Evan Kendrick is a larger-than-life all American hero, a la Rambo (minus muscles plus brain and wit), he gets involved in a commando operation in Oman, and from then on lots of other trouble.

During the adventure he joins forces with one Kahlela Adrienne Rashad, a special agent, half Egyptian Arab and half American. He is also reunited with a business partner, father figure, Emmanuel Weingrass, a Jewish, eighty-something old man with connections to the Mossad and impressive fighting skills, both physical and verbal.

Conspiracy is the name of the game and it keeps going on and on. I think what made me buy this book years ago was the Arab and Middle East connection, but the treatment of the region was extremely shallow. Yes, duh, what did I expect? What is really funny however is the rendering of Arabic in some of the dialogue, for example, a seedy neighbourhood in Masqat is transliterated as الشارع المش كويس literally : the no-good street, as if we Arabs lack the imagination and the tact to call it anything else. Besides who came up with خليلة Kahlela as an Arabic name? and teaching us that it is pronounced Kai-Layla or something like that? It actually means mistress (as in lover) among other things, and no Arab man in his right mind will call his daughter that name.

I still have three Ludlums to get through, but then no more, so help me god.