Product Description

In a secret room in Washington DC John Tanner is asked to stake his life - and those of his wife and children - on a gamble whose goals and risks no one will fully reveal to him. In a small suburban town, where only the nicest people live, friends, neighbours, everyone and anyone could be part of a monstrous conspiracy of international evil. The machinery has already been set in motion. And at stake is the very existence of America - and the future of the entire free world...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #144103 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

About the Author
After a successful career in the theatre, Robert Ludlum launched his career as a bestselling writer with THE SCARLATTI INHERITANCE in 1971, the first of 22 consecutive international bestsellers. Robert sadly passed away in March 2001.

Customer Reviews

This is a MUST for any thriller reader!
This is one of my favourite all time thrillers, along side such books as Forsyth's 'The ODESSA File' and John Sandford's 'Rules of Prey'. John Tanner, a television network manager, is about to have a friendly reunion that only happens once in a while - an Osterman Weekend - where four families, including Tanner's own, come together to have a good time. Everything's running as normal until the CIA step in and tell him that all of his friends arriving for the weekend are suspected soviet extremists in an operation known as Omega, who will stop at nothing to succeed in their mission, even if it means murder. Tanner has to find out who are his true friends and who are his enemies over the course of the weekend, but he is not being told everything. The plot goes even deeper than he expected... The twist is so huge that you'll be left stunned. Ludlum's talent as a master thriller writer is firmly established here, and it isn't a one off. If you like this, you'll love Ludlum's 'The Matarese Circle'.

Aggghhhh!
It's only a matter of time before National Lampoon do what they did to Tolkien and Frank Herbert to dear old Robert Ludlum. This guys has done the time and is nothing less than the icon of icons...

When my eldest was tiny I made this joke about reading Robert Ludlum to him for bedtime stories - only it was only half a joke - with the forseeable result that he now has an enyclodaedic knowledge of military aircraft, small hand guns, and has grown up wanting to be an arms dealer....

He's still very sweet though.

I have said nothing if I say that this man has single handedly defined a whole genre of film and other (there's that word again) associated iconography, which is all literature, rarely transmogrified into cinema.

I have almost never regretted picking up one of his paper bricks up and reading myself senseless with it. It's especially good for when exams are pending,and you need some lubricious diversion. And, after all, who made that phone call last night? Was it a wrong number? Your kid over on the other block going to tell you she'll be at her friends for tea?

No way. It was a member of Mossad keeping checks on you. Who was that guy who bumped into you at the checkout? You know, that guy with the East German accent?

And who the hell were those guys at the bus stop, anyway?

a little confusing
The Osterman weekend is not a bad story, with plenty of sudden shocks and plot twists. The only thing is I finished wondering how and why the Tanners and their friends had come to be targeted in the first place. Maybe I missed something in the story but I didn't quite get this bit. The other thing that is a little bit confusing is the way the story jumps forward an hour or so with no cut from one point to the next. For example one minute someone is being shot at, in the next paragraph they are explaining things to the police. This works ok in films as you can see the change, but can catch you out in a book. I may benefit from reading it a 2nd time, but for now I'm still a bit lost on the whole thing.