But is it really a Ludlum book?

In my last post I ranted a bit about the book always being better than the movie (and having finished the Harry Potter book again, I'm even more convinced of that), but today I'm questioning another practice: that of one writer continuing the work of another.

I've always been a Robert Ludlum fan. I read everything from the early novels like The Osterman Weekend through The Bourne Identity (much better than the movie), and on through each new novel as it was released. If you're a fan, you'll know that Robert Ludlum died a few years ago, but a person wouldn't necessarily know that from glancing at the most recent books. Ludlum books have been rereleased for years, with the same picture of the author on the inside back cover. The blurb talks about his prolific writing career, but never mentions his death.

Now, a number of other authors have come into the picture. I didn't notice this at first, but when reading one of those books I suddenly thought the dialogue was "off" somehow --- just not what Robert Ludlum would have his characters say. That's when I realized I wasn't reading Robert Ludlum! I've just begun reading "The Moscow Vector", which is one of the Covert One books. On the cover it says, "Series created by Robert Ludlum, author Patrick Larkin". I don't know whether I'm biased, but even in the first few chapters I feel the book doesn't have the momentum a "real" Ludlum would have. But as I say, maybe I'm biased, so I'll reserve judgement until I've read the whole book.

Maybe if I read the other authors' books completely separately from the Ludlum books I would enjoy them better. I'm afraid, though, that this way I just see them as "no Robert Ludlum".