THE BOURNE LEGACY
Eric Van Lustbader

Thriller



The marketplace speaks. Robert Ludlum's most popular character was arguably Jason Bourne, the deadly CIA agent with the fragmented identity. All three of the Bourne novels --- THE BOURNE IDENTITY, THE BOURNE SUPREMACY and THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM --- were among Ludlum's most popular, and have achieved a new spike in popularity thanks to the film adaptation of THE BOURNE IDENTITY. In an effort to give the people --- and, yes, probably the film studios --- what they want, the Ludlum estate has commissioned Eric Van Lustbader to create a new Bourne novel. The result is a good, though not perfect, fit that should please fans both old and new.

Lustbader wastes absolutely no time in getting to the explosions and karate that the readers of this genre expect --- nay, demand! --- and there is enough duplicity and backstabbing in THE BOURNE LEGACY to fill three novels in any other genre, with the possible exception of your average Chick Lit book. THE BOURNE LEGACY begins with a political assassination in war-torn Grozny; the action then abruptly cuts to Washington, D.C. and David Webb, who has submerged his Jason Bourne persona and is living a quiet, domestic existence as a Georgetown University academic with a wife and children. This idyllic existence is abruptly shattered when an assassination attempt is made upon Webb. Things go from bad to worse when he is framed for a double murder almost immediately thereafter.

Webb's Bourne persona begins to take charge almost out of necessity as he finds himself hunted not only by his former CIA colleagues but also by a mysterious assassin named Khan, whose talents and abilities appear to be the equal of Bourne's own. Khan also has a mysterious link to Webb's past, a link that affects both men, and what they do, throughout THE BOURNE LEGACY. At the same time Khan and Bourne are being manipulated by Stepan Spalko, a shadowy, powerful figure who to the world at large is head of Humanistas, Ltd., which ostensibly assists poor and developing nations but actually sees the world as a chessboard that it is playing toward its own ends. Spalko intends to disrupt a world security summit in Reykjavik, and Khan, Bourne and a missing scientist are merely the implements he plans to use for a cataclysmic display of power.

Lustbader is not afraid to toy with the Bourne mythos, playing within the boundaries of what has gone before while shaking things up a bit --- quite a bit, actually --- and he certainly lays the foundation to keep Bourne going for the long haul while staking a credible claim to be the man to do it. There are some rough edges though that will hopefully improve should the series continue. For one, Khan's ability to trail Bourne is almost too good to be true in spots. Bourne's abilities to escape from tight jams also become formulaic after a while, and the rope from which I suspend my disbelief while reading thrillers of this nature was almost frayed beyond repair by the time I reached the conclusion.

It appears, however, that Lustbader's primary focus with THE BOURNE LEGACY is to shake things up, and if that is the case, he has succeeded admirably. There is a "holy shoot with the 'o' dotted" moment about every 75 pages or so, as Lustbader rearranges the building blocks of Bourne's life, and there are a couple of killer conclusions that are nothing short of terrific. Regardless of your familiarity, or lack thereof, with Lustbader's previous work, THE BOURNE LEGACY is worthy reading.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub