Yesterday’s blog post about the dystopian film Golem (1980) called to mind a pair of Robert Ludlum’s espionage novels from the 1970s. Both of them are spy thrillers but reflected Ludlum’s distrust of both left-wing and right-wing fanatics. Sadly, they also predicted a lot of what citizens around the world face right here in 2023. It’s not just science fiction that can prove virtually prophetic.
THE MATARESE CIRCLE (1979) – Two veteran intelligence operatives – Brandon Scofield from the U.S. and Vasili Taleniekov from the Soviet Union – are forced to set aside their personal enmity when they get caught up in the intrigues of the Matarese organization.
The two men uncover how extensive the Matarese Circle is, with its control of media outlets, political parties, governmental movers and shakers, etc. The ugly future that Scofield and Taleniekov successfully thwart, however, seems to be one that has come true in real life.
The Matarese, with their obscenely wealthy George Soros/ Klaus Schwab-style leader Nicholas Guiderone, were engineering a corporate fascist oligarchy to exercise power over every nation in the world. Think of today’s corporate globalists. For my full review exploring the details click HERE.
THE CHANCELLOR MANUSCRIPT (1977) – The term “deep state” was being bandied about as far back as at least the 1970s, referring to the unelected bureaucrats and office holders who cliquishly occupy positions of power no matter which party is in charge. It’s not a newly invented term by “conspiracy theorists.”
At any rate, Ludlum once again poked both the political left and the right in this tale of unelected oligarchs controlling the country from behind the scenes via the bloated and ugly F.B.I. and the information they leverage to get their way. In real life we have seen how Big Tech has worked in conjunction with government thugs in a way far more effective than the old physical files full of blackmail information.
Again, the author depicted his hero, in this case Peter Chancellor, emerging triumphant over the conspirators, but in real life the federal spy agencies have been caught rigging elections and stifling any dissent from their fascist vision with no end in sight. For my full, detailed review click HERE.
Balladeer's Blog 
I’ve read a lot of Ludlum and enjoyed it, but neither of these. Thanks for the intro.
Glad to do it!
I bookmarked this because I foresee this plummeting me down some rabbit holes which I cannot traverse at the moment. This promises to be interesting and saddening. Thank you for sharing this.
Thank you! I hope you find them interesting and stimulating, if not enjoyable given how they foreshadowed so much ugliness.