Bradley+S

=Bradley S's 9th Grade Book Review= media type="file" key="brads-bookreview-0910.mp3" width="240" height="20"

What do you get when veteran lawyers try to fight veteran generals from the past? You get //The Aquitaine Progression// by Robert Ludlum. //The Aquitaine Progression// is about generals of World War 2 on both sides of the war under the command of the "warlord of Saigon" -George Marcus Delavane butcher of thousands. Their ultimate goal? World Domination of course. And only one man can stop them, Joel Converse. This book, like all of Ludlum's other books, has a very suspenseful and interesting plot. The plot is not another cliche plot associated with world domination, but is actually possible. It takes unexpected turns at random points and even though what a character may do seems entirely predictable, he never does it but takes a turn and deepens an already mysterious plot. The plot goes much deeper than what is really already on the surface. The only bad thing to this is that it can be a little confusing at times. With the main plot based on trying to take down a corporation legally, it can be a little confusing reading about all the lawyer talk. But other than this minor exception, the plot stays clear, concise, and attention grabbing. The plot is can also be a little boring at times. Although the dialogue does tie things together it can be a struggle to get through it. The characters of this book is a new and fresh idea of characters of other books used in the past. The main character, Joel Converse, is a lawyer who is a former POW (prisoner of war) of Vietnam. This adds some mystery and unpredictability to his potentially crazy mental state. This means that Converse can do something that you may not expect him to do. The other characters, like all the generals, appear to be nice on the outside while really being trained and cold-blooded killers on the inside. This creates plenty of suspense as you wait for the potentially lethal strike of violence from really kind and respectful people. All the characters in this book are unpredictable and well defined. There is no repetition of the characters of this book compared to other books. They are truly superb. If you have read some of the other books that Ludlum has written, you may notice that the settings are alike. The settings of this book compared to his other books are of central and northern Europe. The cities are repeated throughout his books such as Paris, Geneva, and Bonn. If you don't mind the repetition, the cities and places that Converse visits are described in detail and have a significant impact on Converse's methods. For example, Converse doesn't speak any other language other than English so he has to find other people to translate for him. This usually turns out to be a problem. The settings as you see greatly impact the whole story. This book is a good choice for readers who like mystery, action and adventure, and who don't mind blood and gore. If this book were a movie, it would be rated R, so it is not advisable to let young children read it. Also, this book does contain big and scary words, so an older audience is recommended. Overall, this book is a good read. You may have to suffer through the confusing lawyer talk and some of the boring dialogue, but once you see through that your on a thrilling roller coaster ride through the dark streets of Europe. I would definitely recommend this book. It is a fantastic mystery with plenty of action. Overall, a great book.