Ludlum's fans know that Jason Bourne was the identity created and embellished by the CIA for a legendary undercover CIA operative whose real name was David Webb. Unfortunately, a deep cover operation in which Bourne/Webb was engaged went perilously wrong, and Webb has struggled for years to recover his lost memories and return his life to a semblance of normalcy. He has officially retired from the life of clandestine ops, has a wife and family and is a professor at Georgetown University. However, his deep friendship with his former CIA controller (Alex Conklin, who plays a key role in this story) allows him to maintain contact with his previous world. Suddenly, Webb finds himself the target of an incredibly skilled assassin and after his escape he finds himself at the center of a very complicated plot to frame him for several murders. Thus, cut off from most of his usual resources in the international law enforcement community, he must retreat into deep cover and use all the skills developed during his career as Bourne to stay alive and untangle the web which has been spun by a master at the high stakes game of international political intrigue and terror. The story is fast paced, the action almost non-stop, and the storyline sufficiently convoluted and the misdirection frequent enough to maintain the reader's interest. There are several other interesting characters, and a really dislikable villain, although I cannot go into details without providing spoilers.

This is the first book that I have read by Eric Van Lustbader, so I cannot compare it to his previous work. Fortunately, he did not choose to attempt to imitate Ludlum's style (this fact might disappoint some readers), but rather chose to continue the Ludlum and BOURNE LEGACY by adopting the trademark Ludlum techniques which I have previously described but utilizing his own methodology to tell the story. Much of Jason Bourne's backstory in the jungles of Vietnam is cleverly interwoven as an essential element of this tale, I hope that some day it will be revealed how much of this was created by Ludlum before his death and how much was this author's invention. ( Many of Ludlum's fans remain curious regarding his role in the creation of THE JANSON DIRECTIVE and THE TRISTAN BETRAYAL, the two novels completed by others after his death.) This book is also much more philosophical in tone than most of Ludlum's work, but that factor is essential to the story.

I highly recommend this book despite one meaningful flaw and one personal dislike. My dislike is the descriptions of torture and violence, which while infrequent were a little brutal for me. More importantly, there were a few instances where the escapes were a little too miraculous and the feats of physical prowess were unbelievable rather than improbable. All authors in this genre walk the fine line of implausibility veering into impossibility, and in some cases I thought this author wrote his characters into situations which left him without any believable methods of achieving the objectives of his narrative. I want to emphasize that despite these criticisms this is a pageturner with the type of palpable tension which epitomizes the Ludlum style. I was fortunate enough to discover Robert Ludlum when THE SCARLATTI INHERITANCE was first published, and read every subsequent book immediately upon publication (except THE ROAD TO GANDOLFO, originally published under a pseudonym) and enjoyed them all tremendously. Not only will this book provide enjoyment to Ludlum fans, but clearly if it achieves commercial success THE BOURNE LEGACY will include a further sequel. The conclusion of this story and the new addition to the cast of characters certainly foreshadow such a development.

One final recommendation for Ludlum fans - as you may be aware Ludlum was a fan of the writer Gayle Lynds and she was his coauthor for three of his last books. While the plots were not as complex as the books for which he was the sole author, this collaboration allowed him to increase his productivity in the years preceding his death. While these stories never achieved the success of his other work, they alerted me to the work of Lynds, and I strongly recommend two of her works which I have read. The initial volume (which definitely should be read first) is MASQUERADE (review 3/4/2004) and the sequel is THE COIL (review 3/16/2004).To date these have not achieved the success which they deserve in my estimation, but they are definitely Ludlumesque in plotting and complexity, although with much greater character development.

Tucker Andersen


Not Ludlum, but OK...   July 18, 2004
 33 out of 39 found this review helpful

If you're new to the Bourne universe then you MUST go back and read the series in order first (and no, having seen the movie doesn't count, since it has nothing WHATSOEVER to do with the series.) If you're an old Ludlum hand, then you want to know how this compares to the originals. The bottom line is that Lustbader is no Ludlum, but since Ludlum's own work was somewhat variable, LEGACY falls about halfway along spectrum.

On the positive side, Lustbader's plotting is quite good and this one is right up there with the best Ludlum. On the other hand, the writing is wooden at times and full of cliches, the torture scenes are disturbingly graphic (well beyond anything Ludlum ever wrote), and the suspension of disbelief required is (at least for me) problematic.

Lustbader gives the character Khan apparently greater powers than even Bourne (whose abilities already strain the limits of credulity) and even if one accepts the usual Ludlum conspiracy motivation zeitgeist, in this book there are a lot of loose ends, unbelievable coincidences, miraculous recoveries and escapes, unrealistic details both technical and political, and lack of back-story motivation for the villain that leave one somewhat unfulfilled. It is also a little too 'cinematic' for my tastes, with much of the book obviously written to lay the groundwork for a future film (distinct car chase, fight and explosion scenes that are more Bruckheimer than Ludlum.)

