Nazis! Spies! Brainwashing!! I thought I was in for a great spy story, till one of the characters spoke. The dialogue was artificial and made the characters seem so fake. I like just about everything from simple everyday dialogue from the likes of Ed McBain to John LeCarre's pompous British spymasters with their droll metaphors and turns-of-phrase. But Ludlum's choice of dialogue made me shudder. (Let's italicize every third word! Let's have every second character exclaim, "What?") I put it down unread.