Robert Ludlum's (TM) The Bourne Imperative (Jason Bourne series)

The Jason Bourne sub series is exciting because it has memories of the Cold War, yet brings into account the current state of political affairs and the spate of bad guys associated with it. I like the series because Mr. Bourne simply kicks ass.

Mr. Lustbader takes his time with early setup but finishes almost in the style of the master. It is apparant that there is family influnce in this work when compared to other of his works. There is clarity here where not found in other of his works.

dull, dull, dull, too many story lines, dull, dull, dull, dull. Do you get the idea that this is not one of my favorite books. Ludlum used to be interesting but lately I find other authors more readable.

I have read the first Ludlum Jason Bourne novels, and this is a disgrace to the memory of Robert Ludlum. Simply a waste of time. Plot is made up as it went along, and is so far outlandish, that it should be labeled a comic instead of a mystery thriller.

"She took another long drag from her cigarillo, which emitted smoke like a just-fired pistol." If this is the kind of sentence you love to read (and I can't believe it is), The Bourne Imperative is the book for you. It is packed with similar silliness.

Jason Bourne fishes a fellow out of the water who speaks multiple languages but remembers nothing about his life, including his own name. Did Jason Bourne catch another Jason Bourne? That would be quite a coincidence, but so is the fact that Bourne happens to be boating in the same Swedish archipelago where the nameless man is being pursued by rogue Mossad super-agent Rebeka, whose life Bourne saved in The Bourne Dominion. The nameless man knows about some nefarious doings of Mossad in Dahr El Ahmar, but he can't remember what he knows. Bourne's larger concern is super-terrorist Nicodemo who seems to be a clandestine player in Core Energy, a company that is trying to corner the market on rare earths. Rebeka's larger concern should be Ilan Halevy, "the Babylonian," who has been commissioned to kill her (among others) by Mossad. An alliance between yet another rogue Mossad agent and a Minister of the Chinese government adds an additional layer of convolution to this messy plot.

Meanwhile, back at Treadstone, a new boy named Richard Richards is keeping an eye on co-directors Saroya Moore and Peter Marks, reporting directly to the president. A subplot involves Saroya's pregnancy, political reporter Charles Thorne, the senator to whom he is married, and Maceo Encarnacion, the president of a shadowy internet security firm,. Another involves Martha Christiana, whose contract to assassinate Don Fernando is complicated by her deep feelings for him. You need a large scorecard and a fistful of colored markers to keep track of all the betrayals as the various plotlines unfold.

The clutter of characters and the novel's form -- jumping rapidly from scene to scene so the reader can watch as the action progresses on several fronts -- is about all this novel has in common with the original Bourne trilogy. As you might expect given Eric Van Lustbader's production of a new, lengthy Bourne novel every year, The Bourne Imperative has the feel of having been hurriedly written. Van Lustbader takes shortcuts, relying on stock characters and clichéd phrases to prop up the story. The Babylonian is almost a cartoon villain, the Incredible Hulk on steroids. Action/fight scenes, of which there are many, are so unimaginative, and rendered in such bland language, that they create no adrenalin rush. Some of the scenes that take place in Mexico read as if they belong in a cheesy Mexican soap opera.

Apart from being entirely too dependent upon coincidence, The Bourne Imperative too often asks the reader not just to suspend disbelief, but to believe the impossible. For instance, the latest excuse to kill Bourne concerns "a top secret Mossad camp ... harboring even more top secret research" that Bourne happens to have encountered. We all know that Bourne is an amazing guy, but in this novel he seems to have acquired x-ray vision. How else would he know that there are "experiments going on" inside a building he flew over in a helicopter just by looking at the outside of the building?

To be fair, the story, stripped to its essence, isn't half bad, and the scheme involving the Mossad agent and the Chinese minister includes a clever twist. Still, the plot seems like a patchwork, something cobbled together from bits and pieces torn from a dozen other thrillers. Regrettably, it is built upon the worst excesses of action-based thrillers. The ending is just preposterous. I'm prepared to accept preposterous for the sake of a good thriller, but this one isn't. I would give The Bourne Imperative 2 1/2 stars if I could.

"She took another long drag from her cigarillo, which emitted smoke like a just-fired pistol." If this is the kind of sentence you love to read (and I can't believe it is), The Bourne Imperative is the book for you. It is packed with similar silliness.

