Date first published	1 November 2006
ISBN Number	0 75285 750 9 h/b<
Page Count	538 h/b
h/b= hardback : p/b= paperback

Storyline

Todd Belknap, is a man on a mission. For Consular Operations in fact. However in the middle of an operation to gain data from a terrorist organisation he is forced to watch as his target is killed. Trapped Belknap barely has time to escape.

During his debrief, in which he is blamed for the mission failure, he is suspended and left to his own devices. Belknap also finds that his best friend, and the one person he truly cares about has disappeared on a mission, and no-one is looking. Belknap meanwhile sets off to find the man who has more than once saved his life. It is to be a life changing decision.

Andrea Bancroft, is trying to deny her birthright. Part of a hugely wealthy family, she is the black sheep of the family after her mother dared leave the den. Now making her own way and finally starting to get her career together, she finds she is wanted back by her family.

Bancroft is invited to sit on the board of the Bancroft Foundation, a charity that tries to do good around the world, and, as an inducement she will receive $12 million dollars.

Bancroft agrees, but the organisation and some of the people employed trigger a warning, and she starts to investigate. Getting to close the order for her termination is issued.

Belknap having found an indirect link to the Bancroft Foundation, targets Andrea as a means of getting information and getting inside. Meanwhile it becomes apparent that there is a third force at work, with a network controlled by the mysterious Genesis. The race to find Genesis is on for he or it could destroy the secretive work of the Bancroft Foundation.

Review

The story takes a line first introduced in the Chancellor Manuscript, of a secret organisation manipulating world events to make the world a better place. Genesis was the former Leader of Inver Brass, which was eventually destroyed because it had become corrupt and out of control. Although Inver Brass has not reappeared Genesis strikes fear into the hierarchy of The Bancroft Foundation.

The Foundation is not above blackmail, or buying off people or countries in it's aims. It is also not adverse to the odd accident for those who get in it's way. For the philosophy of The Theta Group is one death to save five is much better than losing 5 to allow 1 to live.

At the centre of the web is a man who means more to Belknap than anyone else. Jared Rinehart has saved Belknaps life on more than one occasion, and has been his rock during the stormy part of his life. Belknap is to find out however that nothing is what it seems.

The story raises two questions for the reader to ponder. How can someone you come to rely on, betray you from the very first meeting, and force you to live a lie, even causing the death of your wife.

The other question is, can the death of one person be right if it saves many others, and does anyone have that right to make those decisions. There is also a hint of total power corrupts, as shown in the final paragraph of the book.

I liked the story, the hunt for Jared/Genesis is intriguing, once again the agent has only his skills to rely on, and the outcome is quite surprising.

I do wonder whether someone as gifted as Belknap would be taken in by Jared. Perhaps initially there would be blind acceptance, especially as the man has saved his life. But, and this is the big but, for Jared to keep popping up and rescuing him would set alarm bells ringing. A minor flaw perhaps.

Again like most Ludlum books there is a strong female character, although I feel Andrea is slightly underwritten. However she does get involved in a couple of scraps, two of which involve her killing.

On the whole a nicely narrated story. Not quite as good as The Tristram Betrayal, but a good read which keeps up the standard of the series.

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