Robert Ludlum
Robert Ludlum (May 25, 1927 - March 12, 2001) was the author of 21 spy fiction novels. There are more than 210 million of his books in print, and they have been translated into 32 languages. Ludlum was once a theatrical actor and producer, and in an interview, he spoke of knowing what the public wanted from his cinema experiences, so he wrote that into his novels. His books mainly feature the hero up against tremendous odds, and have a lot of violence and action. Most of his books are set in the time of the Cold War, and feature real characters with fiction built around them, eg. Rene Bergeron and Carlos the Jackal in The Bourne Identity.
He is most famous for his Bourne Trilogy, and like Tom Clancy, most of his books have been commercially successful while not receiving the critical acclaim found by some other writers of the genre, most notably John Le Carre. He also started the Covert One series, detailing terrorism being dealt with by trained covert agents. He co-wrote them with Philip Shelby and Gayle Lynds.
All of his novels are meticulously researched, replete with technical details, physical and biological details, including research on amnesia for The Bourne Identity. Some of his novels have been made into films, including The Osterman Weekend, The Holcroft Covenant, The Bourne Identity, and The Bourne Supremacy. Of all that have been translated onto screen, the Bourne series starring Matt Damon (The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy) has been the most successful commercially and critically. In 1988, a mini-series adaptation of The Bourne Identity which is more faithful to the book was released. Ludlum executive produced the 2002 version. The Belgian comic series XIII was loosely based on The Bourne Identity.
He died in 2001, with several unpublished manuscripts of his books, including the Janson Directive, and the Covert One series.
Selected bibliography
