Customer Reviews

The Parsifal Mosaic

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was introduced to Ludlum in the late 70's by my brother who claimed that if I thought Clive Cussler was a good author, I needed to check out somebody who could really plot a story well.
I started off with The Bourne Identity, which I still rank as one of the most original stories I have ever read. I waited quite some time before attempting 'Parisfal', and by the time I finally got around to doing so, it didn't take long to realize that I had cheated myself out of quite an adventure.

I was going through my library here not long ago fixing up my book shelves when I ran across my old copy, and decided it was time to crack it open yet again. I was amazed at how well it has held up over the years, and just how REALLY GOOD it really is. I won't attempt to go into the details of the plot, because quite frankly, Ludlum puts just too many twists and turns into his average novel that just to attempt to summarize 'Parsifal' in such a short amount of room would be incredibly disrespectful to the memory of Robert Ludlum (in my opinion). No, instead I would rather go into what makes his novels so darned fun...

Ludlum will never be confused with what some consider 'True Literature' but what he lacks in major character development, he more than makes up for with the sheer speed of his plots and how his stories seem to be several plots all going at once on a runaway train with no brakes...yet he manages to keep control at all of the crucial moments and never gives you more peeks into what is really happening than you absolutely MUST have, and yet you still have a grasp of what is going on, without knowing what is going to happen next. Is someone going to die in his books?
Yes...PLENTY of bodies stack up over the course of the typical Ludlum novel, but that really isn't what drives the story...it's the amazing creativity in which the story unfolds and the complexity in which the circumstances seem to rope you in to the point where if you don't continue to keep reading, you just may find yourself lost because of just how sophisticated he writes his thrillers. Many have called Ludlum the Master of the Superthriller, and I echo that in a HUGE way. In my opinion, 'The Parsifal Mosaic' is easily one of his top 2 books, which is high praise indeed when you consider his earlier & later works.
Simply put, if you have toyed with the idea of reading a Robert Ludlum novel and you have yet to check out 'Parsifal' than you are in for one incredible treat. Pick it up and get lost in one of the greatest imaginations in adventure thriller fiction of the past 40+ YEARS. Simply put, this is an absolutely amazing novel that is more fun than I can put into words...and I have to say, it is JUST as fun the 2nd time around, too. HIGHLY recommended.

I'm a big Robert Ludlum fan, and love the spy / mystery type of novel. The Parsifal Mosaic is very involving and complex, and in general great fun.

Without giving away the inner layers of the story, Michael Havelock is a US spy with a tortured past, who has finally found some happiness with a fellow spy, Jenna Karasova. Unfortunately, he is shown that Jenna is a double agent, and watches her die for her betrayal. Preparing to abandon his agent-life and retire to become a teacher, he catches a glimpse of Jenna, alive, at a chance meeting in Europe. The chase is on, as he tries to track down Jenna and figure out why she's alive, and who was deceiving who.

There are a variety of interesting locations, from the docks of Italy to meeting rooms in Washington DC. The characters each seem to have an outward 'mask' plus an inner 'motive', and Michael moves from scene to scene trying to unravel it all. There are twists and turns as he gets closer and further away from the truth.

Maybe it's because I've read so many mysteries and thrillers, but I do have to say that a few things disappointed me. First, many of the situations were extremely staged and obvious. There were many things that I guessed long before the characters did, and with the lead characters made out to be extremely intelligent and quick, it was hard to believe they were still muddling through something for chapters after it had been made obvious. For example, Michael recognizes one of the guys killing Jenna - Michael knows he knows him but doesn't remember WHO he is. Throughout the rest of the story, while trying to figure out what is going on, he never bothers to try to track this guy down. The identity of the two main secret characters was pretty obvious from the get-go but of course Michael doesn't figure it out until the very end.

There were many "this situation proves that I am a master spy" setups that were clumsy and showed if anything that the people around him were completely clueless. I'm all for helping people learn "how spies act" and that "Michael was very good at spotting discrepancies" but if you read Spenser or Bond stories, that is done in a subtle, intelligent way. In this book it was more like a hammer slamming a staple. Rather overkill.

And finally, the dialogue is over the top. It seems every page has "Oh my God!" or "Christ!" or "Jesus!" or "You Bastards!" It's sort of like wading through a spy soap opera :)

Don't get me wrong - I do enjoy Ludlum a great deal and ripped through the book in a single evening. I enjoyed the ride, but I did keep feeling like I was hitting a "speed bump" along the way that I'd have to roll my eyes about, and then keep going. A fun read for a day at the beach, or an escapist evening!

One feels almost shame in enjoying the works of Robert Ludlum. The dialogue steps out of the Stone Age onto the paper (the phrases "my friend" and "spell it out" are used overgenerously), the melodrama is suffocating (ditto the words "madness" and "insanity", always in italics and always followed with an exclamation point), and the characters are photocopies of each other from book to book. Meanwhile, the good-guy spy is over-romanticized, the stuff of a fourteen year-old girl's wildest fantasies. The problem is, Ludlum is so darned fun to read. And, as his novels go, The Parsifal Mosaic is among the best. This might be directly related to the sky-high body count, but it's Ludlum: get used to it. I felt almost guilty the first time I acknowledged to myself that the bloodbath trick--someone getting killed every four pages or so--never gets old. No one said this guy was Tolstoy. He's not even John LeCarre or Frederick Forsyth. But nor are they Robert Ludlum. If you want pragmatism, realism, and a spy hero who gets his hands dirty, eats corn flakes, and drives a Taurus, then read LeCarre (the master of characterization) or Forsyth (the master of the political thriller). But none of their work gives you quite the same thrill as sitting down with Robert Ludlum...

