The Icarus Agenda is a 1988 thriller novel by bestselling author Robert Ludlum

Robert Ludlum

Robert Ludlum was an American author of 23 thriller novels. The number of his books in print is estimated between 290–500 million copies. They have been published in 33 languages and 40 countries. Ludlum also published books under the pseudonyms Jonathan Ryder and Michael Shepherd.-Life and...

. It is the sequel

Sequel

A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...

 to The Chancellor Manuscript

The Chancellor Manuscript

The Chancellor Manuscript is a 1977 novel, by American writer Robert Ludlum, about the "alleged" secret files of J. Edgar Hoover and how they disappeared after his death, and how they possibly could be used to force people in high places to do the bidding of those who possessed the secrets...

.

Plot introduction

Evan Kendrick is a U.S. Congressman from a remote Western Colorado district. As a former building contractor in the Middle East, he is close friends with the Sultan of Oman

Sultan of Oman

-List of Imams :-Nabhan Dynasty :-Ya'ariba Dynasty :-Banu Ghafir Dynasty :-Ya'ariba Dynasty :-Al Said Dynasty :-See also:...

. He returns to Oman

Oman

Oman , officially called the Sultanate of Oman , is an Arab state in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by the United Arab Emirates to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west, and Yemen to the southwest. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the...

 under deep cover when the U.S. Embassy in Masqat is taken by terrorists. During his time undercover he unmasks a far-reaching terror network aimed at controlling the economies and governments of the Middle East.

Plot summary

A few years before, a tragic "accident" left him with 78 fewer friends. The only loved-one left was Emmanuel "Manny" Weingrass, a world-renowned architect and a somewhat impossible person. In his first year in Congress, there is an uprising in Masqat - a hostage taking. The events remind him of a man known as The Mahdi whom Weingrass said was the reason for the deaths of his 78 friends. He goes to Oman for revenge and comes back victorious. The Mahdi dead and a tragedy averted. A year later, the inheritors of Inver Brass - the resurrected group of influential people, destroyed in the events of the Chancellor Manuscript, who had been tracking him ever since he went on the Oman operation through a specially gifted ICT specialist, exposes the truth of Kendrick being involved in Masqat and they reveal this to the world to have Kendrick as Vice-President of the USA, because they consider him to be morally incorruptible. After the revealing, lives are lost and friendships broken, Kendrick is desperately looking for the people who are responsible for turning his life upside-down. But unknown to the Inver Brass there is a traitor in their midst... and this might just be the last straw... Codename Icarus is the last hope to a nation and to a world. The organisation was first mentioned in his 1977 novel The Chancellor Manuscript

The Chancellor Manuscript

The Chancellor Manuscript is a 1977 novel, by American writer Robert Ludlum, about the "alleged" secret files of J. Edgar Hoover and how they disappeared after his death, and how they possibly could be used to force people in high places to do the bidding of those who possessed the secrets...

and is also mentioned in his later novel The Bancroft Strategy.

Characters in "The Icarus Agenda"

• Evan Kendrick – US congressman and main protagonist
• Emmanuel "Manny" Weingrass – architect
• The Mahdi
• The Sultan of Oman
• Khalela

Cultural references

• Harry Burns is reading this book in the film When Harry Met Sally...
  When Harry Met Sally...
  When Harry Met Sally... is a 1989 American romantic comedy film written by Nora Ephron and directed by Rob Reiner. It stars Billy Crystal as Harry and Meg Ryan as Sally. The story follows the title characters from the time they meet just before sharing a cross-country drive, through twelve years or...
  
  when Sally calls him on the phone about her ex-boyfriend getting married.