In 1971 Robert Ludlum wrote a good, original, fast paced thriller—his first.

Since then, as with each successive Bond production, there has been something oxymoronic about calling each successive novel "new." The form of a "Ludlum" has not changed in the quarter century since the first novel. Rapid pace, high tension, frequent change of locale, minimum characterization, are all designed to give the reader a maximum bang for his buck. The writer tacitly acknowledges this by quoting in "Ludlum on Ludlum" from John Leonard's review in The New York Times: "Mr. Ludlum stuffs more surprises into his novel than any other six-pack of thriller writers combined."

Over the years Ludlum's books have changed, nevertheless, in one obvious respect: They got steadily longer. The recent ones are almost twice the size of those from the early 1970s, with Apocalypse Watch (1995) reaching 751 pages. In November 1997 Ludlum published...