| Jason Bourne again becomes a rogue agent. In responding to a call from his former agency head and good friend, he finds his friend and a companion murdered. The immediate sound of approaching police makes him aware that he was deliberately set up for these murders. In an attempt to exconerate himself from the false accusation and to avenge the murder of his friend, he must find out why they were murdered. This proves an overwhelming task as he becomes an an unwilling participant in the search for a biochemical agent threatning the world and those behind the threat. Jason Bourne gets drawn into an international plot, confused by the multiple interests that seem to have come together for two purposes, terrorizing the world and killing him. At the same time he is being still being sought by his former agency, with orders to kill, for the murders.
To complicate this search he is brought face to face with his past, both forgotten and remembered. He is also the target of a hired assassin, claiming to be his long-dead son, who has a personal interest seeing Bourne dead. This sub-plot is interwoven through all Bourne's attempts to find the person or persons responsible for the death of his friend. Eric Van Lustbader has adopted the hero, Jason Bourne, from the late Robert Ludlum. As a long time fan of Mr. Ludlum, I find it difficult to equate Mr. Lustbader's hero with Mr. Ludlum's Jason Bourne. His brief inferences to Bourne's amnesia was the closest thing to continuity. Mr. Lustbader follows the form of Mr. Ludlum in the sense of useless information. The story had too many convulsions to keep my interest, and I also found it questionable that a chemical that would be inert under heat would be kept at a temperature of 32 celsius. This error should have been caught. Sloppy research or sloppy editing? Mr. Lustbader might not have sold without the Ludlum headline, but he should have just started a hero of his own. The book was too confusing and the convulted plots overlapped to form what could have been three different books. Too many agendas to keep up with. | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of story - suspenseful (sophisticated fear) Time/era of story: Spying/Terrorism Thriller Yes Cloak & Dagger Plotlets: Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book descript. of violence and chases - 20 % Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30 % How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10 % Who's the terrorist enemy here? Main Character Gender - Male Profession/status: Age: - long lived adults Main Adversary Identity: - Male Age: - 40's-50's Profession/status: Motive of antagonist - power The antagonists are: - Arab terrorists How sensitive is this character? Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters Setting United States Yes The US: - Northeast Europe Yes Misc setting - scientific labs Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths A lot of techno jargon? Yes Kind of jargon? - archaeology Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |
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