Date first published	1976
ISBN Number	0 75285 859 9
Page Count	305 p/b
h/b= hardback : p/b= paperback

Storyline

General Mackenzie Hawkins is a living legend. However even legends can fall from grace, especially after desecrating a revered sculpture in China. Facing a long prison sentence in China he is sent a young lawyer Sam Devereaux, to get him out.

On his return to the US, he tricks Devereaux into obtaining secret G2 files for which Mackenzie has a special use for.

Unable to escape fate Devereaux embarks on a wild journey to raise $40 million for Hawkins ultimate job, kidnap the Pope. Devereaux tries to derail the mad scheme but Hawkins is always one step ahead.

Review

I have recently only just got this book, it having escaped my library somehow. Luckily I got it at reduced price off Amazon.

I have very mixed feelings about the book. The basic premise, blackmail several wealthy crooks into bankrolling your mission to kidnap the Pope, is a good story line. It's just the way that it has been executed that has got me.

The basic premise as I have said is quite good, and written as a straight thriller I think would have been quite promising, however the story has been written to be I assume, funny. If it has the humour totally escapes me. The idea of Devereaux travelling round with the documents to get the money and being controlled by Hawkins ex-wives seems totally implausible. Devereaux is supposed to be a top notch lawyer, and I think would have got out of the mess he found himself in.

The other problem is the characters, I can neither sympathise nor appreciate what Hawkins is trying to do. I didn't particuarly like either character, and would have quite happily shot them in the first chapter! When I read a book I want to be on the side of someone in the book, whether it's the good guys or not, but in this you have the two main characters, the pneumatic wives, none of which seem that pleasant.

A good plot, let down in my view by it's style of execution. It's possibly as bad as Trevayne, which I am really dreading reading again. Buy only if you are totally desperate for a Ludlum novel. I'm glad I only spent £3.50 on this book.

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