WW2 spy, romance and drama linked to 1991 peristroika in Russia and the attempts to remove Gorbachov because of his program of de-communising the country. Has some of the tension of the Bourne stories but a different theme so was refreshing. ( )

Average spy-thriller. Not written by Robert Ludlum as he died in 2001, but instead it is written by an unnamed ghostwriter. Since it is based on an outline written by Ludlum, it has a good premise. It is a fact that in the late 1930s, Stalin purged the high command of the Soviet Red Army. Ludlum proposes that Nazi Germany faked correspondence between Russian generals and German generals saying that the Russian generals would overthrow Stalin, and then they ‘allowed’ Russian intelligence to ‘discover’ this correspondence.

Second fact: Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed a peace accord shortly after that, and then Hitler attacked Russia. In retrospect, that appears to have been a very foolish move. Why not keep the peace until the war on the western front was secure? Ludlum proposes that American intelligence agents fed the Nazis faked Soviet Army data indicating that Stalin was secretly building up for an attack on Germany. Hitler decided to strike first.

This story purports to show how American intelligence fed this fake data to the Nazis. Unfortunately, the story is not well written. The American secret agent Stephen Metcalf keeps getting into unbelievable difficult places and is able to extract himself with unbelievable coincident. ( )

The Tristan Betrayal is a departure from what I have come to expect from Robert Ludlum, which is probably why I enjoyed this novel so much. It is primarily an historical thriller taking place in Europe during World War II, with only loose tales to the modern day (1991) event that is occurring. In present time, with the Soviet Union is under siege by the hardliners who want to take control of the country, American Ambassador Stephen Metcalf is called upon to convince the one person who can prevent this from happening to stop it. Metcalf does this by relaying the tale of his youth when he was a spy for the United States prior to them joining the war effort in Europe. He has been given the assignment to have a former Russian lover of his to pass off falsified documents to her Gestapo boyfriend that suggests that the Soviets would be weak and be easy prey for the Germans to invade. The end result being Germany involved in a war on two fronts that they couldn’t win.

What generally turns me off from Ludlum is the utterly outlandish plot lines and the ridiculous conspiracies that his novels often devolve into. This novel had none of those things. The story line was plausible and intriguing. The plot unfolded in a logical manner. There was enough action to keep the story moving, even though it wasn’t central to the story. The characters were well-defined. Even though the twist at the end wasn’t much of a twist, and I had figured it out about half way through the novel, the ending was still satisfying. This is the best Ludlum novel I have read and I would recommend it to readers of thrillers and historical fiction.

Carl Alves – author of Reconquest: Mother Earth ( )

I'm not convinced that this book was really written by Ludlum. It was an OK story, but it really did not follow the usual Ludlum style. ( )

This, as most of Ludlum's books, is a page-turner. The first third of the book is well written, exciting and engaging. Though you still want to follow our spy, Metcalfe, to the end of the book, though it slows down a little in believability and excitement. Though there is still minor twist that I enjoyed because there are clues given before hand for you to figure it out before it is revealed.

The book starts with Metcalfe in his old age being summoned to 1991 Russia to help with interior turmoil. With that we flash back to where we can see him in action in NAZI occupied Europe. We see him operate in Paris, Moscow and Berlin. This is not his best book, but it is still worth reading. ( )

TRISTAN BETRAYAL opens in Moscow 1991, with political uprsing caused by Communist hard-liners intent on overthrowing Gorbachev's government. The reader is introduced to the venerable American Ambassador Stephen Metcalfe, who is secretly and urgently summoned to bring his considerable experience and knowledge to bear on this coup attempt. Only later does the reader learn why Metcalfe is called to broker this deal, one he is immensely qualified to handle. ( )

Way too predictable and cliche. ( )

Fiction

NIL