Robert Ludlum (May 25, 1927 – March 12, 2001) was the author of 29 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 theatre 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 and New York Times best-selling novelist Gayle Lynds ("The Coil", "Masquerade") created the Covert-One series: "The Hades Factor" (#1), "The Paris Option" (#3), and "The Altman Code" (#4). The series hero is Jon Smith, both a medical doctor and a U.S. army officer redeployed to work with a new, highly secret undercover agency called Covert-One.

With the exception of frequent gaps in his knowledge of firearms, 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, though the films depart quite significantly from the books. 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He died in 2001, allegedly with several unpublished manuscripts of his books.

For current information on posthumous releases see LudlumBooks.com and LudlumBooks.com/othernovels

Selected bibliography

Created by Robert Ludlum, Written by Eric Van Lustbader:

• The Bourne Legacy (2004)

By Ludlum, Published Posthmously:

• The Tristan Betrayal (2003)
• The Janson Directive (2002)
• The Sigma Protocol (October, 2001)

By Ludlum, Published During the Author's Lifetime († March 2001)

• The Prometheus Deception (2000)
• The Apocalypse Watch (1995)
• The Road To Omaha (1992)
• The Bourne Ultimatum (1990)
• The Icarus Agenda (1988)
• The Bourne Supremacy (1986)
• The Parsifal Mosaic (1982)
• The Bourne Identity (1980)
• The Matarese Circle (1979)
• The Gemini Contenders (1979)
• The Holcroft Covenant (1978)
• The Chancellor Manuscript (1977)
• The Road to Gandolfo (1975)
• The Cry of the Halidon (1974)
• The Osterman Weekend (1972)
• The Scarlatti Inheritance (1971)
• The Scorpio Illusion

External links

• Official website of Robert Ludlum
• Official website of Gayle Lynds
• IMDb entry