Bourne Sanction, Bourne Deception

Bourne Sanction,
Bourne Deception,
by Eric Van Lustbader



No doubt many from my generation went through the Richard Bach phase quoting profusely from Illusions, saving a special place in their hearts (and bookshelves) for Jonathan Livingston Seagull.

When I was young and impressionable, and not so jaded, I fell in love with just about every dashing character in the novels I read. Like Jason Bourne, for instance. I could never get him out of my mind among all the two dozen Ludlum novels I read until the plot all began to get enmeshed, confounding my poor brain.

I refused to watch Matt Damon's Jason Bourne movies because I did not want to distort this perfect image of Bourne I had shaped in my teenage mind. Eventually, I did give in and watch, fighting and knocking it all the way through. I love Matt Damon. Totally. But, I liked the Jason Bourne my mind created more. Matt was just too cute to be Jason in my head. No matter.

Anyway, taking a popular character like Bourne, written by a master of the genre, and trying to present him to the same (and potentially new) audience is not easy. So, when I heard about the new Jason Bourne novels by Eric Van Lustbader, I scoffed thanks to my usual state of resistance to welcome change.

And then, I came around and read them. And, they are not too terrible. Considering how easily I get disenchanted these days, it has not been easy to stick with tedious and meandering prose and plot in action mystery thriller novels genre anymore.

Did I like the new Bourne books? Well, it depends on what we mean by "like".

I read it fast, it wasn't too time-consuming. It wasn't too painful. The prose was quite repetitive and blasé. The plot moved more at a leisurely freight train speed when I expected close to purposeful jetliner speed, if not warp-speed. But, that's just me. I'll stick with my original Jason Bourne until Ludlum decides to come back and breathe life into his enigmatic character, entangling him in believable yet convoluted plots, unfolding a fantastic story that I have to read holding my breath.