Book Review: The Ambler Warning

Reviewed By: Wes Struebing

The Ambler Warning     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Robert Ludlum
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Thriller   Espionage
St. Martin's Press, Copyright Myn Pyn LLC

Harrison Ambler has escaped from the most tightly-secured psychiatric facility in the country, reserved for spies who have gone ‘round the bend and are too dangerous to just retire and leave to vagaries of the general public. But he isn't crazy – is he?

With the help of female psychiatrist on the staff, who passes him a security card, he manages to make his escape from the Parrish Island facility – only to realize his problems are just beginning. Not only is the CIA looking for him, but he doesn't seem to exist. No matter where he searches (usually with bad consequences) for himself, he gets the message, “Harrison Ambler is not found.” To add to the mix, the psychiatrist who helped him escape seems to be on the run, now, too, and they join forces.

It is a novel that girdles the globe, as most of Ludlum’s novels do, and the key to Ambler’s ultimate identity seems to be tied to a Taiwanese leader who seemed to be leading a double life the Political Stabilization Unit (Ambler’s former CIA unit) assassinated, and to the ultimate economic conference in Switzerland, at which the keynote speaker would be the new People’s Republic of China president, who is a progressive. Ludlum throws in enough real politics/ideology to make some of his scenario plausible, and captures very well the ambivalent feeling that many in the United States have toward the PRC – but, in the end, it is a typical Robert Ludlum novel – full of action and intrigue, one that is hard to put down, but not signifying anything deep. It is wonderful escape reading, and as long as one approaches the novel with that in mind, it is enjoyable.

Wes Struebing

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Wes Struebing