target of an immensely powerful cabal.

Former operative, now security specialist Paul Janson is called in to rescue an international diplomat only to find himself set up, his team members killed, and the target of an immensely powerful cabal.

Paul Janson has a difficult past which includes a shadowy, notorious career in U. S. Consular Operations. Now living a quiet life, nothing could lure him back into the field. Except Peter Novak - a man who once saved Janson's life - who has been kidnapped by terrorists and is set to be executed. Janson hastily assembles a team of former colleagues and protégés to rescue Novak but the operation goes horribly wrong. Now Janson finds himself marked for death and his only hope is to uncover the truth behind these events - a truth that has the power to foment wars, topple governments and change the very course of history.

PROLOGUE

N. Indian Ocean, 250 miles east of Sri Lanka
Northwestern Anura


The night was oppressive, the air at body temperature and almost motionless. Earlier in the evening there had been light, cooling rains, but now everything seemed to radiate heat, even the silvery half-moon, its countenance brushed with the occasional wisps of cloud. The jungle itself seemed to exhale the hot, moist breath of a predator lying in wait.

Shyam shifted restlessly in his canvas chair. It was, he knew, a fairly ordinary night on the island of Anura for this time of year: early in the monsoon season, the air was always heavy with a sense of foreboding. Yet only the ever attentive mosquitoes disturbed the quiet. At half past one in the morning, Shyam reckoned he had been on checkpoint duty for four and a half hours. In that time, precisely seven motorists had come their way. The checkpoint consisted of two parallel lines of barbed-wire frames--"knife rests"--set up eighty feet apart on the ...

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Reviews

Media Reviews

Chicago Sun-Times
Don't ever begin a Ludlum novel if you have to go to work the next day.

Entertainment Weekly
Reading a Ludlum novel is like watching a James Bond film ... slickly paced ... all-consuming.

The New York Times
Ludlum stuffs more surprises into his novels than any other six pack of thriller writers combined.

Kirkus Reviews
A marvel of stunning physical detail, its sentences geared with lightly oiled precision, parts that speed the action forward micro-incrementally, click by click. A full chapter is given to the midnight air currents a parachutist faces in cloud and fog after he free-falls for four miles into the villain's den. Ludlum's best since his masterpiece of paranoia, The Bourne Identity.

Publishers Weekly
Ludlum died in March 2001, but here he is again, back with yet another posthumous thriller. Such books rarely live up to the author's standards, but this one is different it's vintage Ludlum--big, brawny and loaded with surprises.

Reader Reviews

PETER KEMP

The Jason Directive
Gripping, authentic and intelligent, very well paced, Also educational and keeping a dictionary handy is a must! A top read.
erc

Very good
When I close the book, I regret every single minute I'm not reading on..... Good stuff... His second book I've read and not the last....for sure
Ruby

The Janson Directive
Despite the fact that studying a book can often completely destroy its value, The Janson Directive appears better. It's that or I haven't studied it enough. Ludlum, or the ghostwriter, have researched it thoroughly, and despite the fact the book ...   Read More
Smith

I love this book. Before I read it, The Bourne series were the only Ludlum Works that I had read, but now I want to read all of his books! Every single one has an action movie stuffed inside! Anybody would love his works, they are outstanding! ...   Read More

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Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

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    This astonishing debut espionage thriller depicts the collision course between two geniuses, one a tortured hero and one a determined terrorist, in a breakneck story reminiscent of John le Carré and Robert Ludlum at their finest.

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    Rich with sharply etched characters and prose, and a plot of astonishing intricacy, this is an uncommonly intelligent thriller by one of our very best writers.

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