Jason Bourne fishes a fellow out of the water who speaks multiple languages but remembers nothing about his life, including his own name. Did Jason Bourne catch another Jason Bourne? That would be quite a coincidence, but so is the fact that Bourne happens to be boating in the same Swedish archipelago where the nameless man is being pursued by rogue Mossad super-agent Rebeka, whose life Bourne saved in The Bourne Dominion. The nameless man knows about some nefarious doings of Mossad in Dahr El Ahmar, but he can't remember what he knows. Bourne's larger concern is super-terrorist Nicodemo who seems to be a clandestine player in Core Energy, a company that is trying to corner the market on rare earths. Rebeka's larger concern should be Ilan Halevy, "the Babylonian," who has been commissioned to kill her (among others) by Mossad. An alliance between yet another rogue Mossad agent and a Minister of the Chinese government adds an additional layer of convolution to this messy plot.

Meanwhile, back at Treadstone, a new boy named Richard Richards is keeping an eye on co-directors Saroya Moore and Peter Marks, reporting directly to the president. A subplot involves Saroya's pregnancy, political reporter Charles Thorne, the senator to whom he is married, and Maceo Encarnacion, the president of a shadowy internet security firm,. Another involves Martha Christiana, whose contract to assassinate Don Fernando is complicated by her deep feelings for him. You need a large scorecard and a fistful of colored markers to keep track of all the betrayals as the various plotlines unfold.

The clutter of characters and the novel's form -- jumping rapidly from scene to scene so the reader can watch as the action progresses on several fronts -- is about all this novel has in common with the original Bourne trilogy. As you might expect given Eric Van Lustbader's production of a new, lengthy Bourne novel every year, The Bourne Imperative has the feel of having been hurriedly written. Van Lustbader takes shortcuts, relying on stock characters and clichéd phrases to prop up the story. The Babylonian is almost a cartoon villain, the Incredible Hulk on steroids. Action/fight scenes, of which there are many, are so unimaginative, and rendered in such bland language, that they create no adrenalin rush. Some of the scenes that take place in Mexico read as if they belong in a cheesy Mexican soap opera.

Apart from being entirely too dependent upon coincidence, The Bourne Imperative too often asks the reader not just to suspend disbelief, but to believe the impossible. For instance, the latest excuse to kill Bourne concerns "a top secret Mossad camp ... harboring even more top secret research" that Bourne happens to have encountered. We all know that Bourne is an amazing guy, but in this novel he seems to have acquired x-ray vision. How else would he know that there are "experiments going on" inside a building he flew over in a helicopter just by looking at the outside of the building?

To be fair, the story, stripped to its essence, isn't half bad, and the scheme involving the Mossad agent and the Chinese minister includes a clever twist. Still, the plot seems like a patchwork, something cobbled together from bits and pieces torn from a dozen other thrillers. Regrettably, it is built upon the worst excesses of action-based thrillers. The ending is just preposterous. I'm prepared to accept preposterous for the sake of a good thriller, but this one isn't. I would give The Bourne Imperative 2 1/2 stars if I could.

Review of the Audible edition.

There are times when viewers/readers are so attached to the initial author or actor that they simply will not tolerate a new actor, or author. No matter how good the replacement is, they refuse to move on past the original creation (Thinking about you, X-Files).

I try to avoid that prejudice. So, I have enjoyed a few of the Eric Van Lustbader forays into Ludlum territory.

I'm not sure of the history of Eric Van Lustbader, nor of his relationship to Robert Ludlum. It does appear, though, that he is the heir--apparent of the Bourne series. As long as the Bourne Line continues, I'm glad. Unless, that is, like this Bourne detour, it leads you to silliness, implausibility, and uncharacteristically melodramatic deviation. It is intolerably each of those: Part the Housewives of Beverly Hills, part Bourne (more toward the end), and part Star Wars: Part V (who even cared about the title of that?). I loved the Bourne series. This is, frankly, mindless and tedious and does not deserve to be part of the Ludlum story-line.

One further note: The narrator, in my opinion, fails miserably to realistically convey emotion. Most annoying is his voicing of female characters. I'm sure he tried. Alas, it doesn't work at all.

Near the beginning, the book has Bourne pulling a man out of the water, someone, who like Bourne, has lost him memories. Bourne should have left him in the water. The character, like the book, would better have been left to drown.

