The Chancellor Manuscript: A Novel

I’m a big fan of Ludlum (his original books) and this is one of his best. I was so happy to re-read it as it came out so long ago. Great book!

This book is good but the Kindle version could use a good proofreader. Many mistakes found. The story is very exciting and kept my attention until the end. However, it was very convoluted and confusing at times. If you like complicated stories, you will love this book. The characters were very interesting.

This book was written in the 1970’s but is still captivating and timeless. Names have changed, but the plot still resonates. The twist and turns will keep you guessing right up to the end You won’t want to put it down. Only problem is exiting, too many typing errors in the text. Find better proofreaders.

Words are too fine to read

I opened this book in a summer’s weekend in 1978 and was unable to put it down. I had read Ludlum books before, in fact many of them most of the time, I could do so at my leisure. The Chancellor Manuscript was different. Quite different. I was not able to stop reading, I was captivated and, frankly, terrified. I read it straight through with all the lights and radio on in my apartment all night and well into the next day. I was scared for several days following, actually for sometime. What Ludlum wrote about, to me at the time was not fictional - it was reality. I had witnessed, lived through, the assassinations of JFK, Malcolm X, MLK, RFK. I no longer had any faith in the democracy that I had been taught and brought up in. When RFK was assassinated it affected our family for the rest of our lives. I believe, as a result of my experience, that those assassinations changed this country in significant ways at least in and my ongoing lifetime. The rich and powerful today, as well as those who passionately feel that think they know what is good for us, remain strong and are greater in number; they are more prevalent, present and live frighteningly amongst us, over fifty years later, more so than the very same dynamic which did the damage so many years ago. Recently, I decided to read this book for the second time. I felt enough time had passed. Truthfully, I did not know if it would terrify me today, so I was quietly careful. It kept my attention as it had before, however, I was able to stretch the enjoyment, the profoundness of Ludlum’s wonderful writing over a few days even though I read in silence, however, I left the nightlights on.

Good book, worth reading. Read a summary on Wikipedia. I owned all of Ludlum's books, donated all. Decades later I'm rereading many except the Bourne trilogy (excellent, no desire to reread ... straight forward plots). I rank this book below the Matarese Circle/Countdown, Parsifal Mosaic, Icarus Agenda, Acopolypse Watch. Books written later than these were less well structured and developed, sometimes a bit confused, sometimes missing dotted lines to plausibly connect events (many books beg belief for connectivity). I've read speculations about Ludlum's health affecting the books. Don't know if true, doesn't matter. The later books are enjoyable, worth reading ... not worth rereading after 10+ years. II haven't gotten to other earlier books except the Holcroft Convenant which wasn't as attention holding as Chancellor, maybe 3.5-4*. You decide.

I am hooked on Robert Ludlum's books. I gave up romance after I turned 20, moved on to murder mysteries (Ellery Queen genre), but I never experienced an author that could keep me awake until 3:00 in the morning, not only with this book--but with all of them! I have read The Chancellor Manuscripts, all three of the series of the Bourne books, and just finished the Holcroft Covenant, which teases and hints at a sequel in the last few pages, and I'm crossing my fingers there is one (have to still check out his list of books). The twist, as expected in any Ludlum novel, occurs about half-way through the book, from a direction the reader would never guess, and involves a woman (the hero always has to get his gal in Ludlum's novels!), and this right after he experiences something that forces him to run for his life, hide from those he loves, and/or forces him to cut his communications from any normal life that the hero would normally use if this was real life. While Ludlum's books smack of a 'formula,' I'm hooked--you know that something unusual is going to happen to the main character, he's going to be forced to give up his normal life to go out and 'save the world,' he'll use life-long aquaintances for help throughout the book (although about 85% end up in a morgue by the end of the story), there's lots of shooting of the bad guys, a damsel in distress who will initially hate or distrust the main character, then fall in love with him, and after which everybody shoots at each other and more bad and good guys die, then the hero either ends up being 'savior' of the world, or he ends up chopped to pieces (ouch), but survives to take on the bad guys again. Don't try this plot at home--only Ludlum can add enough realistic and believable imagery to convince you of the reality of the story with his details. I was surprised that this is the only book of Ludlum's so far to have the scenery completely fall within the continental USA versus his European settings for all his other books. While the details are pretty amibiguous in this book, they are realistic enough to give you a feel for the location (versus his precise details and descriptions of European sites in his other novels). If you haven't tried a Ludlum novel, pick one up--any one, and enjoy an espionage thriller that only a master like Ludlum can write.

A true masterpiece of writing and thinking. Every twist and turn leads you in a different direction. It is not until the last page that all is known and clear. (No peaking) !!!

Overly complicated plot, and silly at times.

Best piece by Ludlum.

Real " can't put down thriller".

Spannend, aber nicht so fesselnd, wie viele andere Ludlum-Bücher. Relativ wenig "Kampfszenen". Handlung nnicht so komplex oder verworren wie z.B. in der Bourne -Trilogie. Dennoch sehr lesenswert, wenn man Ludlum mag.

Cracking good read....typical early Ludlum, fast moving with twist and turns and always a happy ending. Well recommended