The Bourne Deception, by Eric van Lustbader, Robert Ludlum

November 28, 2009 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: book review, Eric van Lustbader, Jason Bourne, Robert Ludlum, Thriller 

Robert Ludlum died in March 2001, but even so The Bourne Deception, by Eric van Lustbader & Robert Ludlum new Jason Bourne novels keep coming. I consider Robert Ludlum as one of the best thriller writers ever. And the Jason Bourne books were among his best. So somebody must have decided there was a market for Jason Bourne’s adventures even after Ludlum’s death. So now follow-ups are written by author Eric Van Lustbader. Lustbader has written 20 or so more or less best-selling novels, and should be able to take on this mission.

In this book a very highly placed American makes a deal with a Russian to have Bourne killed – once more. And in exchange for this, the Americans will kill a terrorist for the Russians (a bit of a shift from the old days, when the *Russians supposedly supported terrorists?) A Russian sniper, who turns out to be Leonid Arkadin (see The Bourne Sanction) finds Jason Bourne in Bali. He shoots him, hitting him square in the chest, but somehow the very severely hurt Bourne escapes and lives.

Then the canvas widens. A US airplane is shot down over Egypt. War hawks plot for an American invasion of Iran. A rouge American security outfit with extremely greedy owners meddles with intelligence reports and kills high ranking US Government officials. The American Secretary of Defense pushes for war to increase his own standing in the government.

The plot in The Bourne Deception is rich and past paced. And there is lots of action – almost too much, in the sense that it feels a little like sitting in a roller coaster train. The plot moves along, but its underpinnings are weak and strange, the logic that drives it a little artificial, and in the midst of it all Van Lustbader – who has a metaphysical leaning – throws in a little meta-physics (something Ludlum would never have done!).

I have to say I have read the follow-ups to Ludlum’s Jason Bourne novels by Eric van Lustbader with growing frustration. More and more I experience the books as overwhelmed by movie-like action descriptions as a substitute for intelligent plots and clever dynamics. The Bourne Deception I liked even less than the previous. To my mind, these books are now moving into a territory where only for the really diehard fans of the Jason Bourne saga will enjoy them.

Links to Lustbader’s books at amazon US, amazon UK, and amazon CAN.

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