Whatever - a page-turner
I understand that people feel betrayed, etc. I had no idea who Ludlum was, this was just somehow at the top of the stack of paperbacks that have been waiting around a few years to be read.
I started in and was soon fascinated by Hal Ambler's identity crisis. What does it mean to be me? And then all of his adventures skirting so-called "security", that was very enjoyable. And, my gosh, when do we have a zero-knowledge proof figuring into a story?
It was so enjoyable (not deep, just enjoyable) that I took the train two days in order to finish it off!
Worst Ludlum Book
This book is absolutely horrible. I have read many Ludlum novels and while they are all over the top with reagards to the superhero powers of their main characters, they are entertaining. This one is NOT.
It centers around Harrison Ambler who is held in a government psychiatric hospital, escapes in the first chapter and then proceeds to discover that he does not exist. It's a slight twist on the Bourne idea. In this case, Ambler remembers who he is, but there is no record of him anywhere; even his face is not recognizable to himself. Ambler then goes on for the rest of the book trying to find out who he really is.
The story bounces back and forth among various parties (Ambler, the Chinese, the assasin) with no real congruity. I am constantly asking "what the heck is going on?". I have been listening to the story on CD and I sometimes blank out on entire chapters and find it makes no difference. There is no real "goal" or mission that Ambler is on other than trying to find out who he really is. And I think that is precisely what makes the story so boring. No path. No direction.
Skip this one. It simply is not worth the effort.
Didn't even finish reading it
This is the first book I didn't finish. I always finish books, slightly feeling like I can't read a different book until I read the one I've started. But there's a first for everything.
The Ambler Warning starts out with Ambler in some kind of mental hospital/prison where he has been for about 4 years, never interacting with anyone but doctors and some nurses. His memory is now pretty shaky and he hasn't even seen his own face during this time. He's been put here as some kind of cover-up that only Ludlum can imagine. He conveniently makes friends with the medication nurse who helps him escape. True to Ludlum style, Ambler finds this nurse after he escapes and they run off together (after she throws herself at him) on an adventure to discover his past, who sent him to the mental hospital, why was he sent there, and how he's going to clear his name. Of course, the two shack up together (I have serious problems with how Ludlum writes women in his all of his books, but that's a whole other problem.) While Jason Bourne is the "chameleon", Ambler has the "super power" of observation. **That is the only really cool thing about this book.** He can "see" if someone is lying. He can "see" through people. Is this why he was locked up? memory changed? appearance changed?
The sequence of events are all too convenient. Anytime Ambler or someone else is close to seeing that "Wow, Ambler has been set up" they get killed. I read the first 3/4 of the book. I only read that much just because I wanted to see how it ended and to just see it end. But, I was just board with it. The book could have easily been half the size and it would have been a much better book. Ludlum just fills the book with so much that when Ambler "discovers" certain facts, the reader already saw this coming forever ago. The "twist" that everyone talks about was so obvious--I asked my husband who had read it if I was correct, and was. Then I put the book down and moved.
I wanted to be Ambler...
I thought this book was pretty cool. I wanted to be the main character or at least have his abilities. I enjoyed reading it and would recommend it to a friend. I might even keep it and read it again someday.
Ambler Warning degrades Ludlum's name
I bought this thinking it was, at the very least, an unfinished Ludlum novel. Boy was I disappointed! I had no idea 'authors', who are either in witness protection or too ashamed to use their real names, were allowed to peddle books using Ludlum's good name??? Aside from the cliched opening escape and the highly predictable ending, the author of 'The Ambler Warning' seems to want to impress his/her readers by using dozens upon dozens of the most obscure and arcane words he/she can find in his/her thesaurus. Now I have a pretty good vocabulary, but having to put this book down every 10-15 minutes to look up words just made the reading experience annoying. I, for one, will not read/purchase another novel not written by the master himself!
(77 reviews)
