The Bourne Identity

This book, like the film, is action-packed from the beginning. As a spy thriller, it’s got it all. An operative, a missing identity, nefarious purposes, and deep tragedy. Also a hero that comes out of it all, but at a great cost. Ludlum builds a world that makes one wonder if this deep level of deceit truly happens within the government and exposes the dark underbelly of the beast. 

This spy thriller has it all: secret organizations, evil terrorist hit men, and a Canadian love interest (I’m Canadian and at the time the book came out we were rare in blockbuster fiction, and I’ll never forgive the movie adaptations for making Marie German). Jason Bourne wakes up from a boat explosion with no idea who he is and then begins hunting the people who are in turn trying to kill him, while trying to uncover clues to his past. Jason is torn as he finds more and more evidence that he might be an assassin responsible for several high-profile… show more.

I think of Ludlum as the master of page-turner suspense at its simplest. This thriller spawned a franchise that’s still going strong after more than four decades, an accomplishment I greatly respect.

While Jason Bourne is not an ordinary man, he is seriously handicapped by total amnesia. This clever invention of vulnerability taught me something important as a writer—be inventive, color outside the lines, keep the reader guessing, and keep the writing sharp!

For me, The Bourne Identity is the best study guide for writing thrillers, and an exciting ride as a reader.

Robert Ludlum is a master of spy craft. I enjoy reading his Jason Bourne series as it does an excellent job of traversing story and character arcs. Bourne, a spy who lost his memory and is fighting to piece together his very existence. The closer he gets, the more dangerous the stakes. Ludlum, in this book and throughout the series, feeds the Bourne and the reader little triumphs matched with losses and setbacks as Bourne closes in on the truth and his identity. I enjoyed The Bourne Identity as I felt the desperation, confusion, and at times, anger as I… show more.

Ludlum used amnesia as the primary conceit of the story. The revelation of the protagonist’s numerous surprising skills provides interesting clues, enabling both him and the reader to gradually solve the mystery of his origin. While reading, I found myself in a constant state of anticipation about the next new thing the protagonist will discover about himself and whether he will learn who he really is.  

So unlike the movie, and so much better. Yes, it’s an older novel, but the previous entry isn’t that fresh either. I love how broken Bourne is, how the stuff he went through virtually destroyed the person he was before he became Bourne, but also the persona he had created for himself. His agony gushes from the page, and it’s a wonder to behold. No James Bond, no gentleman spy, just a broken man trying to put the shards of his life back into some resemblance of normalcy.

Jason Bourne is the second spy thriller character that inspired my creation of Michael Dolan. Though there are some similarities, Jack Ryan and Bourne are actually quite different. Unlike Ryan, Bourne possesses all the field skills necessary to succeed and again, unlike Ryan, he is challenged with considerable deficits in understanding himself—where he is from, how he became who he is, and the reasons behind it all. It is through this acute, internecine struggle, the cryptic complexity of the protagonist, that Ludlum succeeded with a character that was and remains wildly popular within the spy thriller world. My shaping of… show more.

Amazing Book. Nothing like the Matt Damon movie. It is taught, intricate, yet never lets up. Imagine waking up and not knowing who you are? Think about that! Then slowly discovering you’re a killer of the highest order being hunted, yet still in the dark. This fast-paced novel is the favorite of so many thriller writers of the last three decades. Ludlum was the model for spies, assassins, and original thrillers. He’s a master author revered by today’s master authors.

Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Identity showed generations of readers and writers, and me as a teen, how to live inside the head of the hero. To experience actual struggle from their limited point of view, including an internal debate as to Bourne's genuine character. Paid assassin or principled protector? He ultimately answers in the best way possible, demonstrating through his actions in the story the principles he lives by.

Science fiction was my first love as a kid, but Ludlum was one of the first action writers my dad introduced me to. At first, those adventures were just something to… show more.

No list of assassin thrillers can be complete without this book by Robert Ludlum. It set a high bar for all assassination tales and still maintains its supremacy forty years after its first publication.

The reader is quickly drawn into the mystery of the amnesiac who’s pulled barely alive from the sea and has obviously been shot. The only lead to his identity is an account number and a Swiss bank address found printed on a small celluloid slip implanted just beneath the skin. When he visits the bank to try to discover who he is, he finds himself the… show more.