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.
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"This book starts with everything rolling and just continues along. It is very exciting. A complex scheme involving people from many countries who have been planted as sleeping spies for years comes together. The objective is to kill the American President, along with the British PM and the French president. Does it succeed? How many people are double crossed along the way? There's even a love story thrown in. The only problem is I find it difficult to read books of 600+ pages."
— Carmen (4 out of 5 stars)
" Didn't realize I hadn't read this one. Seemed very current, was surprised to see the copy date. Fun to have one of the originals again. "
— QueenAmidala, 2/20/2014" I thought it was horrible. The plot was decent, though far-fetched. The dialogue & narrative were trite, verbose & irritating. The book could easily have been condensed to 400 pages, rather than the 664 pages it was. When I started it, I thought, 'OK, this is bad, but I'll give it 100 pages to improve.' It didn't, but by then I was hooked on the plot itself. That's the reason I gave it 2 stars instead of 1, which I would have if I'd put it away when the thought first hit me. I'll never pick up another Robert Ludlum book. I give myself 1 star for wasting the time reading it. "
— Jess, 2/16/2014" Well written, but not as extensive as it could have been.... "
— Aparna, 2/8/2014" After reading the masterpiece novel "The Parsifal Mosaic", it was hard to think of the Scorpio Illusion as one of Ludlum's greatest books, but that does not mean I did not love it. I enjoyed this spy thriller very much. Got to love a great book. "
— Julius, 2/4/2014" An oldie but goodie. Much higher body count of high-level politicians than in any of his other books. "
— Mark, 1/22/2014" Robbie hasn't read this one. "
— Robbie, 1/22/2014" One of the worst books I've ever read. Extremely disappointing and absurdly farfetched. Total waste of my time to read it. Very disappointed after such great thrillers as the Bourne series. "
— Kevin, 1/17/2014" this was really bad, even by popular fiction standards. "
— Dan, 1/4/2014" I'm not a big spy novel kinda guy, but I must say that I truly enjoyed this book. Plenty of action and thoughtful character developement made this a page turner for me. Didn't matter that it was kind of long by todays standards; it kept me wanting more. "
— James, 12/20/2013" Very good, You have to pay attention but very very good... "
— Rachelle, 12/18/2013" Loved it. Definetely one of those that you can't put down until you've read the final word. "
— Brenda, 12/15/2013" Very readable..... very Ludlum. "
— Thom, 12/14/2013" One of my classics. A book never to let... "
— Rita, 11/18/2013" THE ONLY BOOK ON ACTION AND WAR THAT I'VE READ, AT LEAST BASED ON OUR ERA (this exceptuating Conan's Adventures and many MiddleAges-setupon books) "
— Dani, 11/13/2013" Also a good one. "
— Elvis, 8/2/2013" This is vintage Ludlum with the plot revolving around Bajaratt, a vicious female terrorist who is out to assassinate the President of the United States. The bodies fall often in this one. "
— Rae, 7/22/2013" Robert Ludlum never disappoints, another fine plot, great pageturner. "
— Vera, 5/29/2013" A fast paced fantastic read. I'll be looking for more of Robert's works. "
— Dj, 5/21/2013" After Bourne this is Ludlum's best novel is my opinion. It has everything you could want in one of these books. International espionage, assassination attempts, guns, etc. It doesn't try to be something that it isn't. Pure thrill and adventure without the verboseness of a Clancy novel. "
— James, 3/26/2013" I liked how the main character "Commander" Hawthorne kept it real during the book... especially not taking crap from other people and always sticking to his ideals. "
— Jose, 10/24/2012" Another evil conspiracy for world domination. "
— Jamie, 7/22/2012" Tyrell Hawthorne is a favorite Ludlum character . Why do I like CIAish - Naval intelligence officers? Wife is murdered and now Tryrell need to help protect the life of the POTUS. Interesting when read. Not sure if re-read is wanted or needed. "
— John, 6/28/2012" Another highly enjoyable Ludlum with all the twists & turns and good-guys-who-are-actually-bad-guys I have come to expect. The "world's most dangerous terrorist", Amaya Bajaratt, is a wonderfully deadly baddie and one of Ludlum's best characters to date. "
— Catherine, 4/18/2012Eric Van Lustbader is the author of more than twenty-five bestselling novels, including New York Times bestsellers The Ninja and The Testament. His novels have been translated into over twenty languages. He has also written several novels in Robert Ludlum’s highly successful Bourne series, including The Bourne Legacy, The Bourne Betrayal, The Bourne Sanction, and others. Before turning to writing full-time, he enjoyed a highly successful career in the New York City public school system, where he holds licenses in both elementary and early childhood education.
Michael Prichard is a Los Angeles-based actor who has played several thousand characters during his career, over one hundred of them in theater and film. He is primarily heard as an audiobook narrator, having recorded well over five hundred full-length books. His numerous awards and accolades include an Audie Award for Tears in the Darkness by Michael Norman and Elizabeth M. Norman and six AudioFile Earphones Awards. He was named a Top Ten Golden Voice by SmartMoney magazine. He holds an MFA in theater from the University of Southern California.