The Scorpio Illusion

A Novel

By: Robert Ludlum

Narrated by: Michael Prichard

Length: 19 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

Amaya Bajaratt is beautiful, elusive, deadly - and she has set in motion a chilling conspiracy that a desperate government cannot stop. An accomplished assassin and mistress of disguise and deception, she has set in motion the boldest act of terrorism yet conceived.

Tyrell Hawthorne was a naval intelligence officer - one of the best - until the rainswept night in Amsterdam when his wife was murdered, an innocent victim of the games spies play. Since then he's been sailing charters in the islands. Now he's called out of retirement for one last assignment. For Hawthorne is the only man alive who can track down the world's most dangerous terrorist.

Now, with his life and the life of the President hanging in the balance, Hawthorne must follow Amanya's serpentine trail, a path of seduction, betrayal, an instant death.

Racing from a millionaire recluse's fortress to the social whirl of Palm Beach and from the Oval Office to treacherous Caribbean waters, Hawthorne will uncover a sinister network of well-placed men and women who exist to help this consummate killer - and the shattering truth behind the Scorpio Illusion.

©1994 Robert Ludlum (P)2012 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Don't ever begin a Ludlum novel if you have to go to work the next day." ( Chicago Sun Times)

"Breakneck...readablity." (The New York Times Book Review)

"A high-voltage tale of drama and suspense." (The Denver Post)

skip this book

Conclusion: skip this book

Why? First, the narration is awful. You won't know what character is speaking and it causes a lot of confusion.

Second, the story does not flow very well, the characters are not very well developed and the scenes are not set clearly.

terrible narration

Let me know if the story was good, because I can't get past the first 10 mins. The narration is so bad. There's little inflection, all characters sound the same and sometimes I couldn't even understand what was he was saying.

Very predictable

It may just be the bad narrator, (this guy sounds like a 1950???s news caster), but the story was very predictable. Not up to standards of his other books at all.
The story does not flow and the narrator stops and starts so sharply it makes it hard to listen too.

Great Story!

Classic Robert Ludlum! A really great story with believable characters and plot line. You almost feel apart of the story as you're reading it.

Scorpio illusion

amazing loved every minute of it could not put it down a little bit long

Not impressed.

Not his best. Story didn’t come together until about half way. Disjointed prior to that. Several plots that ended no where and ultimately unnecessary. Seemed they were created to fill up space. Also very predictable without any twists or surprises.

Great Cloak and dagger thriller.

Great semi-political thriller. Classic Ludlum, has the perfect mix of spy cloak and dagger action, mystery, and political manipulation.

Scorpio Illusion

Not up to par with what I’m used to from Robert Ludlum. Story teller was mediocre.

Let me start...

by saying that I love the Ludlum genre. And I’m very sorry that this one doesn’t fit the genre. It’s simply off. And when everyone calls each other “My darling”, gotta say, it’s weird.

Bad reader

I’m not sure how someone can read an entire book out loud and never change his inflection,his range, or not ever have feelings come out in his voice when reading. Every person sounds the same, one can’t tell when one person stops talking and another starts as everyone sounds the same. He ruined the book for me. I love Ludlum, but I couldn’t listen to much of this one.