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Robert Ludlum, though deceased, left enough work in progress that his creative legacy continues to build even after his death. THE BANCROFT STRATEGY, the latest of the post-mortem offerings published under his name, contains the trademark elements of a Ludlum novel --- grand concepts, deceptions and action --- as well as a few twists to keep the pages turning and the reader guessing.
In its first half, THE BANCROFT STRATEGY proceeds along two tracks that slowly begin to intersect. The first concerns Todd Belknap, a(n) (in)famous Consular Operations field agent who doesn't play well with others while employed with a clandestine agency that thrives on teamwork. Belknap finds himself out of a job when one of his operations goes wrong. At the same time, however, Belknap discovers that Jared Rinehart, another legendary agent --- and a man to whom Belknap owes his life --- has been abducted while working an undercover mission. When he learns that Rinehart is to be left to his fate, Belknap, without official resources or backup, begins a one-man operation to rescue Rinehart, racing against time to pull him from the clutches of a shadowy entity known only as Genesis.
Meanwhile, the second track of THE BANCROFT STRATEGY proceeds at a more sedate pace. Andrea Bancroft is an up-and-coming hedge fund analyst who is suddenly offered a chair on a Bancroft family foundation run by Paul Bancroft, the family patriarch. Andrea had no previous contact with that branch of her family and is intrigued. The foundation, known as a benign think tank dedicated to strategic resolution of the world's ills, is offering Andrea a salary beyond anything for which she could have wished or hoped. However, she soon learns that there is a darker side to the foundation, one that seems to be linked to a mysterious individual named Genesis.
As Andrea's investigation into the Foundation intersects with Belknap's pursuit of Reinhart's abductors, they both find they are being drawn deeper and deeper into a dangerous quagmire that has a common source, and that the success or failure of their respective missions will create repercussions that will resonate far beyond their lives.
While there are parts of THE BANCROFT STRATEGY that don't quite work --- the mashup of Belknap and Bancroft seems a bit forced --- one gets so carried away in the derring-do that takes place here that once having started this novel it is difficult to stop until the end. There are also a couple of occurrences that you'll never see coming that make the book worth reading. While it may not win Ludlum any new readers at this late date, THE BANCROFT STRATEGY will certainly keep the faithful happy.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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