The Road to Gandolfo

For the actual pope named Francis in 2013, see Pope Francis.

The Road to Gandolfo is a story by Michael Shepherd (a pen name used by Robert Ludlum) about General MacKenzie Hawkins ("The Hawk"), a military legend and Army veteran. He defaces an important Chinese memorial as a result of being drugged by a Chinese general and is later kicked out of the Army. Seeking revenge, he plots to kidnap Pope Francesco I and hold him for ransom of $400 million, one dollar for every Catholic in the world.

The Road to Gandolfo

The Road to Gandolfo first edition cover.
Author	Michael Shepherd
Language	English
Genre	Crime
Publisher	Dial Press
Publication date	January 1975
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (hardback & paperback)
Pages	258 pp (first edition)
ISBN	0-8037-5920-7
OCLC	1175301
Dewey Decimal	813/.5/4
LC Class	PS3562.U26 R6 1975
Followed by	The Road to Omaha

The only person who can stop him is Sam Devereaux, an army lawyer who rescues the Hawk from China but subsequently himself gets trapped in the Hawk's plan. The story revolves around how Hawkins executes the mission with amazing precision and discipline along with his band of seven provocateurs and the unexpected reaction by Pope Francesco.

Additional information

Unlike the usual books by Ludlum, this one tends to be overwhelmingly humorous. There is a sequel to this story called The Road to Omaha. The character MacKenzie Hawkins is also mentioned fleetingly in Robert Ludlum's novel The Bourne Identity, where he is mentioned to have previously served in Burma.

Publication history

• 1975, US, Dial Press ISBN 0-8037-5920-7, Pub date January 1975, Hardback
• 1982, US, Bantam Books ISBN 0-553-26081-2, Pub date July 1, 1982, Paperback
• 1976, UK, Grafton ISBN 0-246-10925-4 Pub date August 23, 1976, Hardback
• 1992, UK, HarperCollins ISBN 0-586-04375-6, Pub date March 26, 1992, Paperback

External links

• The Road to Gandolfo - Robert Ludlum Book Review