Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Book #47 - The Bourne Ultimatum

A re-read for me, but one from 20 years ago. This is the third Bourne installment, The Bourne Ultimatum, and in this one Carlos is tracking him again. Conklin and Pavov are set up, almost killed, and they start to set things in motion. Bourne sends his family to see Marie's brother in Martinique while he retreats into his Bourne persona.

The book is slow to start, lots of drama, of hints and partial ideas at the beginning. Conklin and Bourne discover that Medusa from Saigon is still alive, though as a corporate entity that spans the globe. They try to use this to lure Carlos out. It somewhat works, but it has Bourne in between Medusa and Carlos throughout the book, always one step behind. Even the dramatic conclusion is really the result of someone other than Bourne acting.

The book is OK, not great, though I do want to read the Lustbader additions to the series. This one shows Bourne getting older, less confident, and less of Bourne as most of the book is with other characters, not so much in his head. Lots of references to the two previous books, so you want to read those first. I hadn't read either in years, so I struggled to recall a few of the details and references.

1 comment:

pascale said...

I just read the short version of the book for school. I enjoyed reading and because I first bought the long novel by mistake, I will read this long book, too. I think the novel is very exciting and rousing.