Product Description

Twenty years ago, top agents from the CIA and KGB banded together to bring down the Matarese Circle, an international cabal of powerbrokers and assassins whose sole objective was to achieve worldwide economic domination. Now the bloody Matarese dynasty is back--and the only man with the power to stop it may have already run out of time....

CIA case officer Cameron Pryce is hot on the trail of the new Matarese alliance. His only chance to terminate its ruthless activities is to follow the trail of blood money and stone-cold killers right to the heart of its deadly conspiracy.

From the Hamptons to London's Belgrave Square, Matarese assassins have already struck with brutal efficiency, eliminating all who stand in their way. Their chain of violence is impossible to stop--until Pryce gets a rare break. One of the Matarese's victims survives long enough to whisper dying words that will blow the case wide open: the top secret code name for legendary retired CIA agent Brandon Scofield--the only man who has ever infiltrated the Matarese inner circle and lived to tell about it.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #291078 in Books
• Published on: 1998-07-01
• Released on: 1998-07-01
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 6.88" h x 1.22" w x 4.19" l, .63 pounds
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 576 pages

From Amazon.com
In the audio version of Robert Ludlum's espionage thriller, The Matarese Countdown, the confident voice of actor Stephen Lang (Broadway credits include Hamlet, Death of a Salesman, and A Few Good Men) sets the stage. "He jumped out of the raft and pulled it between the rocks to the sand, securing it to the trunk of a palm ... it was time for the hunt, and hopefully luck would be part of it." And so the chase is on. Lang leads us through a suspenseful tale of inbred corporate corruption and free-market murder.

With his customary polish, Ludlum has devised a mind-bending plot that twists and turns through a complex maze of deadly consequences, pitting his team of heroes against a vicious and all-powerful evil empire. As in the popular prequel, The Matarese Circle, Lang uses his impressive vocal talents to create characters whose accented voices, regional dialects, and identifiable speech patterns heighten the drama. Some might consider the performance over the top, but it is nonetheless skillful and helps carry the action in this far-reaching tale of international intrigue. (Running time: nine hours, six cassettes) -- George Laney

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From AudioFile
THE MATARESE COUNTDOWN continues the story of THE MATARESE CIRCLE twenty years later with Baywolf Agate and Cameron Pryce tracking down the descendents of a secret group who continue to try to destroy the fabric of society. Stephen Lang's deep, emotive voice draws the listener into the web of deceit and conspiracy, which involves every facet of the world's economy and politics. Lang's performance captures the tension between good and evil that Ludlum has created. This tension, combined with the plot, becomes an unstoppable force that feeds upon itself until it erupts in the destruction of the Matarese, for now. M.B.K. (c) AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine