Few writers have skyrocketed to popularity with the speed of Robert Ludlum, with each succeeding thriller becoming a bigger bestseller. The key to his success may lie in John Leonard's comment in The New York Times, "Mr. Ludlum stuffs more surprises into his novels than any other six-pack of thriller writers combined."
Some people claim Ludlum has secret sources for information found in his stories. In one, an early book, a key theme was CIA involvement in domestic surveillance. At that time the subject shocked many people. Later, of course, this fact proved to be correct. Other people suspect Ludlum was an agent himself during the years prior to his career as a novelist. Not true. For close to twenty years, he was in show business--as an actor, producer, and as the "voice" of dozens of television commercials for products ranging from Tiparillos to Tuna Helper.
During his "voice" period, Ludlum's wife crowned him "King of the Toilet Bowls." As he tells it, "there was this product called Plunge. All I had to do was read three words: Plunge works fast. In spite of my off-hand delivery, they used my three words in over one hundred different commercials. The money from this put one of my children through two years of college."
Although none of Ludlum's novels draws on his show business background for subject matter, they all reflect techniques he learned in the theater. Ludlum says, "the theater man knows that he must involve the audience. He understands structure more than anyone else--the logical evolving of one event into another event without losing the audience's attention. Because if you lose their interest, you're closing Saturday night."
Ludlum admits, "I write primarily as an entertainer. But I find that whether you're writing comically or dramatically, you write from a point of view of something that disturbs or outrages you. And that's what I do. I admit to being outraged--mostly by the abuse of power by the fanatics. The extremes bother me, right or left." Yet he adds, "I disapprove of violence, that's why I show pain for what it is. When my characters get hit, they hurt. They don't jump back into action like John Wayne."