The Bourne Objective

Uh I was sorta disappointed with Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne trilogy(Identity, Supremacy and Ultimatum) simply because their time settings were out of date and it had a plot so different from the films. So I checked out the later books written by Eric Van Lustbader.

Like the critics say, Lustbader re-tuned the books to a timeline similar to the films and to please fans of the movie franchise who were displeased with Ludlum's books.

The Bourne Objective marks Lustbader's fifth Jason Bourne novel and signs show he's not slowing down any time soon.

The plot picks up from The Bourne Deception which I wasn't able to buy in which Jason Bourne continues his struggle with fellow Treadstone agent Leonid Arkadin who was mentioned in The Bourne Supremacy and appeared in The Bourne Supremacy film version as Kirill, the dude who kills Jason's girlfriend.

It turns out CIA wants to resurrect Treadstone and pitches their two agents Arkadin and Bourne against each other to see whose training program is more effective. It turned out Alexander Conklin, the Treadstone mastermind dissolved the original program after Arkadin went insane and subjected a more delicate module on David Webb who later became Jason Bourne.

Yet the story unfolds into more than a CIA plot and brings in Russsian mobsters on the hunt for Arkadin, CIA sending spies after Arkadin, Arabic clandestine movements and a terrorist organization known as Severus Domma who are hot on the trail of Solomon's gold.

Hold it! This is a book about Jason Bourne, not National Treasure or some adventure crap. Still this book will satisfy fans of The Bourne franchise. It has alll those awesome action, car chases, footchases and gunfights loyal to the films and of course Robert Ludlum's novels. Lustbader is also able to replicate Ludlum's brilliant ability to catch the reader when they least expect, resulting another subplot or gunfight etc. So this novel will also please hardcore thriller fans. But this trick backfires in this specific novel, it keeps us reading only to be disappointed at the very end. So it was no surprise I finished it in 5 days despite being considerably longer than regular novels.

Sadly, aside from Leonid Arkadin, his dead girlfriends and references to Alexander Conklin's involvement with the Arabs and Arkadin there is little character development for Bourne which is why they should've finished the story instead of continue milking the cow. Jason Bourne's character arc has gone full circle in The Bourne Ultimatum although Lustbader managed to pull it off in his first three novels Legacy, Betrayal and Sanction.

Although it's not a bad book, I hope it'll be the last we see of Jason Bourne because the character is in a decline.