Finished Tu 12/31/24
This is a hardback library book that I bought used from Amazon and received Tu 12/17/24. It was from the Alexander Memorial Library in Cotulla, Texas. This is a tiny town between San Antonio and Laredo, TX. 650 pages and weighed 5 pounds.
I spent far too long on this novel, but I just had to know how it came out.
The novel was released in 1984 and concerns Joel Converse. He's a man who realizes that a retired American general is masterminding a plot to turn the entire world into a fascist state. The general has set up false 'revolutions' in countries all around the world that will occur simaltaenously. This violence will allow the generals to step in and clamp down on any resistance and bring about 'peace'.
Kirkus Reviews:
"A global Third Reich. . . One big Supreme Court, each chair owned by a fanatic . . . that group of men who've come together to promote a kind of violence that'll stun the world, toppling governments. . . ."" Don't Ludlum fans ever get tired of this same cartoon-conspiracy plot, shamelessly recycled virtually every other year? Apparently not. So here it is again, with fewer frills and convolutions than usual: the plot--though stretched out to 650 pages with repetitious talk and minor complications--is surprisingly straightforward this time around. Joel Converse, a young-ish lawyer on assignment in Geneva, is approached by old chum Avery, who (on behalf of an anonymous client) offers Joel $500,000 to undertake a patriotic mission against some world-wide conspiracy. Moments later, naturally, Avery is murdered--and Joel's on his way to Greece, where Avery's colleague outlines the mission: six militaristic super-fascists from six countries (US, UK, France, Germany, Israel, So. Africa) plan to take over the Western world by fomenting violence; to prevent this, Joel must somehow use legal means to undermine the plotters. Implausible? Indubitably. But Joel's off and running nonetheless--meeting the bad guys in Paris and Bonn, trying (idiotically) to infiltrate their group. Not that the bad guys are much more efficient: they capture Joel several times but keep allowing him to escape; they also frame him for a half-dozen murders. And so Joel, realizing that the ""Aquitaine"" conspirators have allies within all the Western governments, is now a fugitive from justice too, trying to get to Washington alive to convince someone in US power about the Aquitaine threat. The only person who seems to believe him: ex-wife Valerie, who rescues Joel in Amsterdam, takes his messages to America (more deaths ensue), and eventually joins him in the long countdown finale--when Joel (with CIA help at last) crushes the Aquitaine leadership, arranges an assault on the Aquitaine communications-center. . . but doesn't quite succeed in averting the assassination-festival which Aquitaine has already scheduled. Sounds familiar? Of course it does: to an even greater extent than previous Ludlums, this reads like second-rank John Buchan with a case of elephantiasis. Still, there's more old-fashioned action here--and much less murk--than in some recent Ludlum thrillers; and if some fans may miss the mysterious atmosphere, others will appreciate the absence of intricate, headache-inducing gobbledygook."
An excellent recap of the novel from 'Raritania':
https://raritania.blogspot.com/2022/03/review-aquitaine-progression-by-robert.html#:~:text=Alas%2C%20after%20the%20midpoint%20of,agent%2C%20capably%20dispatching%20enemy%20after
I spent far to long on the book because it promised far more than it delivered.
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