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The Bourne Identity

(Jason Bourne #1)

Robert Ludlum

4.03 · Rating details · 409,506 ratings · 4,800 reviews

Robert Ludlum thriller. The first of the Bourne series of books

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Paperback, 566 pages

Published February 1st 2010 by Orion (first published February 4th 1980)

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Sep 27, 2009 Mike (the Paladin) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

First of all let me say...the recent movie with Matt Damon, I hated it. They butchered the story. I understand shortening for time (as in The Lord of the Rings) I understand combining characters...but why take a book's title then completely rewrite the story?

I like this book and its sequels. I hate the movie and its sequels.

Please try reading the books and finding out what the plot actually is. The book is well plotted, thought out, with complex characters. I believe you'll like it.

A man wakes ...more

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Oct 16, 2007 Seth T. rated it liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: someone who likes thriller-y stuff

I loved the movie and heard that I the book was comparatively awesome. And it was.

The thing is: I haven't the faintest idea how the movie came out of the book. Beyond the premise of a man fished from the sea with no memory but incredible ingrained abilities and talents that make it look like he's really probably and assassin with no amnesia, and the fact that the first act after the prologue occurs in Zürich and deals with a Swiss bank, nothing is the same.

Sure, there's a girl named Marie, but s I loved the movie and heard that I the book was comparatively awesome. And it was.

The thing is: I haven't the faintest idea how the movie came out of the book. Beyond the premise of a man fished from the sea with no memory but incredible ingrained abilities and talents that make it look like he's really probably and assassin with no amnesia, and the fact that the first act after the prologue occurs in Zürich and deals with a Swiss bank, nothing is the same.

Sure, there's a girl named Marie, but she's an entirely different character. Sure, there are people trying to kill the man named Jason Bourne, but they're entirely different men. Sure, there's an American government-run company called Treadstone Seventy-One that is looking for Bourne, but for entirely different reasons. But are all these differences a bad thing?

No. They are not.

I really think the first Bourne movie is among the best action films ever created. That said, for most of its running time, Ludlum's 1980 novel is better than the movie. The premise is so much more intriguing and Bourne's turmoil better perceived. Instead of an enemy as doughy and effeminate as cloak and dagger U.S. senators and secret servicemen, the novel pits Bourne against the unbeatable assassin, Carlos the Jackal (though Ludlum refrains from the colourful animamorphism), and his vast array of human resources. The book is action-packed, one of those thrillaminnut rides that refuses, for the most part, to let up. I don't read cheap thrillers often, but The Bourne Identity was worth my time.

And I like to think that my time is valuable.

This is not to say that Ludlum's thriller is not without fault. The book's requisite romance is rushed and artificial. We know that Bourne and his interest are in love solely because Ludlum tells us that this is the case, not because we see any evidence that this should be the case. And, actually, there is a far greater problem. The climax is poorly wrought and much more difficult to follow than anything previous encountered in the book. The ending is not satisfying in that by the time it comes, emotional resonance has long-since evaporated.

But still. I was in love with the book until the last forty pages or so. ...more

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Apr 13, 2010 Duckie rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: daoban, biblio-bile

I don't remember how this ended because I had to buy myself a Jack-and-Coke to get through the last chapter. Ludlum belongs in a very small, elite group of authors who don't know what words mean. To illustrate this, here are some passages from the book followed by the first image that came to mind when I read them:

"'If I scream, Monsieur?' The powdered mask was cracked with lines of venom now, the bright red lipstick defining the snarl of an aging, cornered rodent."

"Himself. The chameleon. The c ...more

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Mar 16, 2009 woody rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Sorry if you loved this book, I HATED it. Maybe it was above my reading level. There were just too many "alpha, bravo,cain, delta...Cain is for Charlie, Delta is for Cain!" This book put me to sleep so many nights it is surprising that I finished it. I just kept hoping that jason bourne would die...Good thing I shop at Goodwill and it only cost me 50 cents! Everyone tells me that I should give the movie a chance and that it is better than the book, but I ask, won't it remind me of the book and b ...more

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Aug 18, 2010 Bagtree rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: random-basement-finds

