The Matarese Circle, the eighth of Ludlum's popular novels, is 601 leaden pages long. Out of reviewer's hangup, I grimly read each one. Slaughter, mayhem, rape, and everyday sadism are casual events. In the first 100 pages, I tallied six murders, a pornographic episode, three instances of mayhem, and two of sadism. Since the flow of blood and the crunch of limbs quicken in the remaining five-sixths of this lumpy volume, it is conservative to estimate a grand total of at least 36 homicides, and similar amplifications of other categories of nauseating events.

As usual, Ludlum is high on the best-seller charts. Stacks of his latest effort greet browsers in the bookstores. To a cultural snob, such as myself, something exceptionally depressing is addressed by the fact that the Book-of-the-Month Club has adopted The Matarese Circle as a main selection….

Ludlum supplies no redeeming literary values to balance the vulgar sensationalism...