I rarely, if ever, write one star reviews ....I just usually go with, "if you don't have anything nice to say." But. This book just does not deserve any more stars.

I hadn't realized when I checked this book out of my library that Robert Ludlam had died and this book had none of his engaging writing style, keen action, intelligent plots, deep characters, on and on. This book reads more like a script that the author hopes to get produced into a blockbuster movie. And that would only happen with this book under the heading of "horror," due to the continuous awful, bloody-soaked way nearly every character dies, really most without ever having ever "lived" as a fictional character, who you know anything about or even care about enough to register shock when he or she dies.

I guess for me the final straw is that I just don't care enough to finish even the last few pages. If a book doesn't pull me on to the end, it will never be something I would recommend. I'm just really sorry the Jason Bourne character has come to this.

On the surface, the storyline for this latest Bourne incarnation is almost a page turner. Unfortunately, it reads like a lackluster re-write of the original Bourne Identity. Jason Bourne fishes out of the sea a man riddled with bullets, who speaks multiple languages and cannot remember who he is...?? Really?? That beginning alone is absolutely ludicrous, and yet, shockingly, the story progresses as though the reader not only accepts this already-been-used-plot, but actually wants to see it through as a serious techno-thriller.

Well I saw it through, but only because I kept hoping that it would somehow, someway make up for the shockingly horrible opening. To be honest, the story DID get better, but man, it is REALLY tough to forget just how utterly silly the novel started.

Let me just say that unlike many who grew up reading & loving Ludlum, I have actually enjoyed several of the Van Lustbader Bourne novels. Not even ONE came close to the pure genius of even Robert Ludlums worst book, but judging them as a novel that existed within the world of Ludlums creation but not written BY him, I still managed to find something to enjoy with all of the previous expansive Bourne stories. I'm saddened to say that this will be my final experience within this expanse--at least with this particular author. Should someone like Jeffery Deaver take on the series I believe we could experience a whole new love for Jason, but not as it stands today.

I can't remember the last book I read that didn't require at least SOME suspension of belief in order to fully appreciate...unfortunately this last tale has Jason with literally supernatural talents and I expect him to make it through fight scenes and gun battles, but come ON Mr. Van Lustbader! In this novel you really asked a bit too much. There isn't a human who has ever lived who could hold a candle to the fortune and luck and supposed skills of your version of Jason Bourne. The reason why is because it is simply IMPOSSIBLE, and you asking us to accept it has finally tipped the scales for this reader and I just don't feel like suspending that belief any further with you.

Again, in order to be somewhat fair, other than the opening, the novel DID have somewhat of a better turn-around and a couple of clever twists--but it wasn't nearly enough to make me care what was going to happen next. On this last book I hope and pray that we finally give Bourne the rest he deserves...and unless helmed by a capable NEW author, please, leave him there...permanently.

There are so many characters in this novel, you should like at least one of them, right? But instead a tiresome series of fights occurs, multiple plot lines must be learned, and nothing that resonates in reality is there for the reader to be concerned about. We know that Bourne will win all of his fights, so reading the details of the battles seems a waste of time. Plenty of people die, but not one you care about. Well, maybe Rebeka. But the plot as it is is so wispy that the reader doesn't know what the stakes are. And the book is badly edited. "Her said" when "he said" is appropriate. Take a look at Chapter 28. Bourne is uncomfortable in the cockpit of the military plane:
"Bourne shifted his satphone from one ear to another...he was riding up in the cockpit. The Mirage fighter jet...wasn't comfortable..." (Page 398)Problem is, Bourne isn't to the fighter jet yet! He has just been picked up in a car the page before, and a turn of the page has him in that car, not the cockpit, riding to a boutique hotel. He doesn't go to the jet until page 405.
But does it matter? It only emphasizes what a mess this novel is. Give me a plot with a sense of purpose and some characters to care for, throw ina good writer and i will have a good read. This one wasn't.

Van Lustbader has moments of brilliance within a completely implausible, incoherent farce of a spy novel. This book is so over-the-top that it could be mistaken for a spoof. The book practically consists of a series of episodes involving some unique brand of murder or near-death escape by Bourne. The plot rests on the collusion of the Communist Chinese, an American CEO, a Mexican CEO and drug lord, a Mexican assassin, a Moroccan femme fatale assassin, an Israeli spy and beauty, some American intelligence directors, etc etc all revolving around the activities of Jason Bourne--spy celeb and feared unkillable super hero. Each scene has its own spectacularly extraordinary event that keeps the action moving.

