The Prometheus Deception
By Robert Ludlum
St. Martin's Press, $27.95
ISBN 031225346X

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Nicholas Bryson is a tweedy professor at an upper-crust college in Western Pennsylvania—or is he? Nicholas Bryson is a gunrunner, supplying arms to middle eastern terrorist groups—or is he? Nicholas Bryson is an operative of the Directorate, an ultrasecret intelligence agency working unbeknownst to the C.I.A.—or is he? Nicholas Bryson is a C.I.A. agent working against the Directorate—or is he? Could Bryson actually be a rogue agent, a single-minded killer acting out his delusions upon the world stage, seeking revenge against imaginary enemies?

Sound confusing? Well it is, and deliberately so; it's The Prometheus Deception, the newest thriller from best-selling author Robert Ludlum. The author of such novels as The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Scarlatti Inheritance, Ludlum specializes in convoluted plots, double crosses and loners working both sides of the law in the interests of justice. In this case, Nick Bryson, a forcibly retired special agent, is working quietly as a college professor until he is dragged out of retirement and confronted with evidence that his entire career has been a lie. The Directorate has been using him as a pawn to work against his country's interests. While uncovering this conspiracy, Bryson finds evidence of a larger conspiracy, one that threatens the freedom of people everywhere, and one that he may be able to stop, if he can only figure out who to trust.

The Prometheus Deception is full of Ludlum's trademarks: beautiful women, fast cars, exotic weapons, double-dealing government men and a plot rooted in today's cyberworld. Robert Ludlum's novels rule the bestseller lists, and this book should be no exception.