Robert Ludlum’s – The Janson Option – Paul Garrison (Grand Central Publishing)

Robert Ludlum’s writing career was marked with trailblazing, high thrills fiction; so it shouldn’t be surprising that his estate was one of the trailblazers of hiring skilled writers to continue to serve up his memorable characters in newly penned fiction.

Eric Van Lustbader and Kyle Mills, who have their own bestsellers, are among the writers who have taken on the challenge of continuing Ludlum cast of highly charged characters. Also in the mix is Paul Garrison who picked up the mantle of Ludlum’s Paul Janson character, a former CIA agent/assassin.

Garrison’s latest is The Janson Option, which has a ripped from today’s headlines storyline involving Somali pirates seizing a private yacht with hostages, warlords battling for control of not only the country, but of its valuable resources and oil company types who are as good at deception as they are business.

Tasked with rescuing the beautiful wife of oil man who becomes a pawn in the larger story, Janson utilizes a mix of pure cunning skills, high tech gadgets and a network of contacts second to none to propel the story forward at a steady pace. Throw into the mix a few mysterious players and some more than garden variety terrorists and you got one entertaining read on your hands. While none of these great writers can ever truly replace Ludlum, they can certainly continue to man the helm of classic characters on adventurous rides.