I’m a big Robert Ludlum fan. I got into him recently, thanks to the Bourne Identity movies, and have finished five of his novels in the last half year.

One of his novels I did not finish was “The Road To Gandolfo.” I saw it in the library and was curious when it said it was a comedy, since normally he does suspense-thriller stuff like Bourne. In the preface, Ludlum explained how he wanted the book to be serious at first but that as he was reading his material, he fell on the floor laughing at every page.

I’m happy he was amused.

It wasn’t funny. It wasn’t close to being funny. Had it not stated on the jacket and preface it was a comedy, I wouldn’t have known. There’s a bigger problem, though. It would’ve had to be the best thing this side of Mark Twain for me to have enjoyed it since the author puffed himself up so much. It’s not nice to say, but I went in with a bad attitude even before I was on page one. This is why I’m a believer in UPOD - under promise, over deliver.

If you do want to get into Ludlum, I recommend The Holcroft Covenant even over Bourne. Holcroft is my favorite low-brow action-adventure novel ever, displacing Red Storm Rising ( which had the spot since I was 15). Holcroft was amazing throughout and the last 25 pages were unbelievable.