Most critics and reviewers agree that Ludlum thrillers seem "more assembled than written—a little sex here, a lot of violence there, a scattering of irony throughout and more sudden plot twists than seem entirely reasonable." Reading Ludlum has been likened to watching a blacksmith forge a very long chain. The making of the first few links may arrest one's attention since what the author lacks in finesse and artistry he makes up in noise and brute energy, but the only suspense lies in how long he will keep at it. Another reviewer proposed this definition of a ludlum: "a long, turgidly written, frantically overplotted novel, the literary equivalent of seriously wielding a plumber's helper."

If anything, the reception has grown more acerbic over the years. Early reviewers, while not blind to the author's formulaic thrills, appreciated the rapidity of his narration, the inventiveness of intrigue, occasional...