This book caused me pain. Intense boredom, odd moments of indignation, and pain. It's poorly-paced. The prose is a clunky, redundant, pointlessly vague affront to all that is good in the English language. The dialogue is stilted and horrid. The characters are so robotic I begin to question whether Ludlum ever met a human being, and the "romance" is not only horribly oversold BUT PREDICATED ON BOURNE USING HIS LOVE INTEREST AS A HUMAN SHIELD. I don't care how many rapists a man rescues you from; ...more

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Nov 05, 2017 Janete rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: re-read, owned-books

I saw the first movie and didn't understand anything. Too much action for me! But this retold version is quite different from the movies, because the story takes place after the Vietnam War. Then now I completely understood this abridged version from the original book (with MP3). I studied German at the university 30 years ago and I thought this language was very difficult, but learning English is also very difficult, but I'll succeed. ...more

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Jan 05, 2021 Fergus rated it liked it · review of another edition

Jason Bourne’s amnesia is identical in so many ways to my own.

For one thing, I’ve forgotten the salient points of most of the Ludlum oeuvre, though I filled my idle commuting and travelling moments with most of them, between 1977 and 1984.

And why then can I nevertheless remember highlights of the Dickens, Shakespeare and Bronte works I read more than 10 years earlier?

Duh. Great writers don’t pull their punches!

You always remember a real Wallop.

Ludlum, on the other hand, thrives on shadow boxin ...more

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Jun 03, 2012 LaFleurBleue rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: paperback, crime-thriller-mystery

The scenario is absolutely excellent and probably one of the best I ever read in terms of complexity and continuous action and/or new discoveries. What an imagination ! The story and the characters are slightly different from the movie; I should say the storyline is way much more complex in the book; the characters could do with a bit more substance.
The major drawback which explains my rather poor quotation of this book is indeed the writing quality, or lack thereof. Some sentences simply do no ...more

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Aug 06, 2010 Danaja rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This book was my introduction to spy novels and its still the best I've read in that area. Incredibly detailed and full of suspense. My favorite spy and one of my favorite villains rolled in to one in to exhilarating package with fast pace action.If you like an authentic touch in what you read you'll love this! Must note that the movie is completely different from the book. In my opinion the book is a much better experience. ...more

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Aug 15, 2019 David Putnam rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Read it a long time ago, but still rate this one as a five. Couldn't put this one down and for it's time it was a breakout concept the set the stage for many other great authors.

David Putnam author of the Bruno Johnson series. ...more

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Mar 30, 2019 Jim rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1ebook, action, 3series, 2fiction, mystery-thriller

I FINALLY finished this! I just don't have time to read long books in print any more, but I've wanted to read this for a while & found it worthwhile. It's certainly not a perfect book. There's a lot of convenience, especially Marie's love & expertise. Several times there were silenced revolvers, too. I hate them, but the plot was twisty & the psychology was good - better done than the way amnesia & all is typically done. Well, for me, anyway. My knowledge of psychology & amnesia are practically ...more

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Sep 08, 2015 Benjamin Stahl rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: movie-was-better, particularly-shit, heartbreak-hipster

A HEARTBREAK HIPSTER REVIEW

The Bourne Identity? More like the Bored Identity. Am I right?

description

Anybody?

Oh, well that’s just fine then. Don’t all fucking laugh at once. But I’ll stand my ground. This shit was unbelievably boring.
Let’s go back to 2002. The cool kids in school dressed like Simple Plan – long shorts and high, black socks; a perpetual look of middleclass melancholy haunting their feminine faces. Who the hell ever heard of Facebook? You wanna chat, damn it, you call me mate. The going tre ...more

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Jun 22, 2018 Wanda rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: espionage, read-in-2018, summer-of-spies, public-library, mysteries-thrillers

***2018 Summer of Spies***

Perhaps I came into this novel expecting a bit too much—I’ve never seen the movies, only advertising for them, so I didn’t go in completely blind to the story, but about as close as you can get in our society. I can certainly see that this would make a great shoot-‘em-up, car-chase intense movie. I really can’t say that I cared whether Bourne got his memory back or who he actually was. I would have been much more interested in more exploration of nature of the memor ...more

