"Robert Ludlum," wrote Colin Harrison in the New York Times Magazine, "whose novels have sold 290 million copies (more or less the population of the United States), knew what makes a successful thriller. And that, above all, is velocity." Pages do not simply turn in a Ludlum suspense thriller, they fly by. Translated into thirty-two languages, Ludlum's novels have become popular around the world, their familiar three-word titles easily distinguishable on shelves of bookstores in airport and shopping malls: each begins with the article "The," followed by an exotic proper noun such as "Scarlatti" or "Bourne" or "Rhinemann," and ended with another noun that has the sense of an urgent message or secret contract, such as "Agenda," "Ultimatum," "Deception," or "Protocol." These words conjure up in the minds of a prospective reader a comforting novel of international intrigue and chases that promise to take one's mind off quotidian concerns...