Product Description

Autumn 1943. Global espionage elite converge on Buenos Aires. Intense, high-level covert negotiations will soon bear dangerous fruit with the aid of expatriate German industrialist Erich Rhinemann. American agent David Spaulding will be there. His top-secret mission can bring the war to an explosive end. But what happens here in this city of assassins, double crosses, and erotic encounters is to be the most sinister and terrifying deal ever made between two nations at war. Quickly, the game changes, truths darken, hidden secrets emerge. And suddenly Spaulding is the man in between, the man furiously struggling for his sanity, the woman he loves, and his very life... the only man who can save the world from the horrible truth of The Rhinemann Exchange.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #45463 in Books
• Published on: 1989-07-01
• Released on: 1989-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780553280630
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
"A superb plot filled with exciting chases, double crosses, secret codes, and beautiful women....A picture of the beastliness underlying the espionage world, a world of brilliance without scruples, brutality without restraint." --Chicago Tribune -- Review

Review
"A superb plot filled with exciting chases, double crosses, secret codes, and beautiful women....A picture of the beastliness underlying the espionage world, a world of brilliance without scruples, brutality without restraint." —Chicago Tribune

From the Publisher
Autumn 1943. Global espionage elite converge on Buenos Aires. Intense, high-level covert negotiations will soon bear dangerous fruit with the aid of expatriate German industrialist Erich Rhinemann. American agent David Spaulding will be there. His top-secret mission can bring the war to an explosive end. But what happens here in this city of assassins, double crosses, and erotic encounters is to be the most sinister and terrifying deal ever made between two nations at war. Quickly, the game changes, truths darken, hidden secrets emerge. And suddenly Spaulding is the man in between, the man furiously struggling for his sanity, the woman he loves, and his very life... the only man who can save the world from the horrible truth of The Rhinemann Exchange.

"A superb plot filled with exciting chases, double crosses, secret codes, and beautiful women....A picture of the beastliness underlying the espionage world, a world of brilliance without scruples, brutality without restraint." --Chicago Tribune

Customer Reviews

Another Exciting Ludlum Book!
Ludlum has used a unique plot and a very original approach to writing this book. Both of the powers in World War II are in need of a product to have a sucessful war effort. The Nazis are in need of industrial diamond to finish Peenemunde and the Allies need a gyro guidance system in order to effectively bomb the Germans. The two sides are finally brought together and a deal is made. The two parties will meet in Argentina. David Spaulding an excellent agent in Spain is sent to Argentina by his government. He doesn't know the real purpose of the illegal transaction. The Nazis are going to trade the gyro system foe the industrial diamonds. In the meantime the Haganah(an underground Jewish group) brings Spaulding the real nature of the transaction. Spaulding is finally able to crash the deal. The Nazis lose thanks to Spaulding, with the help of the Haganah. This is a very good book that is definitely a page turner.Buy it,you will not be dissapointed.

The best of Ludlum
This was the first Ludlum book I read, and I think the best. It has a good plot, easy to understand characters and none of the confusing plots and paranoia that were so evident in his later books. This is a great read, a thriller up there with the Ipcress file and others of that genre.

Pot-boiling Thriller
Ludlum has written several other very good spy stories, but in my opinion, this is his best. The events he desribes which go to make up the story follow each other in a logical progression, and therefore it is easy to see why what came after was necessarily preceded by what came before, and you are not left with asking yourself "how did this happen"? The mystery is neatly unfolded. The characters are well-described and interesting.

The most basic premise of the story is the trade being arranged between the United States and Germany for materials critical to the war effort for both. The Germans need industrial diamonds for their Peenemunde rocket project, and the US needs a high-altitude gyroscope for its bombing runs, and an exchange is arranged in Buenos Aires, Argentina, a neutral venue. But our Man from Lisbon, Secret Agent David Spaulding is unaware of this treasonous act of helping the enemy by supplying them with the diamonds they need, because he is only aware of his assignment to bring back the gyroscope plans. But a very interested third party intervenes and makes him aware of the true nature of the deal, and from that point he has to deal with a new situation, and does he ever ! No review that I have read explicitly mentions the industrial treason on the part of a US manufacturer who can fulfill the contract for the gyroscope only by arranging this trade, but it is an important part of the story.

I would agree with some critics that, in broad outline, there is a sameness to all of Ludlum's works, but this is his genre - he writes spy novels. In this particular one, the plot is very interesting, the characters are distinguishable one from the other and are interesting as well, and they are believable.

From beginning to end, and throughout the middle, as well, it is a fast-paced, gripping tale, and a good read indeed.