Robert Ludlum's The Janson Command (Paul Janson)

Enjoyed more than Ludlum's last book and am pleased that Paul Garrison is continuing the series. Fun quick read, and lots of the content that makes a satisfying thriller. Can't wait for his next one in the series.

Typical Ludlum!! Start out reading early in the morning because you wouldn't be able to put the book down.
The book basicly follows the senario of his other books but with different players and plot.

Better than many of the Ludlum characters books that are written by someone other than Ludlum. The author seems to understand the characters and there were just a few places that dragged and a couple of spots where the characters' actions seemed contrived. Also, it seems to be setting up the next book at the end - a little unsatisfying.

I found it interesting in perusing the reviews to find that the detailed ones for the most part were the 1 star reviews, and at least the first whole page of 5 star reviews were one or two lines of generic comments. Makes me think the 5 stars are review scammers and the one stars were real. This was an almost completely unreadable book, and I'm not super picky if a book has any redeeming qualities. Hard to find them here. Felt no connection with main characters, it's filled with irrelevant "facts" and by 2/3 of the way through I found that it was so boring to read and I just didn't care what happened, I quit. I almost never quit because I'm usually curious enough about what will happen at the end. Sad that whoever controls the Ludlum name is allowing this kind of dilution in his good reputation. I suppose it's just all about the $$ in the end.
I usually don't even write reviews, especially when I agree with the average stars the book gets. SOOOOO glad I got it at the library and didn't waste any $.

I have listened to most of Robert Ludlum's audiobooks and I hate to compare his work with those who have continued his characters, but one of the reasons why I keep coming back to read these series is because I enjoyed his work and his characters so much. Needless to say, this is not Robert Ludlum. I will admit that I have not followed this continued series, but I think that is inconsequential to recognizing good writing. Of course, any audiobook is made or broken by the narrator and while Scott Shepherd gets an "E" for effort, it is not what I would call particularly good. But, Paul Garrison didn't exactly give him much to work with. Whatever character and life Ludlum originally gave Janson, is completely lost in The Janson Command. The characters might as well be straight out of a video game (no insult to serious game makers intended). Garrison seems to want to base Janson's entire character on a series of consecutive events rather than on personality. He is completely devoid of everything that makes a person a person. The characters are more like robots than people. This is not what makes for a good story. Whenever I shut it off, I found myself not exactly looking forward to coming back to the story, now you know that's not a good sign. Have I read worse? Sure, but that's not exactly the legacy a writer is looking for.

Duplicitous people predominate in the Janson Command, and the author does a nice ob of masking who they are. Other than that, not much of interest takes place. Janson tries to save a doctor who has been kidnapped, but we are not made to care much about that, even if it takes up the first 100 pages. The there is some African nation with a new oil reserve and competing leaders. We don't care so much about then, either, except that one is exceptionally fat and greedy. He's the bad one. There's a solo sex scene so gratuitous that I glossed over it. The ending may leave some feeling good, feeling that justice was done, but it didn't leave me feeling anything other than relieved to be done with the novel. As you might figure, I did not get paid for this review, nor did I get a free copy of the novel.

The Janson Command by Paul Garrison is a sequel to Robert Ludlum's "The Janson Directive". The main character - Paul Janson - used to be one of the most skilled and ruthless assassins employed by the US government. At some point he decided to change his ways. He seized an opportunity to quit his job and establish an independent operation, where he could be his own commanding officer and use his skills in accordance with his conscience. Working with his business partner and skilled sniper Jessica Kincaid he gets involved in operations of his own choice, trying to support just causes and redeem his old sins.

The plot of this novel is very well crafted. It's original, rather believable, with just the right amount of unexpected twists to keep the reader on the edge of his seat. The characters are very well defined and realistic, but at the same time mysterious, and in many cases the reader is not entirely sure who is on which side. Jessica Kincaid is an especially interesting character, strong, but undoubtedly feminine.

What I liked the most about this novel is that the author deliberately left a couple of threads unfinished, a couple of mysteries unsolved. Can we expect the third book in the series?

I picked The Janson Command without hesitation. Any book with Robert Ludlum's name assoiciated with it is a good bet. Paul Garrison didn't let me down. He has created a very likable character in Paul Janson, former assassin. Janson, along with his "partner" Jessica Kincaid are mercenaries with a rule that no innocents get killed. They go to an island of Africa to rescue a doctor that had been abducted by pirates only to get embroiled in a coup. Janson decides to help and finds himself caught up in political and large corporation meddling that involves big oil and hired mercenaries without conscience. Also the plot involves one of Janson's former teammates/projects and ends with a twist.

Janson has deep pockets and contacts around the world but it seems the bad guys do everything bigger. The book easily transitions from Janson to Kincaid and other lesser characters with ease, always quickly leading back to Janson. The timeline moves along well.

I would recommend this book to all fans of Robert Ludlum and military thrillers. It's well thought out and has a clean ending with the certainty of a follow up novel. I look forward to it.

Since I love The Janson Directive so much, I jump into this one right away. This book is not as good as The Janson Directive, but it did preserve Janson and Jessica's characters well. The stories are similar but not quite as well developed as the first book. With that said, it is still a great book and I am glad to read more books in the Paul Janson series.

The diffence between this and the first book is Iike comparing and ice cube to an ice berg. Terrible. I mean the characters personality and thinking is different and just the whole structure, storyline, plot is so ridiculous. Definitely not a Robert Ludlum written book.

Paul Janson was a covert assassin for the American government's top secret Consular Operations. He saw the light when he became classified as the "beyond salvage" target of the government due to a failed mission in which he became the chosen one to take the fall of the screw-up of higher ups (see The Janson Directive). He survived the assassination attempts and opened up CatsPaw Associates security firm with Jessica Kincaid. Their firm's vision is to accept scenarios that will make the world a better place. Janson also manages the Phoenix Foundation as his means for redemption; the mission is to rehabilitate black ops operatives discarded as worthless trash by their agency when their use is deemed over.

Doug Case lost his job at Consular Operations when he took a bullet that saved Janson's life but left Doug paralyzed. He graduated from Phoenix and is security chief of Houston based American Synergy Corporation. Case hires Janson to rescue a company physician kidnapped by the Free Foree Movement who demands the Isle de Foree hated dictator "President for Life" Iboga leave. With Kinkaid having his back, they make it to the main rebel stronghold, but all hell breaks loose when they arrive

This is a great action-packed twisting thriller as Jason and Kincaid are stunned with the deployment of Reaper drones and Harrier jets as neither should be there. As the action goes international, readers will learn what Janson already knows from his assassin days that terrorist groups, rogue nations, and amoral covert agencies are less dangerous than internationally protected "job creating" ruthless unscrupulous corporations.

Harriet Klausner