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Dec 23, 2011 Jonathan Terrington rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: popularity-contest, action-challenge, books-with-films

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
I decided to finally jump on the Robert Ludlum train and read this. I'd recently also jumped on the Mat Damon train and watched the film trilogy. Yes, where had I been the past few years? Well being a teenager of course and living in places where these trains didn't run. Humour aside I'm going to use the next few paragraphs to convince you of why I enjoyed this novel so much and to assure you why you should read this book (or re-read or re-re-read it or re-re-re-read it... or re-re-re-re-re-read
I decided to finally jump on the Robert Ludlum train and read this. I'd recently also jumped on the Mat Damon train and watched the film trilogy. Yes, where had I been the past few years? Well being a teenager of course and living in places where these trains didn't run. Humour aside I'm going to use the next few paragraphs to convince you of why I enjoyed this novel so much and to assure you why you should read this book (or re-read or re-re-read it or re-re-re-read it... or re-re-re-re-re-read...or...).

Many people know the premise of this story but for those who don't spoiler alert right about........now. The Bourne Identity begins with the discovery of a man shot and left floating in the water. He gets rescued and nursed back to health. But he's lost his memory. (collective gasp from the audience) Well head trauma is not meant to be good for your memories. The only thing he knows is that he has had facial surgery, he has deadly fighting skills and...oh yeah there's a bank account number for a bank in Zurich.

That's the basic plot synopsis. What happens next is much more complicated. It involves a man discovering his identity, losing his identity and getting caught up in the hunt for a terrorist which happens to coincide with his past. The plot is clever - brilliant in fact - and worthy of its renown. I found myself drawn into a shadowy world with multiple twists and turns. In fact I would go so far as to label this a psychologically laced thriller of epic proportions. Yes that is what The Bourne Identity is. It is a smart, thriller, a kind of entertaining book that is intelligent at the same time.

I must however sadly announce that the end of this book was unfulfilling. It tasted sour, as if the author was simply setting me up to go and read the second book. Which I cannot obtain with ease from my library. So I'm simply left thinking to myself: what happens next? I hate cliff-hangers of this kind which force me to read on. In fact I think I can hear Ludlum laughing at me from the grave.

However I do recommend this as a fine example of thriller writing. Amongst the best I've read. Although for classic thrilling writing I still cannot go past Edgar Allan Poe the man who really started it all off with his tales... Well they were thrillers in some aspects. But yes compared to some of the very few other 'thriller' thrillers I've read this is a very fine example (much better than the few snippets I've seen of Lee Child and plot-wise better than Matthew Reilly - although he has good plots nonetheless and his writing style is more accessible). Still read this if you like clever plots, quality writing (well apart from some coarse language I considered inappropriate - with religious connotations) and are gritty. This may be your train to jump on. ...more

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Apr 23, 2009 Phoenix rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Robert Ludlum is a terrible terrible writer of dialogue and had a terrible style.

The man can, however, tell a story. That is why his books are translated very well into great action movies.

but if i have to read one more line of the "oh john! oh marsha' bullcrap in his novels, i swear i will stab my eyes out with a fork. man on man, if that woman goes on anymore in her inner monologue about "that poor man! he couldn't stand it! not knowing who he was! and now he was . . . . blah blah bippity bla ...more

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Nov 03, 2011 Lisa (Harmonybites) rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Someone Braindead

Recommended to Lisa (Harmonybites) by: The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Ultimate Reading List

Shelves: crime, popular-fiction, ultimate-reading-list, contemporary, mystery, novels, fiction, suspense

Wow, by the end of chapter one I was already thinking this was one of the most ludicrous novels I've ever read. And given that I've been reading through a suspense novel recommendation list, with such doozies as Vince Flynn's Term Limits, Brad Thor's The Lions of Lucerne and Matthew Reilly's Ice Station that means Ludlum is setting a really low, low.

OK, there weren't any giant mutant seals at least, but right in the first pages our hero, later to be known as Jason Bourne, is shot multiple times ...more

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Nov 23, 2017 Abram rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: action-adventure, mystery-thriller

My Rating: 2.4/5

This could have been better. I am huge fan of the Bourne movies but this one is not what I expected!
There are chapters that are fantastic but overall the novel is dull. The author spends two much time in explaining Bourne's thought process that you just want to scream. The characters are also not that interesting. I expected more but....
I don't really recommend this one. Thank you for reading the review!

