bmgoodyear's review
2.0
Enjoyable, but I think I may have enjoyed it more if I had a bit more background by starting this series from the beginning.
brettt's review
1.0
Eric Van Lustbader has been a name at the top of the political and suspense thriller genre since his early 30s. He was selected by the Robert Ludlum estate to continue writing the adventures of Ludlum's super-assassin Jason Bourne following Ludlum's death in 2001, as well as to finish some of Ludlum's incomplete manuscripts.
Other than these novels, Van Lustbader has focused on stories with Eastern or martial arts themes, but in 2008 he began writing about U.S. ATF agent Jack McClure and his special relationship with President-elect Edward Carson and Carson's daughter Alli. Blood Trust is the third Carson-McClure novel and brings the pair into a secret operation against an Albanian crimelord heavily involved in human trafficking. Alli has been training to become a federal agent herself but faces a charge she murdered a man she had been casually dating. McClure must help her clear her name and uncover the origins of the plot, which will connect to the operation against the crimelord.
Reading Blood Trust, it's hard to see what the Ludlum estate saw in Van Lustbader that led them to say, "That's the guy for us!" Ludlum could be long winded and include one too many infodump speeches along the way in his stories, but it was almost always possible to know where the story was going and what was happening along the way. Pivotal characters appear in Blood Trust well after there's room for them, and others disappear just as suddenly. There are a least three nefarious plots rattling around inside the narrative that cross back and forth along each other beyond any ability to keep track. Both Jack and Alli have conversations with Emma, Jack's dead daughter -- it's hard to tell if they're projecting, hallucinating, daydreaming or really talking to a ghost. But not as hard as it is to care.
Original available here.
Other than these novels, Van Lustbader has focused on stories with Eastern or martial arts themes, but in 2008 he began writing about U.S. ATF agent Jack McClure and his special relationship with President-elect Edward Carson and Carson's daughter Alli. Blood Trust is the third Carson-McClure novel and brings the pair into a secret operation against an Albanian crimelord heavily involved in human trafficking. Alli has been training to become a federal agent herself but faces a charge she murdered a man she had been casually dating. McClure must help her clear her name and uncover the origins of the plot, which will connect to the operation against the crimelord.
Reading Blood Trust, it's hard to see what the Ludlum estate saw in Van Lustbader that led them to say, "That's the guy for us!" Ludlum could be long winded and include one too many infodump speeches along the way in his stories, but it was almost always possible to know where the story was going and what was happening along the way. Pivotal characters appear in Blood Trust well after there's room for them, and others disappear just as suddenly. There are a least three nefarious plots rattling around inside the narrative that cross back and forth along each other beyond any ability to keep track. Both Jack and Alli have conversations with Emma, Jack's dead daughter -- it's hard to tell if they're projecting, hallucinating, daydreaming or really talking to a ghost. But not as hard as it is to care.
Original available here.
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