Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. Its trademark, consisting of the words “Bantam Books” and the portrayal of a rooster, is Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. Marca Registrada. Bantam Books, 1540 Broadway, New York, New York 10036. The Bourne Identity has been adapted into live action twice. The first adaptation is a 1988 television film starring Richard Chamberlain and Jaclyn Smith. The second is a 2002 feature film series starring Matt Damon, which proved to be a strong critical and commercial success, launching the Bourne film series, which consists of five films. Jason Bourne, a world-traveling adventurer: Each book in the series is a whole story with a beginning and an ending, however the plot of each book relies heavily on the prior books in the series.
The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum Book Summary:#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER His memory is a blank. His bullet-ridden body was fished from the Mediterranean Sea. His face has been altered by plastic surgery. A frame of microfilm has been surgically implanted in his hip. Even his name is a mystery. Marked for death, he is racing for survival through a bizarre world of murderous conspirators—led by Carlos, the world’s most dangerous assassin. Who is Jason Bourne? The answer may kill him. BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Supremacy.
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Preview — The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum(Jason Bourne #1)
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Who is Jason Bourne? Is he an assassin, a terrorist, a thief? Why has he got four million dollars in a Swiss bank account? Why has someone tried to murder him?... Jason Bourne does not know the answer to any of these questions. Suffering from amnesia, he does not even know that he is Jason Bourne. What manner of man is he? What...more
Published March 24th 2005 by Orion
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Popular Answered Questions
Bill FaircloughIn some ways it reminded me of my life, not through the eyes of an amnesiac, but when I was used by intelligence agencies without knowing who I worked…moreIn some ways it reminded me of my life, not through the eyes of an amnesiac, but when I was used by intelligence agencies without knowing who I worked for as noted in Beyond Enkription which you should like if you are a Jason Bourne fan. For more about me please see https://everipedia.org/wiki/bill-fair... and of course https://theburlingtonfiles.org. (less)
Ferdinando SalaminoHi, I have read it a few years ago, just see if you can trust my memory: I Only Watched the Movie!1) no. 2) no. Ludlum is quite old school in this respect.
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Sep 27, 2009Mike (the Paladin) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
First of all let me say...the recent movie with Matt Damon, I hated it. They butchered the story. I understand shortening for time (as in The Lord of the Rings) I understand combining characters...but why take a book's title then completely rewrite the story?
I like this book and its sequels. I hate the movie and its sequels. Please try reading the books and finding out what the plot actually is. The book is well plotted, thought out, with complex characters. I believe you'll like it. A man wakes...more
Apr 13, 2010Duckie rated it did not like it
I don't remember how this ended because I had to buy myself a Jack-and-Coke to get through the last chapter. Ludlum belongs in a very small, elite group of authors who don't know what words mean. To illustrate this, here are some passages from the book followed by the first image that came to mind when I read them: Oct 16, 2007Seth T. rated it liked it
'If I scream, Monsieur?' The powdered mask was cracked with lines of venom now, the bright red lipstick defining the snarl of an aging, cornered rodent.' 'Himself. The chameleon. The c...more
Recommends it for: someone who likes thriller-y stuff
I loved the movie and heard that I the book was comparatively awesome. And it was.
The thing is: I haven't the faintest idea how the movie came out of the book. Beyond the premise of a man fished from the sea with no memory but incredible ingrained abilities and talents that make it look like he's really probably and assassin with no amnesia, and the fact that the first act after the prologue occurs in Zürich and deals with a Swiss bank, nothing is the same. Sure, there's a girl named Marie, but s...more
Sorry if you loved this book, I HATED it. Maybe it was above my reading level. There were just too many 'alpha, bravo,cain, delta...Cain is for Charlie, Delta is for Cain!' This book put me to sleep so many nights it is surprising that I finished it. I just kept hoping that jason bourne would die...Good thing I shop at Goodwill and it only cost me 50 cents! Everyone tells me that I should give the movie a chance and that it is better than the book, but I ask, won't it remind me of the book and b...more
Aug 18, 2010Bagtree rated it did not like it
This book caused me pain. Intense boredom, odd moments of indignation, and pain. It's poorly-paced. The prose is a clunky, redundant, pointlessly vague affront to all that is good in the English language. The dialogue is stilted and horrid. The characters are so robotic I begin to question whether Ludlum ever met a human being, and the 'romance' is not only horribly oversold BUT PREDICATED ON BOURNE USING HIS LOVE INTEREST AS A HUMAN SHIELD. I don't care how many rapists a man rescues you from;...more
Mar 30, 2019Jim rated it liked it
Shelves: mystery-thriller, 2fiction, 3series, action, 1ebook
I FINALLY finished this! I just don't have time to read long books in print any more, but I've wanted to read this for a while & found it worthwhile. It's certainly not a perfect book. There's a lot of convenience, especially Marie's love & expertise. Several times there were silenced revolvers, too. I hate them, but the plot was twisty & the psychology was good - better done than the way amnesia & all is typically done. Well, for me, anyway. My knowledge of psychology & amne...more
Jun 03, 2012LaFleurBleue rated it it was ok
The scenario is absolutely excellent and probably one of the best I ever read in terms of complexity and continuous action and/or new discoveries. What an imagination ! The story and the characters are slightly different from the movie; I should say the storyline is way much more complex in the book; the characters could do with a bit more substance. Jun 22, 2018Wanda rated it liked it · review of another edition
The major drawback which explains my rather poor quotation of this book is indeed the writing quality, or lack thereof. Some sentences simply do no...more
Shelves: espionage, public-library, summer-of-spies, mysteries-thrillers, read-in-2018
***2018 Summer of Spies***
Perhaps I came into this novel expecting a bit too much—I’ve never seen the movies, only advertising for them, so I didn’t go in completely blind to the story, but about as close as you can get in our society. I can certainly see that this would make a great shoot-‘em-up, car-chase intense movie. I really can’t say that I cared whether Bourne got his memory back or who he actually was. I would have been much more interested in more exploration of nature of the memory...more
Aug 06, 2010Danaja rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
This book was my introduction to spy novels and its still the best I've read in that area. Incredibly detailed and full of suspense. My favorite spy and one of my favorite villains rolled in to one in to exhilarating package with fast pace action.If you like authentic tooch in what you read you'll love this! Must note that the movie is completely different from the book. In my opinion the book is a much better experience.