P.S: I couldn't even finish the whole book. I read like half of it. ...more

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Feb 12, 2008 Julie rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I tried, I really did; I kept reading even as my impatience for this book increased. I got 3/4 of the way through and I finally couldn't take it anymore (that's saying a lot, given that this book is well over 500 pages). My gripe list:

1. It's so long. For no good reason. The plot isn't that complicated. The characters aren't that interesting. The writing isn't that gripping (original, lyrical, stark, poetic, etc). Nothing justifies the length of this book.

2. Nothing justifies the enduring relati I tried, I really did; I kept reading even as my impatience for this book increased. I got 3/4 of the way through and I finally couldn't take it anymore (that's saying a lot, given that this book is well over 500 pages). My gripe list:

1. It's so long. For no good reason. The plot isn't that complicated. The characters aren't that interesting. The writing isn't that gripping (original, lyrical, stark, poetic, etc). Nothing justifies the length of this book.

2. Nothing justifies the enduring relationship between Jason Bourne and Marie. Eventually Marie is forced to stick it out with Jason because she's implicated as his partner in crime, but until that point, there's no good reason for her to stay with him: despite their (and the narrator's) frequent assertions that they love each other deeply, there's nothing about their actions or interactions that would suggest they actually care about each other one way or the other, and there's nothing to suggest that Marie is such a good person that she'd give up her entire life to try to help a dangerous man of questionable origins who violently kidnapped her just because it's "the right thing to do." It's like Stockholm Syndrome, except that Bourne tries to get rid of her! He insists repeatedly that he's dangerous and she should leave him because to stay with him is to ruin her life. Plus, Stockholm Syndrome would require emotional and psychological complexity on the part of Marie, which we know she's lacking (see gripe (3)).

3. In the early stages of the novel, Marie is brutally gang raped. Pretty traumatic, right? Nope. A few pages later she doesn't seem to care, it's not really addressed again, and she easily falls into a (spectacular, apparently) sexual relationship with Bourne. No evidence of trauma! No flashbacks! And it's not like she's so emotionally damaged that she's buried it because she doesn't want to deal with it, or that she has amnesia surrounding the event -- nope, she acknowledges it happened but just doesn't care. She doesn't forget -- the novel forgets, because her brutal gang rape is not an emotionally charged event but rather just a plot device to get Marie and Bourne together again. So that they can have life alteringly spectacular sex and profess to love each other. (See gripe (2)).

3. Dialogue is atrocious. I don't care whether it's so stilted that it's unrealistic. Sometimes I really like stilted dialogue -- if I wanted authentic dialogue, I'd have a conversation with a real person instead of reading a book. Rather, my objection is that conversations can be pages long without any evidence of who said what. Apparently a well-placed "Bourne said" would detract from the flow? Readers can't even assume that the person asking the questions is Bourne -- you know, the guy with amnesia, who you might think would be the one asking questions -- because (a) Bourne has some sort of superhuman ability to accurately guess what other people know and what's going on and (b) there are no stylistic differences between characters' speech. So why bother with dialogue at all? Its sole purpose here is to explicate for the reader. Exactly like explicative narration. The only difference is the presence of quote marks.

4. This book is littered with gems like this one: "The old man nodded the way old men do when repeating words that have stunned them to the point of disbelief." Is this supposed to be something that old men do on a regular basis? Is this a normal reaction we are supposed to recognize as familiar? I am fairly confident it is supposed to sound profound, but it's just profoundly stupid.

5. The action sequences are fairly engaging. Which just makes it sad, really, that there are so few action sequences compared to the fantastically dull explicative non-action sequences.

