The Matarese Countdown

The Story

The Matarese Circle,Robert Ludlum's multimillion-copy spellbinder, introduced a treacherous international cabal of powerbrokers and their hired assassins.ááMore than twenty years ago, the top CIA and KGB agents joined together to ensure that, in an explosive act, the Matarese conspiracy went up in flames.ááBut now Robert Ludlum, the unsurpassed master of suspense, returns with a stunning thriller for the twenty-first century. . . and like a phoenix from the ashes, the terror has reappeared. Secret deals are in the making, massive mysterious transactions steeped in corruption and murder.ááThe players stand at the highest pinnacles of global finance and government.ááIt is an unprecedented consolidation of money, power, and ruthlessness.ááTheir ultimate aim: worldwide economic domination and all it entails. . . by whatever means necessary. The Matarese dynasty is back in all its glory and evil.ááAnd the one man with enough knowledge to stop it, CIA case officer Cameron Pryce, may not have enough time.ááThe Matarese countdown has begun and Pryce's only chance to cut it off is to follow the trail of blood money and stone-cold killers to the heart of this deadliest conspiracy. From the Hamptons to Monte Carlo to London's Belgrave Square, Matarese assassins have already struck with brutal efficiency, eliminating all who stand in their way.ááBut on Spain's Costa del Sol, one victim survived long enough to breathe these dying words: 'Find Beowulf Agate' --words that reverberate all the way to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.ááBeowulf Agate is the code name for legendary retired agent Brandon Scofield, the only man ever to penetrate the Matarese and survive. Now Cameron Pryce has to draw Scofield and his wife, Antonia, out of their Caribbean paradise hideaway and back to a place they thought they'd never have to go again--back into the Matarese circle of death.ááFor from the oil fields of the Persian Gulf to the boardrooms of Manhattan, from the hills of Corsica to the halls of power in Washington, the circle is closing, the noose is tightening, the panic is spreading. And Pryce has made a chilling discovery: the Matarese have broken new ground. . .deep inside the CIA. The Matarese Countdownis Robert Ludlum at his best, as he delivers a terrifying and persuasive vision of worldwide financial mastery that could only happen today.