"Always start at the beginning." This novel is remenescent of days gone by - days before my time, in fact. Nevertheless, or because of that fact, I found the content entertaining and in line with my expectations. I plan on reading each of Ludlum's novels in chronological order (although my first read of his was in fact "The Prometheus Deception" bought at an airport.

I guess I'm very late for a review of this book, since it's been out for a number of years, but I thought the novel held its own against many of the books that a significant number of the publishers and authors crank out today. Whewwww. I'm new to Robert Ludlum. I shouldn't be because I have been reading novels for 25 plus years. Anyway, I thought "The Scarlatti Inheritance" was a very interesting read. I was fascinated by the author's approach of using the character Elizabeth Scarlatti and her determination to stop her son from helping Hitler's regime. I'm not a big fan of military novels and even less of a fan when it comes to that era of Germany's power during WWII. However the author made the novel seem like I was looking at this time period from another completely different perspective and I guess that's why I found the novel very interesting. I won't go so far as to say it was a super read, but it was a good read and worthy of your time.



Have a good day.

This is my first Ludlum book and it is sure to be my last. The plot is preposterous because of Ludlum's limited understanding of economics and history. Once you realize that, all interest in the story falls away. It starts off plausible enough...and the blurbs on the jacket imply some "weapon" more powerful than a mere 270 million dollars! Hitler gained power because of the alignment of a number of situations that made the ground fertile for his brand of megalomania. Some spoiled, rich American brat and his fortune would hardly make a difference to the currents of history. I know that this is only supposed to be a work of fiction, and it is all in good fun, but the plot-concept needs to be much more believable to hold my interest. If you don't need logic in your fiction, it's interesting enough as a cloak and dagger story, but it falls far short in the historical (and economic) fiction department.

The Scarlatti Inheritance is the first thriller by Robert Ludlum, and it lacks some of the flair, suspense, and character development of the later works, such as the Bourne series. It is an interesting look at the lives of the idle rich in the 1920's combined with an overview of the world of corporate finance.

In the story, we follow the lives of a great Italian-American family over three generations and two world wars. Elizabeth Scarlatti is the widow of the great man, and she lives to see her oldest son die in WWI and her next oldest son start WWII. The third son is a prominent character for the first half of the book, and then Ludlum seems to have forgotten about him. Maybe there are chapters about him not in the book, but left stuffed behind the couch at the Ludlum compound.

The second son, Ulster Stuart Scarlet (nee Scarlatti) takes his inheritance and heads for the dark side in the 1920's, aiding and abetting the likes of Hitler, Hesse, and Goebbels. Actually "steals" would be a better word choice, for Scarlet stealthily removes bearer bonds and securities from the family trust vaults, sells them illegally outside the US, and then appears in Munich, to ingratiate himself with the leaders of the Beer Hall putsch.

His arch-nemesis is the field accountant, government man Canfield, who links up with Elizabeth and Ulster's wife, to track him down. The denouement is a chilling scene in Switzerland, where all the world's great financiers have assembled to decide the political and economic fate of the world.

One should remember how grounded in fact this story might be, as the Third Reich in its early days, had no shortage of admirers and supporters in the West. We all know the story of Charles Lindberg, King Edward VII, and Joseph Kennedy. When Robert Kennedy ran for President in 1968, he was still making excuses for the behavior of his late father in the 1930's. Of course, England in the 1930's was a hotbed of supporters of the fascist doctrines.

In sum, pick another Ludlum thriller over this one. If you do take this one on, be sure to take notes (it is rather confusing, with random appearances of important characters), and don't expect any real surprises. It is not particularly well-written. Characters come and go with no development or resolution. In addition to the mystery of the third son mentioned above, there are others who pop in and out, like the Mafia, government agents, and household staff.

Other reviews listed here complain about the pace, development and plotting of this novel. I'd have to say many people are spoiled by some of today's works in that most events are telegraphed to the reader and it ends up being like a typical action movie ... thin and unmoving.
To me this book is neither. It has depth and a trio of main characters that are interesting. There are some citations that note this book is formulaic. Perhaps it needs to be taken into consideration that it was written before some of these formulas were developed.
I thought The Scarlatti Inheritance was a fine read and the premise was very interestng. A mother -- Elizabeth Scarlatti -- wants to keep her evil son -- Ulster Scarlatti -- from financing the Third Reich in the 1920s. The "hero" of the novel is Matthew Canfield, a government man who is looking to find out what Ulster Scarlatti is doing with more than $200 million in securities.
Ludlum does an excellent job of capturing the way people lived in the 1920s, especially the rich.