6. Up until Bourne leaves the alcoholic doctor, this is a tight, interesting little mystery. It really is unfortunate that the rest of it is so... not tight, not interesting, and not mysterious. ...more

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Nov 20, 2012 Dyuti rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-thriller-mystery, ebook

After finishing the book, I can totally understand why The Bourne Identity has attained such a cult-status among it's readers. In fact out of my 32 friends who have the book in their shelves in GR, 18 have given it a 4/5 star rating. To begin with, it is a pretty decent thriller. It has an amazing start, a couple of interesting characters, a protagonist you can root for, fast twists and turns and some powerful action sequences.

The premise really impressed me. A nameless man with highly unusual s After finishing the book, I can totally understand why The Bourne Identity has attained such a cult-status among it's readers. In fact out of my 32 friends who have the book in their shelves in GR, 18 have given it a 4/5 star rating. To begin with, it is a pretty decent thriller. It has an amazing start, a couple of interesting characters, a protagonist you can root for, fast twists and turns and some powerful action sequences.

The premise really impressed me. A nameless man with highly unusual skills to kill, defend and protect wakes up without a memory in a strange island off the French coast, soon to realize that there are many who want him dead. To know how to save himself, he must first rediscover his identity. Thus begins a frantic race against time to understand, cope and deal with every startling clue that he uncovers, while fighting against his untraceable enemies.

However, there were a few things in the novel which so totally did not work for me, and compelled me to knock off two stars. Firstly, would a girl really fall in love with a man who held her hostage, and manhandled her just because he later saved her life? I mean of course it can happen, and is even highly probable, but it just seemed a bit too contrived, a little too sudden. The build up could've been better. Also the fact that the hero had to find a girlfriend who was a financial whiz-kid, when he was in desperate need of one, just seemed a little too easy. Too convenient. Am I nitpicking? Maybe. But, when I read a thriller, too many coincidences just makes the story lame. Another fact which I noticed was that the standard of writing was inconsistent. At parts they were patchy, incoherent, and had to be skimmed through/re-read(depends on your patience) to be comprehended.

And so I draw my conclusions that Robert Ludlum has a pretty good imagination and knows how to hold the reader's attention, but is not much gifted as a writer. Still, just because of the story line I will definitely continue with the trilogy. Lets see how it turns out. As for now, I would strongly ask you to give this book a try, for at the end of the day, I cant deny that it is a pretty entertaining read!
...more

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Aug 06, 2020 Kay rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, audiobook, scott-brick, thriller, library-p, libby

Exciting start but eventually became very detailed and I felt was a distraction to the main story. The book makes me want to watch the movie again since it's been a while that I saw the first Bourne. ...more

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Apr 14, 2009 Warren Watts rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: political-thriller

While perusing the library shelves for something new to read, I came across The Bourne Identity, a 1980’s era Cold War espionage novel by Robert Ludlum. I'm not usually a reader of this genre of fiction, but based on what I felt had been an excellent film, I borrowed the book.

The 1980 novel (which spawned the 2002 film) opens with a man barely clinging to life being discovered by fishermen, nearly frozen to death in the cold French Mediterranean sea. He has sustained several gunshot wounds inc While perusing the library shelves for something new to read, I came across The Bourne Identity, a 1980’s era Cold War espionage novel by Robert Ludlum. I'm not usually a reader of this genre of fiction, but based on what I felt had been an excellent film, I borrowed the book.

The 1980 novel (which spawned the 2002 film) opens with a man barely clinging to life being discovered by fishermen, nearly frozen to death in the cold French Mediterranean sea. He has sustained several gunshot wounds including a quite serious one to his head. As he begins to recover, he realizes that he doesn't know who he is; he has lost his identity. With only one clue to his identity, he sets out to determine who he is.

He soon discovers his name is Jason Bourne, and along with that discovery comes the realization that a number of unpleasant parties want to see him dead. He discovers he has skills in many areas he didn't know he had; he speaks several languages, he is proficient at armed and unarmed combat, and can easily slip into roles that allow him to gain information or disappear in a crowd. Using these skills along with bits and pieces of his slowly recovering memory, he slowly pieces his identity back together.

The plot was well paced from first page to last, but never rushed. The book was a real "page turner" for me; I was drawn in right from the first page, and I ended up reading the book straight through, staying up all night!

Ludlum is an excellent storyteller. His vibrant descriptions of people and places really helped bring the story to life. As Bourne discovered or reacted to each development, I felt as if I were there with him, or perhaps watching from across the street.

It's my opinion that novels lose a lot of character development when adapted to the "silver screen", and for that reason I feel that novels are always far more entertaining than their Hollywood screenplay adaptations. The Bourne Identity is no exception.

All the characters (even the lesser and peripheral ones) are well developed; as the story progresses, each has their own unique perspective on the matters at hand. Because the characters were so well developed, most of the complex concepts the novel explored were explained entirely through dialogue between the characters. Through his characters, Ludlum exposes his readers to the complex world of world banking, international diplomacy, as well as the roles of the NSA, CIA, and the Office of the President (past and present) in shaping world events.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and would happily recommend it to anyone, with a caveat: The book can be a vocabulary builder. I had to look a number of words up in the dictionary while reading the book. However, it was well worth my time to do so; I'm sure I absorbed a few of those "fancy" words, and maybe I'll remember what they mean next time I see them again! So don’t let a few “big words” stand in your way of enjoying a truly entertaining read!

There are two more "Bourne" series books; The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum. If the other two are as fun to read as this book was, I'm sure I'll probably be pulling another all-nighter!

...more

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Oct 18, 2014 Pradnya K. rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Everyone, especially who say reading is not my cup of tea.

Shelves: thriller

That was the winter of 2011. It had been harsh, cloudy and too foggy. I lived on the outskirts of my city then for few months and apart from the luxurious noon sunlight and biting cold, there wasn't much happening around. I ran to my sacred haven. There I met Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne. The winter will be always remembered fondly!

I liked everything about this book. Since I opened it without much knowledge (yup, I was too ignorant then) so it turned out to be colorful firecrackers in the small ...more

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Oct 18, 2012 Dirk Grobbelaar rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own, mystery-thriller, action-adventure

This novel was published in 1980, and the primary antagonist (who just happens to be a real life person) was left out of the 2002 film, no doubt because he was apprehended and, to some extent, demystified, in the 1990s. The fact that this person is central to the plot of the novel, but does not appear in the film, inevitably drives a contextual wedge between the two mediums, even though the central amnesia theme remains the same. There is also a 1988 TV-film, which I haven’t seen.

All in all, it’ ...more

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Feb 10, 2008 Matt rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The first book of the Bourne trilogy series, The Bourne Identity begins the tale of Jason Bourne, one of the US government's greatest assassin creations, rescued by fishermen off the French coast. The only problem is that the incident that put him adrift in the water, bullet-ridden and unconscious, had resulted in amnesia. He does not know his name nor his profession. He only knows what his body has been trained to do. The adventure starts, and can only start, with the only piece of information ...more

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Dec 08, 2011 Stephen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: and-saw-the-movie, books-read-in-2012, popular-fiction

I saw and enjoyed the movie years ago but the story never gripped me enough to make me hurry to read the book. Now that I have, I'm glad that I did.

First, its a great story. It's fast paced and has that energy common to techno-thrillers. Ludlam can certainly hold his own in an arena I'd previously thought of as populated by Tom Clancy alone. The locales and the situations are captivating and the action and tension are riveting.

This book's strength (and perhaps its weakness) is the amnesia/myste ...more

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Jun 07, 2012 Joe rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Secret agent Jason Bourne has lost his memory while on a top secret mission. Now, he must rediscover his assignment, his contact, and himself! On the way, Bourne will battle a host of thugs, fall in love with a witty economist and track a legendary assassin.

But the big star is the method; Bourne may have lost his memories, but he can still rely on his advanced training. You'll follow his thought process as he evaluates dangerous situations on the fly, economizes his time and psychoanalyzes his ...more

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Jun 05, 2008 Victoria rated it liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Fans of the movie, 16 and up

Shelves: mystery, adventure

This book was so different from the movie ! ( But then again when are they ever the same ? ) I really enjoyed the story , I now wish the movie had kept a few more things in it. I thought marie was a much better character. I love the way it ended.
HOWEVER : There is a TON of swearing ! And I do mean a TON !
That was very disapointing . :( but, I now have a fully edited book if someone wants to swap/sell with me. :)
I just got a black pin coverd the words. I would have given this story a 5 if it wer ...more

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Jan 16, 2015 Matthew rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Terrific pulse-pounding thriller that has its fair share of twists and turns. Who is Jason Bourne? Who can you trust? Ludlum does a fabulous job of creating a mystery that weaves it's way through various points in time and in several locales. The characters are also top notch. This is action and intrigue at its finest ...more

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Jul 28, 2012 Lance Charnes rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Ludlum fans; fans of 1970s spy thrillers

Shelves: fiction-espionage-intrigue, fiction-thrillers-adventure, reviewed

I had reason to read this again after a loooong time, not really remembering much about it.

First, forget the movie. The only things the book and movie have in common are the title and the names of the main characters. This can be both good and bad. The good part is that you don’t know what’s going to happen based on Matt Damon’s adventures; the bad part is that it’s not nearly as much fun.

This is about as close as Ludlum gets to a semi-realistic espionage thriller. He’ll never be mentioned in th I had reason to read this again after a loooong time, not really remembering much about it.

First, forget the movie. The only things the book and movie have in common are the title and the names of the main characters. This can be both good and bad. The good part is that you don’t know what’s going to happen based on Matt Damon’s adventures; the bad part is that it’s not nearly as much fun.

This is about as close as Ludlum gets to a semi-realistic espionage thriller. He’ll never be mentioned in the same breath as LeCarre and Silva as someone who “gets it right,” and his taste for subterranean conspiracy and ultra-secret global cabals is what put me off him to begin with. Still, here he manages to rein himself in. Bourne himself is more sympathetic than most literary killing machines (his body count is far lower than Matt’s), and even though his flashbacks happen in the most conveniently inconvenient times, you still get a good feeling for the angst he suffers from not knowing which of several competing histories is his. The twists and turns aren’t always predictable (this is a good thing), and Ludlum is quite capable of vividly setting and managing a stage.

Two aspects of this novel proved problematic for me. First is the heroine, Marie. She's presented as a smart, educated woman with a responsible grown-up government job…who falls deeply (almost irrationally) in love with Bourne after less than eight days together, during nearly two of which she’s his hostage(!). Really? When you spend 4/5 of a novel asking “Why is she doing that?” and the only answer is “She’s in lurve,” you know there’s a problem.

Second is the antagonist. When Ludlum wrote The Bourne Identity, Ilich Ramirez Sanchez – aka Carlos – was the hot flavor-of-the-week for global terrorism and not a great deal was known about him. So Ludlum makes him the invincible terrorist genius-mastermind who has suborned officials both high and low on every continent except Antarctica, has limitless resources and eyes on every street corner (that global cabal Ludlum was so fond of). It probably worked in 1975. Now, however, we know what a thug and clown Carlos was, that he botched many of his operations, and that he spent a lot of time scraping for money from one sponsor or another. As such, it’s mostly impossible to take seriously his portrayal in this novel. We can still read and believe a period piece like LeCarre’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy because we know the Soviet security services truly were formidable adversaries. Bourne, already saddled with some big credibility problems, struggles mightily to survive this sucking chest wound.

Having re-read The Bourne Identity, I have no interest in going further in the series. It’s very much a product of its time and should be read as such. I remain convinced that Ludlum’s most entertaining book was The Road to Gandolfo , in which he mercilessly lampooned himself to great effect. ...more

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May 11, 2015 Rade rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, random-find-read

3.5

I loved the movie (Matt Damon one), I like the book, but I did not love the book. My biggest complaint is that in this espionage thriller there were a lot of political twists and turns that sometimes bored me or became too hard to fully understand. Another thing is the whole Stockholm syndrome thing that did not work too well for me. It left me asking way too many questions.

I love Ludlum's style of writing. He's the kind of writer that explains concepts and action well without being too wor ...more

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About Robert Ludlum

Robert Ludlum

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Robert Ludlum was the author of twenty-seven novels, each one a New York Times bestseller. There are more than 210 million of his books in print, and they have been translated into thirty-two languages. He is the author of The Scarlatti Inheritance, The Chancellor Manuscript, and the Jason Bourne series--The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum--among others. Mr. Ludlum ...more

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