This is on the top five lists of worst books I have read through, and I read it through because it somehow manages to be entertaining -- if you have a sense of humor.

Fiction's most famous amnesiac/superspy, Jason Bourne, experiences some wild déjà vu in THE BOURNE IMPERATIVE.

The novel opens with him and his colleague, Christien, fishing a body out of the freezing water off the coast of Sweden. It turns out the nameless man they rescued has a background quite similar to Bourne. He had been shot by a Mossad agent named Rebeka, who Bourne has previously worked alongside of. As the man begins to regain his memory --- much quicker than Bourne himself had during his own bout of amnesia --- he quickly realizes who Bourne is and the fact that they are players on opposing sides of a global drama that is quickly unfolding.

Bourne's former agency, Treadstone, has been quite busy in tracking the situation that seems to have originated in a secret encampment in southeast Lebanon. Ironically, this is the same encampment that Bourne and Rebeka escaped from in the previous Bourne novel. The heads of Treadstone, Soraya Moore and Peter Marks, both are on the trail of a mythic terrorist known only as Nicodemo, who appears to be the key to a global terrorist plot.

Once Rebeka reunites with Bourne, the nameless man in his care quickly recognizes her and the games begin. Could this nameless man be the infamous assassin/terrorist Nicodemo? His skills easily match those of Bourne, and he proves himself to be a worthy adversary. As with all Jason Bourne adventures, once Nicodemo escapes, the chase is on and will encompass several international settings and plenty of intrigue and excitement.

Nicodemo seems to be working for a deadly triad of Middle Eastern terrorists, British industrialists and the Mexican drug cartel. This confusing mix makes things extremely difficult for Treadstone and Bourne to follow, and the enemy always seems to be one step ahead and consistently knowing their every move.

Treadstone is having additional challenges as Soraya is hospitalized with a life-threatening illness. At the same time, Peter is trying to sniff out a potential mole within the ranks while himself going undercover with the dangerous British industrialist, Tom Brick of Core Energy. The web of deceit runs deep, and the terrorist plot that is being driven by all of these nefarious entities is more than Treadstone or Bourne and Co. could ever imagine.

THE BOURNE IMPERATIVE runs at a breakneck pace with a lengthy list of characters, definitely meriting a scorecard to keep track of. Eric Van Lustbader keeps the action and plot moving forward, and the tension never lets up. Some of his prior efforts in the series seemed to focus more on the relationships and espionage with less of the action fans have come to expect. That's not the case with this novel, as readers most assuredly will be gasping for breath as each eye-opening chapter unfolds.

The great Robert Ludlum has been gone for over a decade, but left the world the indelible character of Jason Bourne. Having already been the subject of three world-wide hit films starring Matt Damon, the character once again will be reimagined this summer in a new film series starring Oscar-nominee Jeremy Renner. Lustbader has more than done his part in paying it forward to fans of the series, and we surely have not heard the last of Jason Bourne.

Reviewed by Ray Palen

#10 in the Jason Bourne series. As other reviewers have pointed out, Jason must have been collecting his old-age pension for over a decade now.

Quibbles p.111 "Aguadiente Bancorp was now one of the three largest banks outside the Uited States."

Not as hard as it sounds. Only one American bank scrapes into the top ten.

P.150 "one pair of cobbler's awls, you 'ave." Cobbler's awls,Balls,Bogdan said unexpectedly."

The phrase cobbler's awls is never used. The use of cobblers or a load of cobblers has entered widely into English but Cockney rhyming slang omits the last part of a phrase e,g barnet (Barnet Fair), hair.

I doubt if one in a million Brits would be aware of cbblers full derivation.

My wife knowing my love of this character, picked this up at Costco for me, which I read in a day and a half (couldn't put it down !). That being said and having read the other reviews, it is fair to say that you will either love it or hate it. One thing both sides will agree on is that it is a convoluted, multi-leveled, mind bender, that has all the hall marks of the Jason Bourne books and movies. In my final analysis I give it a 4.5 out of 5.0 as it does to a great degree copy the original, just in a more modern version and there are these errors that others have pointed out that we, as devoted followers, do not deserve if plonking down hard earned dollars. Other than that, never a dull moment, but Eric be advised your free ride on the coat tails is over.

