Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Objective
A New Jason Bourne Novel
By Eric Van Lustbader
Read by Scott Sowers Hachette Audio, (2010)
An Unabridged Recording on 12 CDs
ISBN: 978-1-60788-226-8
Genre: Action Thriller
Also available in an abridged edition on 5 CDs. ISBN: 978-1-60788-24-4.
Reviewed by Herbert White - July 5, 2010
Eric Van Lustbader is back with another installment in the Jason Bourne series that was started by Robert Ludlum. The Bourne Objective finds Jason pitted against Leonid Arkadin, a villain that Jason just might not be able to defeat. Both Jason and Leonid attended the same covert training school for assassins, they have nearly equal skill sets and are both intelligent and physically strong. In short, they are very evenly matched. Jason and Leonid spend most of this novel chasing each other around the world, as each tries to elude, or better yet, kill the other. While this engenders a vast array of chase scenes, shoot outs, and several near-death encounters for Jason, this is not actually the main story.
At the heart of this story is yet another secret cabal bent upon world domination. In this case the cabal is called Severus Domna and it's current goal is to locate King Solomon's treasure. A goal that will be more quickly achieved, they think, if they can obtain a ring that Jason has which they think holds a vital clue to the location of the treasure. In addition to holding clues to the location of the treasure, the ring also holds clues to Jason's past. Jason knows that he was given the ring in Bali, but what it signifies and who it belongs to are questions that he is determined to answer.
Full of action, mayhem, and with a great antagonist the The Bourne Objective is an enjoyable book despite being a bit formalistic. If you are willing to look the other way when Lustbader allows the impossible to happen, you find this book most diverting. In addition, Scott Sowers reading makes this book a pleasure to listen too - just be sure not to listen to the book on your way to work. There are several sections that, if you arrive at work while they are ongoing, you'll find yourself sitting in the parking lot well past starting time, because the story is so hard to pull yourself away from!
Related Reviews:
The Bourne Betrayal, by Eric Van Lustbader.
The second book in Van Lustbader's Jason Bourne series, finds the rouge agent hot on the trail of a band of terrorists who are bent upon using a nuclear weapon against America. Can he stop them, before they stop him?
The Bourne Sanction, by Eric Van Lustbader.
In this, the sixth novel in the Jason Bourne series, Bourne finds himself hunting down the leader of a diabolical terrorist group. At the same time he also finds himself the hunted, being tracked down and targeted for murder by both members of the National Security Agency and the terrorist group known as the Black Legion.
