The Bourne Objective (Jason Bourne Series)

Eric Van Lustbader
Grand Central Publishing (2010)
ISBN 9780446539814
Reviewed by Leslie Granier for Reader Views (06/10)


“The Bourne Objective” is the latest in the series featuring Jason Bourne, an expert warrior with exceptional intelligence.  In this offering, Bourne finds himself pitted against his archenemy Leonid Arkadin.  Both men were trained at Treadstone, which is a division of Central Intelligence.  However, the methods used to train them were quite different and the head of the agency is intent on finding out which method is more effective by having Bourne and Arkadin battle each other.  Meanwhile, Bourne has amnesia and is unable to remember anything about his previous mission except that it involved a ring and a laptop.  The Severus Domna, an underground group that plans on ruling the world, knows Bourne has the items they need to accomplish their goal and pursue him around the globe.  Bourne must remember the mission in time to prevent power from falling into dangerous hands.

The premise of the story is excellent - having two warriors go up against each other to see which one will dominate.  However, Arkadin is given much more attention with Bourne seemingly being relegated to a secondary character.  The author did a nice job of presenting Bourne’s difficulties in knowing who to trust and how to proceed with the case due to his amnesia.  There are many action scenes, but they are better suited for a movie than for a book.  It would probably be helpful to read the previous Bourne novels.  I am unfamiliar with their content but there seemed to be some things the author presumed the reader would already know.

The main issue I have with this book is there are too many characters and intermingled subplots.  By presenting the story in this way, the pace does not move very quickly.  In fact, when something major happens, the author often moves to another subplot and waits several chapters before returning to the topic of interest.  I also found it difficult to remember how some of the characters fit into the plots.

“The Bourne Objective” will appeal to a broad adult audience.  Fans of Jason Bourne will likely be satisfied with this latest installment.  It is interesting and intriguing, but it is a little too complicated for my taste.

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