The Bourne Supremacy

Rating:
Summary: The return of Jason Bourne...while another Bourne is born!
Review: Jason Bourne (AKA David Webb) is back, but not of own accord. Assassinations are taking place across the globe and the killer's name is Jason Bourne, but the REAL Jason Bourne is now an associate professor in Maine. Against his will, he's thrown back into his former life in order to track down the imposter, but things, of course, are not as they seem.

This is typical Ludlum. Big time plot, many action packed scenes, and vocabulary that is mostly only for those with at least a college education. While not as good as THE BOURNE IDENTITY, this one certainly holds its own.

One complaint I've seen about this book is how hard it was to follow, and I just did not see that at all. I found 'SUPREMACY' to very well organized and easy to follow. From the middle of the book on, there are three and four storylines in progress at the same time, yet all the action one storyline is kept independant from any of the others. Each chapter concentrates on one storyline only, and by the end of the book they are all interwoven together to form a great conclusion.

One complaint that I had is that some of the dialogue just seemed off. It seemed fake and, at times, forced. Another problem is the incessant internal dialogue from Bourne. Everyone talks to themselves now and then but it truly became tiresome as the book wore on. Anyone who talked to themselves that much, in the form of TWO different personalities, would be locked down in a padded institution and not running black ops missions for the federal government...at their request no less.

All in all, the pros outweigh the cons and this is a great job by Robert Ludlum. As the second of three books in Ludlum's 'Bourne' series, it shines a great light on who Jason Bourne was, David Webb is, and where his life with Marie is headed. Very enjoyable and certainly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Bourne to be not so wild
Review: Now that Jason Bourne has an identity he wants supremacy. Robert Ludlum's "The Bourne Supremacy", the follow up to his "The Bourne Identity", has most of the same elements he used in his previous book, but this time things do no work as smoothly as before. The second installment in his trilogy lacks the electrifying and neat narrative that is so cool in the other book.

Apparently more than one Jason Bourne is back. In the prologue a man is killed in Hong Kong. The crime is attributed to the legendary killer, but it was not one of his moves. As a result, there might be a civil war in China that will lead to a global disaster. The only person able to uncover the conspiracy is David Webb, a.k.a. Jason Bourne -- the real one.

As it follows the narrative has less character development than in the previous book. Jason Bourne is more focused on action, than discovering who he is -- they may be a consequence, but it is not his priority. That's one of the reasons why this second book is less interesting than "Identity".

Needless to say that the action is most of the time beyond the belief. This is not really a problem in the spy thrillers -- if the action were to `normal' there wouldn't be much fun. This kind of novel is hardly naturalistic; otherwise this would be too boring. But the action is too confusing most of the time.

The readers follow two groups of characters: one `led' by Bourne, and the other by his girlfriend Marie. At some point both ends of the narrative will converge, but when it happens, most readers are so tired of trying to figure out what is going on, that they may not care anymore.

"The Bourne Supremacy" is one of the rare cases when the movie is much better than the book. Paul Greengrass's film is much more interesting, well developed and made than the book. The script has as a start near the book, but it is developed in another way, creating a more believable and interesting character with a electrifying plot -- something missed in the book.


Rating:
Summary: Supremely mediocre
Review: As other reviews have been equally and accurately critical, I'll be brief:

- The dialog is almost often silly.
- The schizophrenic inner rantings of Bourne become tiresome after the third chapter.
+ The action is fairly well scripted, if a little beyond belief.
+ Ludlum manages to form a fairly intriguing premise for bringing Bourne back from the "dead".
- Readers of his first book will likely be dissapointed by the follow-up but then who hasn't been (Indiana Jone & the Temple of Doom?).
- Considering the genre, this book ranks among.....well it ranks among the genre, what can I say?

There, you've been forwarned.