...while he blows away five hundred people with machine guns.

This book represents Ludlum at his best, bar none!!! My only problem with this book is the dialogue which strikes me as unrealistic. I found myself repeatedly thinking that people do not speak to each other as the characters do in this novel. Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed the characters, the plot development and, well, just about everything else. In fact, I have read this book at least ten times. For my money, I would strongly recommend this novel and the following: The Bourne Identity, Bourne Supremacy, Scarlatti Inheritance, Aquitaine Progression, Matarese Circle, The Holcroft Covenant and The Gemini Contenders. Please, PLEASE, avoid the following: The Matarese Countdown, The Road to Omaha, The Scorpio Illusion and The Bourne Ultimatum.

Firstoff, I am a huge Ludlum fan. I was one of the first people to write a review of his latest novel "The Matarese Countdown" which I really enjoyed. Sadly though many people did not agree with my assessment and I even received email inquiring about my mental state! While I certainly believe that people are entitled to their opinions it really bothers me when people talk about giving up on an author just because they haven't enjoyed their latest effort(s). By doing that they seemingly have forgotten why they chose to read that same author in the first place. To anyone who read "Matarese Countdown" or "Apocalypse Watch" and then couldn't bear to read anymore I beg you to reconsider and before giving up on of the best authors of escapist thillers take a chance with this book or one of his other earlier works (Aquitaine Progression, Chancellor Manuscript, or the Bourne Trilogy). Years ago, when I had discovered Ludlum and was in the process of reading all his books I earmarked this one for the grand finale, hoping to close out the collection with a BANG! I was not let down one bit! In fact I was astonished by how great it was!! From the opening scene on the Costa Brava to the climax in the woods of Pennsylvania this book is filled with vivid characterizations, exotic locales, and shocking twists of fate which helped to earn Ludlum his reputation as the "Unsurpassed Master of the Superthriller"! It's probably true that no one will ever mistake Ludlum's work for "literature", if that's what you look for in espionage novels try Johm LeCarre or Frederick Forsyth(Both of whom I also throughly enjoy!) but if you are looking for action and escape a la Clive Cussler, David Morrell, or the lesser known but equally as exciting David Hagberg and Jon Land then by all means stick with Robert Ludlum!! The way I look at it Ludlum is like a superstar athelete in the twilight of his career...He may not be able to do everything he used to in his prime, but he is still capable of providing some highlights and I'm still willing to pay to see(read) him!! END

I'm a big Ludlum fan and have read several of his works. I have to say, Parsifal Mosaic is definitely one of his best works. The characters are well developed, plot is deep, and descriptions of places and events are vivid and well put together. Ludlum has built the characters very well, and this book is really a thriller from the protagonist's (Michael Havelock) perspective, as opposed to some of this other works where the focus is almost entirely the plot and sequence of events. Even with a plot that gets complex towards the second half of the book, the suspense is very engaging, and it's hard to put the book down. I would highly recommend this book!

I have never really been a 'Spy Novel' fan, i got interested after reading XPD by Deighton. But this book definately beat it. The Parsifal kept me interested during my travels around europe, 5 hour train journeys flew by with all the intruige and the plot building. It did take a while to get into, but once you know the characters and have a grasp on the story it becomes difficult to put down, I ended up imagining Spies everywhere i travelled around eastern europe! I intend to read more Ludlum now!

The Parsifal Mosaic was the first Ludlum book I read and I never regretted it. The plot was superbly woven: no loopholes, no loose ends. But I think the greatest thing about this book was the characters. Michael Havelock and Jenna Karas were portrayed as two human beings locked in an "immovable prison", as Ludlum termed it. I would say that this book is unsurpassed. Congratulations, Mr. Ludlum.

This is another classic Robert Ludlum thriller with all his hallmarks - unexpected twists, flashes of imagination, action and suspense and well-researched characters, locations and politics! IN this one, Michael Havelock, a former CIA/VKR(Russian special intelligence) double agent witnesses his girlfriend Jenna Karras murdered on Spain's Costa Brava. Then some time later, on a field assignment in Rome, he spots her at a railway station and decides impulsively and obsessively to track her down. The trail leads to France and a secret airbase near the Italian border where he sees Jenna again in the hands of some cold-blooded terrorists. His search reaches the US where a top-secret government operation is forming that could change the balance of world power as we know it for ever . . . who is behind this operation? Often very similar to THE POWER and THIS UNITED STATE by Colin Forbes, the villain is surprising . . .and who is the manipulative PARSIFAL character, the final piece in the jigsaw puzzle, or mosiac if you will! Well worth reading, but be warned, it is very long! But hard to fault!

what a book! absolutely unputdownable. ludlum is at the top of his game here, and, boy, you wanna get your hands on this baby as soon as possible! a crackling good yarn.