Customer Reviews

Chancellor Manuscript

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

A terrific thriller, Ludlum in top form. This is back in the days when his intricate plots made sense and fit like a glove. He also kept the page count down in this one, never padding the book, and never veering into unnecessary sidetracks (like ICARUS AGENDA's 100+ page prologue!)

I can't see a thriller fan not loving this book, nor failing to appreciate the brilliant device Ludlum uses to get the action going. If you've never read Ludlum, this is a great place to start.

In the years after Hoover's death the secret started coming forth. Many individuals had been covered by J. Edgar Hoover and his secret files. That notion made this book all the more believable Inver Brass in this very entertaining book decided to eliminate Hoover and the threat of his secret files. It became evident that not all of the files had been captured. People all over the country started getting blackmailed and some killed. Then members of Inver Brass started getting assasinated

The guilty party shocked me beyond belief. This book along with Holcroft Covenant are the best that Ludlum has done. Be sure to buy this book and read it.

... still worth reading.

The story revolves around a massive conspiracy about whether or not Hoover was murdered. The story is told in true Ludlum style, with enough intrigue and interesting characters to keep you turning the pages. The only problem I find with this book is that Chancellor always seems to make a correct guess while writing his manuscript. I would have preferred seeing the document evolve and adjust as information is uncovered.

But still enjoyable.

AS I FIND WITH MANY OF LUDLUM'S NOVELS, GOOD STORY THAT TWISTS, BUT IS SOMETIMES HARD TO FOLLOW. THE BOOKS GETS PROGRESSIVELY BETTER AND I LIKED THE STORY.

I don't know about others, but I loved this book. It has an awesome story and is gripping and entertaining, esp all the unceratinity that is trademark Ludlum. A must-read

I am hooked on Robert Ludlum's books. I gave up romance after I turned 20, moved on to murder mysteries (Ellery Queen genre), but I never experienced an author that could keep me awake until 3:00 in the morning, not only with this book--but with all of them!

I have read The Chancellor Manuscripts, all three of the series of the Bourne books, and just finished the Holcroft Covenant, which teases and hints at a sequel in the last few pages, and I'm crossing my fingers there is one (have to still check out his list of books).

The twist, as expected in any Ludlum novel, occurs about half-way through the book, from a direction the reader would never guess, and involves a woman (the hero always has to get his gal in Ludlum's novels!), and this right after he experiences something that forces him to run for his life, hide from those he loves, and/or forces him to cut his communications from any normal life that the hero would normally use if this was real life.

While Ludlum's books smack of a 'formula,' I'm hooked--you know that something unusual is going to happen to the main character, he's going to be forced to give up his normal life to go out and 'save the world,' he'll use life-long aquaintances for help throughout the book (although about 85% end up in a morgue by the end of the story), there's lots of shooting of the bad guys, a damsel in distress who will initially hate or distrust the main character, then fall in love with him, and after which everybody shoots at each other and more bad and good guys die, then the hero either ends up being 'savior' of the world, or he ends up chopped to pieces (ouch), but survives to take on the bad guys again.

Don't try this plot at home--only Ludlum can add enough realistic and believable imagery to convince you of the reality of the story with his details. I was surprised that this is the only book of Ludlum's so far to have the scenery completely fall within the continental USA versus his European settings for all his other books. While the details are pretty amibiguous in this book, they are realistic enough to give you a feel for the location (versus his precise details and descriptions of European sites in his other novels).

If you haven't tried a Ludlum novel, pick one up--any one, and enjoy an espionage thriller that only a master like Ludlum can write.

Robert Ludlum is just great. He has done wonderful research and has spun it in perfect threads and patterns in this extremely believable novel about unethical espionage. I became extremely scared of J. Edgar and the people in power, this book is so believable! The pages turn of their own will and you will have no life for a few hours. Make sure you have no commitments the next morning! Read it!

I wanted to give this book 3.5 stars, but since I can only give 3 or 4, I chose 4.

This is my 2nd Ludlum book. The 1st being "The Hades Factor". Comparing the two, I must say that "The Hades Factor" comes out on top simply because the hero's experiences are more believable than in "The Chancellor Manuscript". Still, the storyline in "The Chancellor Manuscript" is imaginative, plausible and enjoyable. It kept me glued to it till early hours of the morning. The main (and probably the only) downside is the way Peter Chancellor is always being presented with riddles instead of the facts even in situation where it only makes sense to present the facts to him directly. Other than that it was a good read.

Every day some of us ask the question: 'What IF?' Well in 'The Chancellor Manuscript' Ludlum has a pretty big 'What If' on his hands, and it turns out to be quite a fun question to ask, too. What if J. Edgar Hoover didn't die a natural death, but was cleverly done away with...?

As it turns out, we stumble on this situation quite by accident. You see, Peter Chancellor comes up with a great premise for a fictional book he plans to write. Guess what the plot is? What if Hoover was knocked off instead of going naturally? From here Peter, like any good author, begins to do some credible research before embarking upon his chore of writing--but as he digs he begins to uncover some startling revelations...maybe he really WAS killed after all... NOBODY can devise a plot that is filled SO completely and move it at the pace that Ludlum could do in his prime, and 'The Chancellor Manuscript' definitely is Ludlum at the peak of his amazing craft. Just bloody good fun.

The Chancellor Manuscript just seemed to take too long to take off. It seemed to lapse back into the confusing doldrums too often. This book was too easy to put down. In my opinion, this was not truly vintage Ludlum.