Robert Ludlum was born on (May 25, 1927 and passed away on March 12, 2001. He was an American author of 23 thriller novels. Therefore, I really don't understand how his name is still being used for novels that he did not write. Robert Ludlum wrote THREE novels based on the Jason Bourne character that he created. They were The Bourne Identity (1980), The Bourne Supremacy (1986) and The Bourne Ultimatum (1990). He completed his series that started with a super agent suffering from amnesia learning that his true name was David Webb and that agent knowing that he did not want to be in the spy game anymore. David Webb, aka Jason Bourne, walked away from the spy game and went to some far away place to live his life with the woman he loved. Eleven years after completing his Jason Bourne trilogy, Robert Ludlum passed away without writing another "Jason Bourne or David Webb" novel. It would appear that it was Mr. Ludlum's wish that Jason Bourne or David Webb live out the remainder of his life in peace and not in chaos.

Three years after Mr. Ludlum's death a true mystery began. Eric Van Lustbader, not only resurrected the Jason Bourne character, Mr. Lustbader also resurrected Robert Ludlum. Mr. Ludlum's name now appears on book titles as the author. It is a greater mystery that Mr. Ludlum is being given credit for writing seven more "Jason Bourne" novels when his own last novel corrected the main charter's name to David Webb. There is The Bourne Legacy - (2004), The Bourne Betrayal - (2007), The Bourne Sanction - (2008), The Bourne Deception - (2009), The Bourne Objective - (2010), The Bourne Dominion - (2011) and the latest installment, The Bourne Imperative - (2012).

It would appear that since 2007 Eric Van Lustbader has been producing novels based on a character that has a copy write that belongs to Robert Ludlum. And the Mystery is; how can that be? How did Eric Van Lusbader gain the rights to Robert Ludlum's most memorable character? I must also ask; how did he acquire the authority to revert that character from his known name of David Webb back to Jason Bourne and convert Jason Bourne to a contemporary comic book character?

In this latest installment of explosions, gun fire, violence, back stabbing, double dealing and of course spy actions, David Webb is again Jason Bourne on a mission to save an organization that he walked away from seemingly without regret. Unfortunately there is none of the Robert Ludlum substance in The Bourne Imperative. There is nothing in this latest act of plagiarism that tells of the intellectual complexity of the international spy interactions.

To those who truly love Robert Ludlum's style of writing, please keep in mind these latest offerings are not being written by Robert Ludlum and they lack the interaction that Mr. Ludlum seem to have had with his readers. The latest renderings, be them novels or movies, are not the works of the beloved author Robert Ludlum, so one should consider buying these products with cautious expectations. I hope this helps with your decision making.

Short and sweet -- if Lustbader had been behind the original Bourne series, there would be no Bourne series. However in our present ersazt, newer-is better, world, Lustbader astonishingly has managed a second career doing poor second-rate knockoffs of what was, arguably, Lundlum's most inspiring character. But "inspiring" is a word you are unlikely to ever hear in the same sentence with Lustbader's dreary imitation, since this new improved Bourne never does much but talk -- and seems intended simply to move along Lustbader's typically slow, plodding, overwritten, and over-talkative narratives. On the other hand, if you are under 30 and all this is new and exciting for you, perhaps this book is worth a look. Much the same way that the new Spiderman movie (which the studio made for legal reasons only, to protect a option that would otherwise have expired!) has found a startling new fan base among those too young to remember the original. If there was a rating below 1 star, I would have opted for that.

Well I have just finished the Bourne Dominion and the Bourne Imperative and my head is swimming from the cast of characters, the choppy action, and the overall confusion of these books. What a shame. Yes, yes, I expect plot twists and betrayals but Van Lustbader relies on trying to create suspense by creating yet another layer of betrayals involving a new crowd of characters. And the plot holes - holy toledo! Here's just ONE: In "Dominion" Soraya meets up with her former lover and within a few hours of nonstop movement, motion and killing, he winds up dead and she winds up hospitalized. Moving to the sequel, "Imperative," Soraya is pregnant. Guess who is the father? Yes, her dead boyfriend who she did not have 5 minutes alone with in the previous book. These sloppy plot points are disturbing. Did no one read, edit, or proof these books? Goodbye, Jason. I say goodbye with true regret as your current storyteller isn't quite up to the task of keeping you interesting. Instead, you are being whirled around the globe at a breakneck pace seemingly with a limitless number of enemies.