The Bourne Identity

The Bourne Identity, by Robert Ludlum, 523 pages
        This fictional novel about a mysterious spy will leave you speechless and wanting more. The novel starts off with an unidentified man being shot repeatedly, and then falling off a boat into the Mediterranean sea. The injured man is picked up by a small ship, and his wounds are treated by the captain and his shipmates. When the man wakes up he doesn’t remember anything, not even his name Luckily, while the captain was treating the man he found details of a bank account embedded in a secret message in the man’s hip. 
           The man heads to Zurich and opens his account at the bank. He finds out that his name is Jason Bourne and he has over $5 million dollars in his account. As Bourne leaves the bank he is attacked by two men with guns. Without hesitation he subdues his attackers and takes their weapons. He escapes back to his hotel and take a hostage named Marie St. Jacques. They begin getting shot at while they are trying to escape from the hotel. They then make it to the car and drive off.
    The two begin to get along and Jacques becomes more of his accomplice then hostage. Throughout the book the two of them end up in similar situations as the one mentioned above, as they try to piece together Jason’s previous life, and find out who is trying to kill him.The two end up encountering more than they bargained for, and end up uncovering a secret CIA division. 

   Overall the novel is a home run. It is an action packed story that never has a dull moment. Starting at the beginning all the way until the end Bourne evades his killers and bails Jacques out of horrible situations, such as when they were captured and he saves her from being raped and murdered. The only weakness is that some parts are a little unclear because the story moves so fast. You may have to read certain parts more than once to fully understand them. 

The most exciting part of the book was towards the end when Bourne was trying to uncover the Treadstone mansion when he is attacked by Carlos --a hired assassin-- and his men.

There are many major themes throughout the book. Although, I think the biggest one that Ludlum constantly highlights is the the theme of perseverance. No matter what happens Bourne never gives up. He is constantly fighting to find the truth, and uncover the conspiracy.

This is a great book with an amazing story line, I would definitely recommend this book to everyone who is looking for a well written action packed novel.  

                                                                                               

By: Jack D.