Robert Ludlum's the Bourne deception

Lustbader's fourth novel continuing the saga of Robert Ludlum's most famous protagonist, Jason Bourne, finds Bourne lying low after being shot by a man named Arkadian, who believes his enemy is dead. Although Bourne's girlfriend knows he survived, she helps him spread the lie that he died. Everything changes when a jet blows up over Egypt, and evidence points to Iran as the culprit. The president of the U.S. wants answers; Bourne wants to discover his true past; and Arkadian wants to destroy Bourne, especially after learning he miraculously survived the shooting. The Bourne movies, thanks to Matt Damon, are terrific; Ludlum's novels are also stellar, but, unfortunately, Lustbader's Bourne seems almost wimpy at times, developing superhuman powers out of nowhere. Add messy dialogue and a silly resolution, and you have a tepid thriller, of interest only to Bourne completists and devoted Lustbader fans.--Ayers, Jeff Copyright 2009 Booklist

Shadowy master assassin Jason Bourne spends too much time offstage in bestseller Lustbader's cliche-ridden fourth thriller in the Ludlum franchise (after The Bourne Sanction). Having pushed his latest archenemy, Russian Leonid Arkadin, off a tanker into the ocean, Bourne assumes his foe must be dead. Not long after, Arkadin ambushes Bourne, hitting him with a rifle shot that would've killed a normal man. Seriously but not mortally wounded, Bourne decides to keep his survival a secret. The duel between the pair gets submerged in a plot line about a corrupt U.S. defense secretary's efforts to use the downing of a civilian airliner in Egypt by an Iranian missile as a casus belli. The action sequences and inevitable betrayals are old hat. Clumsy prose doesn't help ("She was dead, but he could not forget her, or what she caused in him: the tiniest fissure in the speckled granite of his soul, through which her mysterious light had begun to trickle, like the first snowmelt of spring"). (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Lustbader's fourth Jason Bourne novel; reader TBA. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Lustbader's fourth novel continuing the saga of Robert Ludlum's most famous protagonist, Jason Bourne, finds Bourne laying low. After a man named Arkadian shoots Bourne, he believes that his mortal enemy is dead. Bourne's girlfriend knows he survived and helps spread the lie. When a jet blows up over Egypt, evidence points to Iran as the culprit. The President of the United States wants answers, Bourne wants to discover his true past, and Arkadian wants to destroy Bourne, especially after learning he miraculously survived being shot. The Bourne movies were terrific, and Matt Damon created an amazing character. Ludlum's novels were stellar also, but unfortunately, Lustbader's Bourne seems wimpy at times, and then suddenly develops superhuman powers. Add messy dialogue and a silly resolution and you have a marginal read at best. Copyright 2009 Booklist Reviews.

Lustbader's fourth novel continuing the saga of Robert Ludlum's most famous protagonist, Jason Bourne, finds Bourne lying low after being shot by a man named Arkadian, who believes his enemy is dead. Although Bourne's girlfriend knows he survived, she helps him spread the lie that he died. Everything changes when a jet blows up over Egypt, and evidence points to Iran as the culprit. The president of the U.S. wants answers; Bourne wants to discover his true past; and Arkadian wants to destroy Bourne, especially after learning he miraculously survived the shooting. The Bourne movies, thanks to Matt Damon, are terrific; Ludlum's novels are also stellar, but, unfortunately, Lustbader's Bourne seems almost wimpy at times, developing superhuman powers out of nowhere. Add messy dialogue and a silly resolution, and you have a tepid thriller, of interest only to Bourne completists and devoted Lustbader fans. Copyright 2009 Booklist Reviews.

Nearly assassinated, Bourne fakes his death and then tries to determine who's after him this time. Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.

Shadowy master assassin Jason Bourne spends too much time offstage in bestseller Lustbader's clich-ridden fourth thriller in the Ludlum franchise (after The Bourne Sanction). Having pushed his latest archenemy, Russian Leonid Arkadin, off a tanker into the ocean, Bourne assumes his foe must be dead. Not long after, Arkadin ambushes Bourne, hitting him with a rifle shot that would've killed a normal man. Seriously but not mortally wounded, Bourne decides to keep his survival a secret. The duel between the pair gets submerged in a plot line about a corrupt U.S. defense secretary's efforts to use the downing of a civilian airliner in Egypt by an Iranian missile as a casus belli. The action sequences and inevitable betrayals are old hat. Clumsy prose doesn't help ("She was dead, but he could not forget her, or what she caused in him: the tiniest fissure in the speckled granite of his soul, through which her mysterious light had begun to trickle, like the first snowmelt of spring"). (June)