Ludlum's Bourne Trilogy

Hello my fabulous readers! I have been very busy this week reading the Bourne trilogy! 

There may be some confusion over why I am calling them 'the trilogy'. From what I understand, the fantastic Robert Ludlum wrote the first three books: The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum. After this, Eric van Lustbader took over. I have never seen the Bourne films, so I thought that just to tackle the first three would be a good starting point, sticking to the original author. I was quite glad I made this choice, as I ordered them online, and when they arrived, they turned out to be HUGE! They are 550, 650 and 730 pages...that's a lot of Bourne! So after that, I have to say I was quite reluctant for the Bourne trilogy to be plucked out of my TBR jar! However the day came, and Charlie looked very sheepish as he had to show me that he had picked it out! But not one to argue with the jar, I plunged straight into them!

The Bourne Identity got off to a great start. The story is of Jason Bourne in a journey to rebuild his life and memories after a head trauma. In the meantime, a trained assassin is hot on his trail, and his own people think he may have turned. It is a really dangerous story and is really exciting! 

The Bourne Supremacy took a completely different direction, this was a lot more political! Robert Ludlum is probably a lot more clever than I can give him credit for, as a good proportion of his intricate political plots fly straight over my head. Yet again though - a very enjoyable read!

The Bourne Ultimatum went back to what I loved - the battle between Bourne and Carlos, like in the first book. I really like that storyline as it's such a clever idea - using one assassin to lure out another. It was extremely long, but nevertheless another great read.

I should point out at this point, for those of you who have seen the films but not read the books and are completely confused, that the second and third books are a completely different story to the films! Personally, this seemed both weird and a disappointment to me! Why would you use the same name as the book but make a film with a completely different storyline? Also, I was hoping the film might make some of the complicated political themes in the second book more easy to understand, so was disappointed to find out that I wouldn't be able to see a film version!

All in all, the Bourne books are great. They have everything: crime, fraud, thrills, romance, friendship and there are constant twists and turns. The reader becomes frustrated along with the characters as allies become enemies and secrets holding the most elaborate plans become leaked and render the plan useless. I have to say that this did start to get a bit repetitive by the end of the third book as every single secret from Bourne or Carlos got leaked to the other one, but I guess that was my fault for reading all three in a row! The constant battle to establish his own identity is so powerful: is he Bourne, a cold assassin, or Webb, a family man who has enough affection to shower over his wife and children? 

I really recommend these books to anyone who loves a good thriller! Have you read the books? Although they are not the same, I'm still intrigued to watch the films!

I hope you have enjoyed my review...next is the Lorien Legacies: all 6 in order, including the latest instalment from 10th September - The Fate of Ten! I cannot wait!