Physically and Mentally Enhanced Heroes

[Courtney]

Hey guys!

I'm requesting any book that is basically similar to Bourne Legacy if anyone has seen it. The protagonist was physically and mentally enhanced through an agency and in the movie, he helped to protect the woman he starts to fall in love with. I loved that he was pretty protective of her and that he had the ability to face just about anything. It was very hot!

[Anna]

Have you read The Bourne Legacy? (I did look at your bookshelf and it isn't added)

[Courtney]

No, I haven't, but I did see that it was the same Jason Bourne as the other books, right? Is it necessary to read the books before it?

[Anna]

I have no idea. I haven't read Bourne series and I haven't seen the new movie.

[Peter]

You might try the Reacher series by Lee Child. Most books have a romantic interest for the hero, Jack Reacher. Or if not romance at least a female character for Reacher to play off of.

Reacher isn't enhanced like whatsisname from Bourne Legacy, but a big part of the series is the fact that he's just phenomenally competent and dangerous. He's 6'5" I think, two hundred some pounds of muscle and extremely skilled at combat. He doesn't do too well at fitting in to ordinary life, either, in a way that does actually remind me of the Bourne movie characters.

Not exactly what you're looking for, but maybe worth a look.

[Courtney]

Thanks for the recommendation, Peter! I'll be sure to take a look at it.

And I'm open to all recommendations!

[Nairabell]

If you don't mind a paranormal slant you might like the Ghostwalkers by Christine Feehan (they start with Shadow Game, although book 2 is better). The male leads are soldiers who are psychically enhanced.

[Courtney]

Thank you, Nairabell! I've just recently put that book in my to-read shelf from a recommendation on Amazon Discussions!

[Jim]

You might want to try The 4 Phase Man or some others by Richard Steinberg. David Morrell wrote First Blood, but also a bunch of assassin novels. As I recall, none of these men are really enhanced as much as trained to be a bit more than human. In The Brotherhood Of The Rose & a couple of sequels, twins are raised specifically to be the very best assassins.

[Courtney]

Thanks, Jim! The Brotherhood of the Rose and The 4 Phase Man look pretty interesting!

[Jim]

Glad to help, Courtney. Both authors have other books in the same vein, too. That should keep you busy for a bit.
;-)

[Nairabell]

Courtney wrote: "Thank you, Nairabell! I've just recently put that book in my to-read shelf from a recommendation on Amazon Discussions!"

Awesome :) Glad I could help!

[Gene]

You might try the Doc Savage books as by Kenneth Robeson. They were originally published as pulp magazine stories in the 30s & 40s. Doc was trained from childhood to have superior physical and mental capabilities. He has 5 friend who are all experts in their fields helping him on his adventures. He has the most bizarre rogue's gallery this side of Dick Tracy or Batman-but only one villain, John Sunlight made a second appearance. There were over 150 books, and the true primary author was a man little known today named Lester Dent. The stories are pulpish to their core and fun reads. They were republished from the 60s into the 80s by Bantam and the single title ones which run about 160-180 pages will be the easiest to find. There are some Doc fanfics to be found, and some cookie cutter highly similar pastiches. (Sort of like the August Derleth Solar Pons who is a knockoff of Sherlock Holmes.) If you like these you might want to read Philip Jose Farmer's bio of Doc which is called Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life. Farmer did a similar bio of Tarzan. Also of interest are Farmer's Wold-Newton stories in which Farmer family trees a lot of the popular heroes of the 19th and 20th centuries.

[Courtney]

Thanks Gene! I'll check it out.

Still open to more suggestions! :D

[Kate]

I recommend an old favorite:Dune by Frank Herbert. The main character definitely has superior physical and mental capabilities.

[Fresno Bob]

more in the "summer read" genre would be Shibumi....a great book I read recently that is what the "Heroes" tv show should have been is The Liminal People

[Courtney]

Thank you Kate and Fresno Bob! Do those books have romance in them?

[Fresno Bob]

Courtney wrote: "Thank you Kate and Fresno Bob! Do those books have romance in them?"

Shibumi does more than The Liminal People....

[Courtney]

Ok thanks! I watched Heroes, too, so it should be interesting!

[Kate]

Dune doesn't have much romance in it, although there is some.

[Akupsch]

If you're ok with a paranormal/fantasy idea then Jayne Ann Krentz has some really good books. She also writes futuristic stories as Jayne Castle and historicals (victorian era) as Amanda Quick. Several of her books are in series but not all. The Arcane Society novels are probably her best known series. Her heros are always able to handle anything and they are very protective of the women they love.

[Shanna_redwind]

In Amped, there are quite a number of people with artificially enhanced perceptions who are beginning to suffer from discrimination. I really enjoyed the book.

[oliviasbooks]

Santa Olivia - the heroine's father was genetically enhanced and therefore she is accidentally too.

[Kelsey]

Born To Darkness is along the lines you are looking for and has romance. I really enjoyed it!

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Courtney, I really hope you've read the Bourne books by now. The movie's don't hold a patch to the books. I watched about half of the first one on TV before my husband rescued the poor, abused remote from my hand and turned the channel because I was screaming at the TV, "No, no, no, it didn't HAPPEN like that. . ."

If you don't mind romance--and some PN elements--Jennifer Ashley's Shifters Unbound series is good. Pride Mates is book 1. Oh, plus the present last book (another one is due out shortly) has the MC-male character as an enhanced being. But I'd read them in order, since they have an over-arcing story line.

For kind of campy fun there is The Destroyer series. Created, the Destroyer is the first one in the series.

And of course, there are the couple of books based on the old TV show, The Six Million Dollar Man. The Rescue of Athena One is one--but there are others.