The Scorpio Illusion: A Novel

The Scorpio Illusion: A Novel

ReviewDon't ever begin a Ludlum novel if you have to go to work the next day.-Chicago Sun Times.Breakneck... readablity.-The New York Times Book Reveiw.A high-voltage tale of drama and suspense.-The Denver Post.Amaya Bajaratt is beautiful, elusive, deadly-and she has set in motion a chilling conspiracy that a desperate government cannot stop. An accomplished assassin and mistress of disguise and deception, she has set in motion the boldest act of terrorism yet conceived.Tyrell Hawthorne was a naval intelligence officer-one of the best-until the rainswept night in Amsterdam when his wife was murdered, an innocent victim of the games spies play. Since then he's been sailing charters in the islands. Now he's called out of retirement for one last assignment. For Hawthorne is the only man alive who can track down the world's most dangerous terrorist.Now, with his life and the life of the President hanging in the balance, Hawthorne must follow Amanya's serpentine trail, a path of seduction, betrayal, an instant death.Racing from a millionaire recluse's fortress to the social whirl of Palm Beach and from the Oval Office to treacherous Caribbean waters, Hawthorne will uncover a sinister network of well-placed men and women who exist to help this consummate killer-and the shattering truth behind the Scorpio Illusion.From Publishers WeeklyLudlum's latest thriller sold 600,000 copies in hardcover.Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.From the PublisherDon't ever begin a Ludlum novel if you have to go to work the next day.--Chicago Sun Times.Breakneck... readablity.--The New York Times Book Reveiw.A high-voltage tale of drama and suspense.-- The Denver Post.From the Inside FlapAmaya Bajaratt is beautiful, elusive, deadly -- and she has set in motion a chilling conspiracy that a desperate government cannot stop. An accomplished assassin and mistress of disguise and deception, she has set in motion the boldest act of terrorism yet conceived.Tyrell Hawthorne was a naval intelligence officer--one of the best--until the rainswept night in Amsterdam when his wife was murdered, an innocent victim of the games spies play. Since then he's been sailing charters in the islands. Now he's called out of retirement for one last assignment. For Hawthorne is the only man alive who can track down the world's most dangerous terrorist.Now, with his life and the life of the President hanging in the balance, Hawthorne must follow Amanya's serpentine trail, a path of seduction, betrayal, an instant death.Racing from a millionaire recluse's fortress to the social whirl of Palm Beach and from the Oval Office to treacherous Caribbean waters, Hawthorne will uncover a sinister network of well-placed men and women who exist to help this consummate killer--and the shattering truth behind the Scorpio Illusion.About the AuthorRobert Ludlum was the author of twenty-one novels, each a New York Times bestseller. There are more than 210 million of his books in print, and they have been translated into thirty-two languages. In addition to the Jason Bourne series-The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum-he was the author of The Scarlatti Inheritance, The Chancellor Manuscript, and The Apocalypse Watch, among many others. Mr. Ludlum passed away in March, 2001.Excerpt. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.1Sundown. The distressed sloop, its mainmast shattered by lightning, its sails ripped by the winds of the open sea, drifted into the small, quiet beach of a private island in the Lesser Antilles. During the past three days, before the dead calm descended, this section of the Caribbean had suffered not only a hurricane with the force of the infamous Hugo, but sixteen hours later a tropical storm whose bolts of lightning and earth-shaking thunder had set fire to a thousand palms and caused a hundred thousand residents of the island chain to look to their