Perhaps my biggest regret is that, in what I assume is a deliberate move to make the series his own, Lustbader starts off by discarding the previously integral Conklin and Panov, and very publicly burning the Bourne/Webb secret identity. In the real world, after the events depicted in this book Webb would never again be able to walk out of his house without being followed by the press, let alone get involved in undercover skullduggery. This book, then, would only appear to make sense if Lustbader is intending to take the future series off in a different direction.

All in all, however, I give LEGACY four stars, and I will read the next one. I'm glad that the series is being picked up by a name writer as with Flemming's Bond series (instead of the unfortunate, ghosted, "completed by" or "together with" sequels such as the Gayle Lind stuf.) I only hope that in future novels Lustbader will continue with the good plotting while staying away from the gratuitous violence and implausibilities displayed in this one. Bottom line: the new kid shows promise [grin].


Disappointing   August 23, 2004
 17 out of 19 found this review helpful

Having read many of Ludlum's novels over the years, and having watched his style deteriorate somewhat as time passed, I had hopes that this new iteration of a Ludlum character would bring with it crisp, incisive writing.
It has not done so. Here are several examples of the sorts of sloppy mistakes that steal the joy of reading this book.
1 - a van Lustbader-invented assassin loads his sniper rifle with "the smallest caliber round it will take." What? Firearms by design and definition require a specific and single caliber of ammunition. Does this guy know nothing? And why in hell would he want the smallest caliber, if indeed there were such a thing? He never explains this weird concept.
2 - He has first-response cops showing up at a crime scene complete with tracking dogs. What? That's something that would be called in later at the discretion of the on-scene commander, rather than something that police officers routinely travel with.
3 - He has the Bourne character checking in with a motel clerk who is watching television. Bourne goes to his room, turns on his own TV, and finds himself featured as a wanted man on all channels. Yet he eats, showers, shaves and rests, never even apparently thinking that the check-in clerk, watching television, might have recognized him and might at that minute be calling out the mountes after him.
Just sloppy work for which there is no excuse. I doubt that even Ludlum himself would have written such drivel. Sorry, but it's very disappointing. Books are way too expensive these days to contain such second-rate crap.
-JT


The dismantling of Jason Bourne   August 6, 2004
 15 out of 19 found this review helpful

I went into this book with low expections, but high anticipation. Having read nearly all of the Robert Ludlum books, I've become a fan of his storytelling and style. His 2-3 inch books kept my interest until I finished, usually in a few days of marathon reading.

Naturally, I'm also a fan of the Jason Bourne character. Bourne was always able to anticipate a situation and have the preparedness to overcome his opponents through that preparation. He was also unstoppable in hand-to-hand combat. His amnesia and anxiety over his past gave him a human element, and a flaw that every compelling literary character needs. He was forced to become Bourne to protect himself and his love interest, Marie.

Unfortunately, Bourne has been transformed by Lustbader into a less interesting hero. Bourne is soundly defeated by his opponents in hand-to-hand combat, only to be saved by luck or a female character. I call that the Timothy Dalton Syndrome. If you ever watched Dalton as Bond, you'll know what I mean. The old Bourne would have never been captured and incapacitated by the villian as he was. The old Bourne would not have had his butt kicked by Khan multiple times.

I missed having Marie in the story. She always gave a good balance to Bourne and kept him grounded when he was stressed.

The escapes were completely implausible. Two of them it talks about where it almost pulls his arm out of socket, but the events would have pulled his arm off if he could have maintained his grip at all. The motorcycle escape I had to read twice to see if that is what they were really saying as it was so ridiculous.

I missed the ol' "Cain is for Delta" mantra that took him back to Vietnam. I dont' think I heard once that "Sleep is a weapon". I know it's a new author, but those are character traits that in my humble opinon should have been carried forward.

Even though the book is thinner, I felt it took me longer to read. Guess that's what happens when you have "Ops Center" meets Timothy Dalton.


Absolutely Terrible   August 30, 2005
 12 out of 14 found this review helpful

I am a huge Robert Ludlum fan. Seeing a book carrying the Bourne title and with his name in massive print on the front, I was thrilled. I quickly bought the book, excited at the chance to read a new Ludlum novel. Buyers beware.

As it turns out, Van Lustbader's name was in small print underneath Ludlum's name. Ah well - I decided that I would read the book anyway. Big mistake.

First of all, the book is terribly written. The characters are 2 dimensional; the reader never actually can be absorbed into the Bourne world because the writing is so poor.

Secondly, there's the plot. In premise, it's a good plot; Bourne is attacked by a sniper, then finds his two best friends dead. While I disagree with killing of Panov and Conklin - both major characters in the origional series - I decided to keep reading. Not only has Lustbader changed the entire premise of the Bounre series, marketing Bourne as a CIA assassin-for-hire that he never was, and even going so far as to say that Bourne still accepted jobs from the Agency on occasion, but he has also implemented his plot so poorly that it made me want to cry.

Save yourself the money on this book; it's a basterdation of the Bourne series. What the hell was Lustbader thinking?