What Ludlum lacks in technical writing skills he makes up for in reader appeal. I've read about six of his books and look forward to the rest. He's easy to read (especially compared to Tom Clancy) and snares you with suspense and action that has a unique sort of feel. Ludlum is the name in spy/espionage thrillers.
Rating: * (Don't waste your time!)
Admittedly it's the first book he ever wrote, but re-releasing it was an embarrassment. He's improved so much since this one. Apparently a marketing whiz at his publishing house thought Ludlum's name on a new book that had been previously rejected would hook his thousands of fans who didn't know better. I'm not even going to bore you with a synopsis. I got through about 90 pages and recycled it.
Rating: ****
Of all the Ludlum books I've read, this is the best. His publisher, Bantam Doubleday Dell, says, "Jason Bourne. He has no past. And he may have no future.
His memory is blank. He only knows that he was flushed out of the Mediterranean Sea, his body riddled with bullets. There are a few clues. A frame of microfilm surgically implanted beneath the flesh of his hip. Evidence that plastic surgery has altered his face. Strange things that he says in his delirium-maybe code words. Initials: 'J.B.' And a number on the film that leads to a Swiss bank account of four million dollars, and, at last, a name: Jason Bourne.
"But now he is marked for death, caught in a maddening puzzle, racing for survival through the deep layers of his buried past in to a bizarre world of murderous conspirators-led by Carlos, the world's most dangerous assassin. And no one can help Jason Bourne but the woman who once wanted to escape him."
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Rating: ***.8
In a Kowloon Cabaret, scrawled in a pool of blood, is a name the world wanted to forget: Jason Bourne.
The Chinese vice-premier has been brutally slain by a legendary assassin. World leaders ask the same fearful questions: Why has Jason Bourne come back? Who is paying him? Who is the next to die? But U.S. officials know the shocking truth: There is no Jason Bourne. The name was created as cover for David Webb on his search for the notorious killer Carlso. Someone else has taken the Bourne identity-and unless he is stopped, the world will pay a devastating price. So Jason Bourne must live again.
A great sequel, but not the same sense of suspense you felt all the way through The Bourne Identity. Still, a wonderful adventure you can't stop reading.
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Rating: ***.8
The third in this acclaimed series. If you've read the other two, this is like finishing the meal. Don't stop if you've gotten this far!
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