Read it a long time ago, but still rate this one as a five. Couldn't put this one down and for it's time it was a breakout concept the set the stage for many other great authors.
David Putnam author of the Bruno Johnson series.
Sep 08, 2015Benjamin Stahl rated it it was ok
A HEARTBREAK HIPSTER REVIEW Dec 23, 2011Jonathan Terrington rated it really liked it · review of another edition
The Bourne Identity? More like the Bored Identity. Am I right? Anybody? That’s funny right? Oh, well that’s just fine then. Don’t all fucking laugh at once. Though I'll stay true to my word. This shit was pretty goddamned boring. Let me take you back to 2002. When rock-music still existed on the charts. Myspace had not yet reached its prime; Facebook was a half-developed foetus in the head of some backstabbing nerd in New Hampshire. The going trend was jeans that looked...more
Shelves: action-challenge, popularity-contest, books-with-films
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Nov 03, 2011Lisa (Harmonybites) rated it did not like it
Recommended to Lisa (Harmonybites) by: The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Ultimate Reading List
Shelves: novels, contemporary, crime, mystery, suspense, popular-fiction, fiction, ultimate-reading-list
Wow, by the end of chapter one I was already thinking this was one of the most ludicrous novels I've ever read. And given that I've been reading through a suspense novel recommendation list, with such doozies as Vince Flynn's Term Limits, Brad Thor's The Lions of Lucerne and Matthew Reilly's Ice Station that means Ludlum is setting a really low, low.
OK, there weren't any giant mutant seals at least, but right in the first pages our hero, later to be known as Jason Bourne, is shot multiple times...more
Nov 23, 2017Abram rated it it was ok · review of another edition
My Rating: 2.4/5
This could have been better. I am huge fan of the Bourne movies but this one is not what I expected! There are chapters that are fantastic but overall the novel is dull. The author spends two much time in explaining Bourne's thought process that you just want to scream. The characters are also not that interesting. I expected more but.... I don't really recommend this one. Thank you for reading the review! P.S: I couldn't even finish the whole book. I read like half of it.
Nov 20, 2012Dyuti rated it liked it · review of another edition
After finishing the book, I can totally understand why The Bourne Identity has attained such a cult-status among it's readers. In fact out of my 32 friends who have the book in their shelves in GR, 18 have given it a 4/5 star rating. To begin with, it is a pretty decent thriller. It has an amazing start, a couple of interesting characters, a protagonist you can root for, fast twists and turns and some powerful action sequences.
The premise really impressed me. A nameless man with highly unusual s...more
Feb 12, 2008Julie Balazs rated it did not like it
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Oct 18, 2012Dirk Grobbelaar rated it really liked it
Shelves: mystery-thriller, action-adventure, books-i-own
This novel was published in 1980, and the primary antagonist (who just happens to be a real life person) was left out of the 2002 film, no doubt because he was apprehended and, to some extent, demystified, in the 1990s. The fact that this person is central to the plot of the novel, but does not appear in the film, inevitably drives a contextual wedge between the two mediums, even though the central amnesia theme remains the same. There is also a 1988 TV-film, which I haven’t seen.
All in all, it’...more Bourne Identity Book Pdf Download
Robert Ludlum is a terrible terrible writer of dialogue and had a terrible style.
