I might have enjoyed this more if I hadn't loved the film adaptation so much. Compared to the movie re-write, this book plods, often heavily and dully. I was not compelled to keep reading more in the series. A real disappointment.

If you haven't seen the movie yet, then go ahead and read the book--you'll probably enjoy it much more the right way round. ( )

Okay, so I fell for it and got this book thinking it would be like the movie. It isn't. It is barely anything like the movie. Some of the names are the same, Jason Bourne has amnesia and works for the government, but other than that it is VERY different. The movie was good, but the book was just as good or better. There is so much more to the story in the book. It took me a while to really get into the book, but once I did, I was hooked. ( )

Read this a few years ago and after watching the film recently thought I'd read again. Big mistake. I don't know why but I could'nt get further than about 200 pages this time. Never really been a big fan of Robert Ludlum all the novels of his I've read seem to just be an endless chase from one location to the next. Obviously in the minority. ( )

I read this as a younger kid (I loved reading the same books my dad did); I remember enjoying the book but definitely need to go back and read it again. ( )

Publication date: 1980
Original language: English



Summary


A man is found floating in the sea, seriously wounded, suffering from almost total amnesia. He is picked up by a passing boat and taken to the nearest doctor, who discovers a chip surgically embedded in the man's hip. It contains the number of a Swiss bank account. It also becomes evident that the man has had extensive plastic surgery to make his face as regular, as unremarkable, as possible.

The man travels to Zurich to try to discover his identity. He finds out that his real name is Jason Bourne and that there are many people who either fear him or want him dead. Bourne comes to the almost unescapable conclusion that he is a trained assassin.
Along with a woman, Marie St. Jacques, whom he has used as a hostage to enable him to escape those who are tracking him down, Bourne begins a race to discover who wants him dead, and why.



Why you must read this book


This is one of the best thriller plots ever written. Let's be clear that this is in no way the same as the Matt Damon movie, which is a pretty poor shadow of Ludlum's intricate and brilliant story. If you can put this book down, it'll be a rare achievement; it keeps you on your toes all the way through and the final twists of the plot aren't revealed until the very end. This is not a novel of half-measures, and the imaginative scope behind it is breathtaking.


Now, I'm not saying that Ludlum is the best prose stylist ever. His writing can be cliched and trite at times, but he makes up for it with a real talent for keeping his reader's heart racing from beginning to end.




If you liked this, you'll love...


The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, also by Robert Ludlum.
Along Came a Spider by James Patterson
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown ( )