The Bourne Imperative

April 2, 2012
Bestseller Lustbader’s busy seventh entry in the Bourne franchise (after 2011’s The Bourne Dominion) takes superagent Jason Bourne to Sadelöga, Sweden, where Bourne rescues a man who’s lost his memory after being shot in the head, a reminder of amnesiac Bourne’s own mysterious origins. Many characters from earlier books appear, including Soraya Moore and Peter Marks, co-directors of Treadstone, a former CIA training facility, and the mysterious Mossad agent, Rebeka, last seen helicoptering a wounded Bourne out of the secret Mossad nuclear research facility, Dahr El Ahmar. A host of bad guys try to kill Bourne while hatching plots involving stealing money, nuclear secrets, and taking over the world. Newbies who want to understand the various plot lines would be advised to begin at least two or three books back. Established fans will find all the usual cliffhangers, hairbreadth escapes, and multiple betrayals they expect from this series. Agent: Henry Morrison, the Henry Morrison Agency.

July 1, 2012
Jason Bourne is alive and well, but this, the 10th installment of the franchise, is tired. The prolific Van Lustbader's (Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Dominion, 2011, etc.) latest Bourne is tedious. The prologue: A man is running, a woman pursuing, across a snowbound landscape in Sweden. They engage in hollow dialogue, punctuated by witless description, then proceed to the killing. While fishing and discussing conspiracies with his friend Christien Noren, Bourne snags a body, lifts it from the water. Flash to the Oval Office. The secretary of defense is briefing a dubious president, who is asking pointed questions about the health of Treadstone directors Peter Marks and Soraya Moore and checking on Dick Richards, his eyes in the spy shop. We glimpse Marks and Moore back in the office, then overhear a conversation at Mossad headquarters: Rebeka, a prized agent, has gone rogue; Ilan Halevy, "the Babylonian," is sent to kill her. It is not long before Bourne becomes reacquainted with Rebeka; the man fished from the icy waters regains his memory; and the mystery deepens about the Israeli research facility in Lebanon. We become acquainted with financier Don Fernando, "sometime partner" of Noren. He has suspicions about Core Energy's CEO, Tom Brick. A shadowy character identified as Nicodemo is doing Brick's dirty laundry--extorting, killing. Before long Bourne and Rebeka are chasing Nicodemo from one side of the Atlantic while Moore and Marks try to net him on the other. The Chinese have a stake in the Israeli research, Dick Richards is tricky, and a Mexican cartel boss, who, like almost everybody, wants Bourne dead, may have the funds, the smarts and the guts to outspend and outmaneuver--on and on it spins. A carousel of stereotypes, devoid of suspense.

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June 15, 2012

Lustbader's seventh foray (after Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Dominion) into the world of rogue agent Jason Bourne is another terrific thriller. Out on an ice-fishing excursion, Bourne catches a human body on his line. The man is still alive but suffers from amnesia. As Bourne helps the man uncover his past, his own life is thrown into jeopardy and his past called up for review. VERDICT The questionable beginning that echoes Bourne's personal history is a bit hard to swallow. Once readers get past that, the novel turns into an action fest. There is a huge cast of other characters with their own storylines, so series newcomers should start with an earlier book. Fans will discover this to be the best Lustbader Bourne novel yet, even with the hokey start. The August release of Bourne Legacy with Jeremy Renner, the fourth entry in the film franchise, should only spark more interest.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2012
This is Lustbader's seventh Bourne novel, meaning that he's now written more than twice as many books about the enigmatic superspy as Ludlum did. But trading on Ludlum's name will no doubt increase readership, so what the heck. The bigger issue here is whether the novel is any good. And it is. It might not make much sense if you haven't read the previous installments in the seriesLustbader doesn't spend a lot of time backfilling or bringing us up to speedbut readers familiar with the story of Jason Bourne (still searching for the truth about his own identity) and Treadstone (the top-secret intelligence and assassination program of the CIA) will be flipping pages as fast as they can. Unlike Ludlum, whose prose frequently tended toward the stodgy, Lustbader pulls readers through the story with gusto, as Bourne confronts a man in a situation very much like his own, and Treadstone agents Marks and Moore try to determine whether they can trust a new man on the team. For series fans, a solid continuation of Bourne's story. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: From beer to books, brand names sell, and the Ludlum-Bourne combo is thoroughly bankable, especially since the stand-in at the keyboard knows what he's doing.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)