In rating it four stars I have given this novel the benefit of the doubt, since for the first half I really struggled to 'get into it'. This could be attributed to two possible reasons, the first being that I never read enough of it in any one sitting, and left too long in between reads, to really familiarise myself with the characters and allow the story to 'grip' me; the second being that the characters we come to care about rarely feature in the first half. Even the hero, David Spaulding, the...

It's quite clear to me that Robert Ludlum's best work occurred during the 1970s ("The Holcroft Covenant," "The Gemini Contenders" and my personal favorite "The Matarese Circle" just to name a few). This is another winner that ranks right up there with the rest of his stuff. A great, gripping historical fiction thriller where - unlike his later work - the plot thickens as the hero gets chased. Rarely are 446 densely written pages as fun to read as this was.

If you like Ludlum, you'll definitely enjoy this effort. The plot revolves around a secret agreement between US and German industrialists during the middle of WWII for an exchange of technology and materials needed by the military of both sides....the exchange is necessitated by the inability of the industrialists to meet the needs of their own military....if you like this type of plot, you should enjoy this book.

Read a Ludlum thriller after a long time. I remember enjoying many of his novels during my student days - The Matarese Circle, The Bourne Identity, The Ambler Warning and so many others. I used to get these books from a second hand book store/ lending library in my hometown. That place was actually a cabinet on the wall and a few books on a small table. A very tiny establishment, but the shop had a incredible collection of books (mostly English) - from classics to contemporary and across genres

It's WWII. The German rocket plant Peenemunde is in trouble because it's out of industrial grade diamonds to use in their machinery. The United States are trying to develop gyroscopes that will work with high altitude bombers. Realizing they can help each other, Germany and the United States develop a clandestine exchange; diamonds for schematics. David Spaulding is the American agent sent to Argentina to complete the trade, but naturally their are a myriad of complications including an undergro...

Classic LudlumI really enjoyed the Bourne books, so I wanted to give some of his other books a chance. I was not disappointed. If you want a fun read that’s hard to put down give this title a whirl!

A good read. Almost gave it a four, so it's a 3+++++++

I read this one ages ago when I was really into thrillers. Robert Ludlum was probably my favorite author in the genre although this was the only one of his books outside his Bourne trilogy I can remember reading. This was a great WW2 thriller. The hero was both badass and sympathetic and was reminiscent of Ludum's Jason Bourne in his deadly competency and in his sense of being worn down and made cynical from years of bloody covert warfare. The setting of this one (Argentina during WW2) and it's

Fast paced, gripping, edge of the seat kind. The story-line takes you on a ride whizzing past twists and turns as you move deeper into the book. And the roller coaster slows down towards the end, letting you dangle over the deep plot that had run in the background throughout, just that it became visible now.

The Rhineman Exchange is typical Robert Ludlum, and that is not a bad thing. As is true with almost all Ludlum books, there is a deliciously convoluted plot that as a reader you have no chance to fully untangle until Ludlum does it for you in the rush of the last few chapters. The Rhineman exchange is extremely fun reading. The characters are all likable, but somewhat superhuman in their perfection. The truth is the book probably deserves another star, but there is an element about Ludlum's book...

The plot of this book was reminiscent of a John le Carre novel, but only about 75% as good, with a lot more shooting and running around, and with hints of homophobia, racism, sexism, and ableism thrown in for good measure.

Entertaining for the most part, but I hit several snags of "reader's block" (for lack of a better phrase) along the way, and the plot is just a tad implausible. Moreover, with all due respect to the memory of Mr. Ludlum (R.I.P.), his technical knowledge of firearms was pathetic (which I elaborate on further in the comments below), and while I love learning new languages, the author's penchant for using foreign language sentences without the benefit of translations for English-speaking readers is...

What if, in the midst of WWII, America had something the Germans wanted and they had something America wanted? Would it be OK to make a swap? Of would such an exchange constitute treason?This is the dilemma in "The Rhinemann Exchange." Slow getting started, it ends up being a pretty exciting tale of espionage during the height of the war. The story travels from the States, to Europe and finally down into South America where there are number of parties vying at cross purposes for their own politi...

the premise is... curiousp7: no longer substance.p24: every known portable offensive and defensive weapon, every sabotage device, every conceivable method of ingress and egress--apparent and covert--was exhaustively studied by the fairfax trainees.p101: the german interceptors would be tied up for monts concentrating on the eastern "routes"; the network to the west would be relatively unencumbered.p223: he bought an ice from a vendor, wandered past the cages of marmosets and orangutans--finding

Standard Ludlum, you know exactly what you get. And he does it well of course, good thriller.

Amazing jumble of a book. I usually love Ludlum's writing but found this book to be unusually hard to follow. The writing was good but storyline very mixed up and the main character, David Spaulding, seemed very frenetic and erratic. Spaulding is called back from his work in Portugal to foster an exchange between the US and Germany of diamonds for a gyroscope design to take place in Argentina. Along the way several people are killed, betrayals occur, and Spaulding falls in love with a woman from...

I enjoyed Ludlum's first three books but this one was a little over my head. I never fully understood the plot before deciding to put it down about half way through. I had to read other reviews just to vaguely understand what the mission was. Also, it seemed as if Ludlum was warming his engine for a little too long. The plot should be explained in the first 30 pages instead of the first 130. I might give this book another shot but it won't be anytime soon.

Not one of Ludlum's best novels. Set in WWII an American agent in Lisbon is suddenly ripped out of his own network and territory for reasons unknown. David Spaulding is first sent to New York and then Bueno Aires on a mission of deceit. The problem is much of the deceit is directed towards him. Slowly and methodically the man from Lisbon unravels the layers of lies to discover the unbelievable and unsavory truth. There is an unrealistic "love" story in the final third of the book where the agent...

Wonderful. I have read these books a long time ago but when a book stays with you and you remember what it was about it says a whole lot for the author.

The Allies need German gyroscopes for their bombers. The Germans need Allied industrial diamonds for their rockets. German industrialist Erich Rhinemann arranges an exchange of goods in Buenos Aires, but someone wants to prevent David Spaulding, the American agent, from showing up. Ludlum at his best.