The Road to Gandolfo: A Novel (The Road to Series Book 1)

In this wickedly funny novel, Robert Ludlum combines the explosive pacing of The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy with a bitingly witty send-up of everything from government bureaucrats and pandering military men to the mob, the law, and organized religion. War hero and infamous ladies' man, General MacKenzie Hawkins is a living legend. His life story had even been sold to Hollywood. But now he stands accused of defacing a historic monument in China's Forbidden City. Under house arrest in Peking, with a case against him pending in Washington, it looks like the end of Mac's illustrious career. But he has a plan of his own--and it includes kidnapping the Pope. What's the ransom? Just one American dollar-- for every Catholic in the world . Add to the mix a slew of shady "investors," Hawkins's four persuasive, well-endowed ex-wives, and a young lawyer and fellow soldier who wants nothing more than to return to private... “Don’t ever begin a [Robert] Ludlum novel if you have to go to work the next day.”— Chicago Sun-Times War hero and infamous ladies’ man General MacKenzie Hawkins is a living legend. His life story has even been sold to Hollywood. But now he stands accused of defacing a historic monument in China’s Forbidden City. Under house arrest in Peking with a case against him pending in Washington, this looks like the end of Mac’s illustrious career. But he has a plan of his own: kidnap the Pope. What’s the ransom? Just one American dollar— for every Catholic in the world . Add to the mix a slew of shady “investors,” Mac’s four persuasive, well-endowed ex-wives, and a young lawyer and fellow soldier who wants nothing more than to return to private life, and readers have in their hands one relentlessly irreverent page-turner. “Ludlum stuffs more surprises into his novels than any other six-pack of thriller writers combined.”— The New York Times BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Identity. War hero and infamous ladies? man General MacKenzie Hawkins is a living legend. His life story has even been sold to Hollywood. But now he stands accused of defacing a historic monument in China?s Forbidden City. Under house arrest in Peking with a case against him pending in Washington, this looks like the end of Mac?s illustrious career. But he has a plan of his own: kidnap the Pope. What?s the ransom? Just one American dollar? -- Praise for Robert Ludlum? "Don?t ever begin a (Robert) Ludlum novel if you have to go to work the next day."?Chicago Sun-Times? "Ludlum stuffs more surprises into his novels than any other six-pack of thriller writers combined."?The New York Times BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Robert Ludlum?s The Bourne Identity Renowned hero General MacKenzie Hawkins, seeking revenge after being drummed out of the military, enlists his four ex-wives, and a bright young lawyer from Harvard in a plot to kidnap beloved Pope Francisco I, and ransom him at a price of one American dollar for every Catholic in the world