Monday, March 24, 2014

Review - Robert Ludlum's The Janson Option

Robert Ludlum's The Janson Option
By Paul Garrison
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Pub. Date: March 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-0446564489
Pages: 368

Review:

Author Robert Ludlum died over a decade, but stories based on his characters and ideas are still being published; written by other authors; similar to the ghostwritten V.C. Andrews’s paperbacks or the recent continuation of Robert P. Parker's book series. Last week, Grand Central Publishing released the third installment in the Janson series, titled The Janson Option.

The first book in the series, The Janson Directive, was published posthumous, a year after the author's death. Author Paul Garrison stepped into Ludlum's shoes to pen the sequel, The Janson Command, in 2012 and returned to write the third installment.

The Janson Option centers on ex-Navy Seal and former member of the U.S. government covert agency, Consular Operations, who now spends his time as a corporate security consultant. This time around Janson is hired by the president of the petroleum division of American Synergy Corp., Kingsman Helms, to help rescue his wife, Allegra Helms.

Allegra is a 30-year-old Italian countess, whose last known whereabouts was aboard the yacht Tarantula when it was hijacked by the Somali pirate Maxammed and his goons in the Indian Ocean. This sort of rescue mission would typically be easy for Janson and his partner, Jessica Kincaid, but they encounter several twists and turns around every corner.

I have to admit that I have never heard of the series before this book. The only Robert Ludlum books I have ever read were the original Bourne trilogy, though I do own a few of the later sequels written by Eric Van Lustbader. The Janson Option is a cross between the Bourne books and a James Bond adventure. The author, Paul Garrison, does his best to mimic Ludlum's writing style, while at the same time making the novel his own. For me, the book started out a bit slow, but it became interesting about midway. Overall, I thought The Janson Option was a thrilling adventure, but the pacing can be a bit of a distraction.


*Disclaimer - I received a complimentary copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.


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