Preview of The Cry of the Halidon Summary:

Throughout the novel several ideas appear with enough regularity and force to warrant their discussion as themes.

The most persistent is Ludlum's misgivings about the potential for high level conspiracy among men of power, including the nation's top elected officials. In The Cry of the Halidon the protagonist combats the united forces of international big business, corrupt politicians and organized crime. In other books by Ludlum the conspiracy (often of global proportions) has involved Fascists, Communists, terrorists, religious fanatics, the Catholic Church, Nazi Germany, the FBI and the CIA, and even American presidents. Clearly it is not any specific alliance that worries the writer, but the ever-present danger from its double dealing members, in contempt of nations' laws and their citizens.

The second theme of the novel flows directly from the first. In their global tugs-of-war, large organizations invariably run afoul of the rights of individual citizens. Whether...