The man can, however, tell a story. That is why his books are translated very well into great action movies. but if i have to read one more line of the 'oh john! oh marsha' bullcrap in his novels, i swear i will stab my eyes out with a fork. man on man, if that woman goes on anymore in her inner monologue about 'that poor man! he couldn't stand it! not knowing who he was! and now he was . . . . blah blah bippity bla...more
Apr 14, 2009Warren Watts rated it it was amazing
While perusing the library shelves for something new to read, I came across The Bourne Identity, a 1980’s era Cold War espionage novel by Robert Ludlum. I'm not usually a reader of this genre of fiction, but based on what I felt had been an excellent film, I borrowed the book.
The 1980 novel (which spawned the 2002 film) opens with a man barely clinging to life being discovered by fishermen, nearly frozen to death in the cold French Mediterranean sea. He has sustained several gunshot wounds inc...more Bourne Supremacy BookJun 05, 2008Victoria rated it liked it
Shelves: mystery, adventure
This book was so different from the movie ! ( But then again when are they ever the same ? ) I really enjoyed the story , I now wish the movie had kept a few more things in it. I thought marie was a much better character. I love the way it ended. Oct 18, 2014Pradnya K. rated it it was amazing
HOWEVER : There is a TON of swearing ! And I do mean a TON ! That was very disapointing . :( but, I now have a fully edited book if someone wants to swap/sell with me. :) I just got a black pin coverd the words. I would have given this story a 5 if it wer...more
Recommends it for: Everyone, especially who say reading is not my cup of tea.
That was the winter of 2011. It had been harsh, cloudy and too foggy. I lived on the outskirts of my city then for few months and apart from the luxurious noon sunlight and biting cold, there wasn't much happening around. I ran to my sacred haven. There I met Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne. The winter will be always remembered fondly!
I liked everything about this book. Since I opened it without much knowledge (yup, I was too ignorant then) so it turned out to be colorful firecrackers in the small...more
May 11, 2015Rade rated it really liked it · review of another edition
3.5
I loved the movie (Matt Damon one), I like the book, but I did not love the book. My biggest complaint is that in this espionage thriller there were a lot of political twists and turns that sometimes bored me or became too hard to fully understand. Another thing is the whole Stockholm syndrome thing that did not work too well for me. It left me asking way too many questions. I love Ludlum's style of writing. He's the kind of writer that explains concepts and action well without being too wor...more
Nov 05, 2017Janete rated it really liked it · review of another edition
I saw the first movie and didn't understand nothing. Too much action! But this retold version is quite different from the movies, because the story takes place after the Vietnam War. But now I completely understand this abridged version from the original book (with MP3). I studied German at the university 30 years ago and thought this language was very difficult, but learning English is also very difficult, but I'll succeed.
Sep 10, 2014Mark Hebwood rated it liked it
I am still looking for well-written thrillers, and I think I have found one. Robert undoubtedly possesses writing skills that elevate him above the pack, and for the most part he delivers an enjoyable, at times even immersive, experience. Jul 28, 2012Lance Charnes rated it it was ok · review of another edition
In the opening chapters, Robert demonstrates that he is able to guide the reader's perception of the characters masterfully. In the first chapter, the protagonist of the novel is being nursed to life by a local doctor. Gradually, the main character is shown to r...more
Recommends it for: Ludlum fans; fans of 1970s spy thrillers
Shelves: fiction-espionage-intrigue, reviewed, fiction-thrillers-adventure
I had reason to read this again after a loooong time, not really remembering much about it.
First, forget the movie. The only things the book and movie have in common are the title and the names of the main characters. This can be both good and bad. The good part is that you don’t know what’s going to happen based on Matt Damon’s adventures; the bad part is that it’s not nearly as much fun. This is about as close as Ludlum gets to a semi-realistic espionage thriller. He’ll never be mentioned in th...more
The first book of the Bourne trilogy series, The Bourne Identity begins the tale of Jason Bourne, one of the US government's greatest assassin creations, rescued by fishermen off the French coast. The only problem is that the incident that put him adrift in the water, bullet-ridden and unconscious, had resulted in amnesia. He does not know his name nor his profession. He only knows what his body has been trained to do. The adventure starts, and can only start, with the only piece of information...more
Feb 13, 2013Hannah rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Shelves: new-authors-2019, mystery-thriller, amnesia, marathon-tbr-2019, 2019-challenge, spies, owned-books, veterans-and-uniforms
Jason Bourne Books Pdf
An epic modern classic. While I loved the movies, the book is SO much better! I loved the action and the puzzle to figure out, but especially I loved how much better a role Marie has. She’s brilliant and plays a huge role in the final outcome. What better partner could a cornered spy ask for than this ultra-professional, feminine, rock-solid-loyal lady?
Content: lots of swearing, especially in the second half. Mostly profanity until the last third, and then some nasty vulgarities
Jan 16, 2015Matt rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Terrific pulse-pounding thriller that has its fair share of twists and turns. Who is Jason Bourne? Who can you trust? Ludlum does a fabulous job of creating a mystery that weaves it's way through various points in time and in several locales. The characters are also top notch. This is action and intrigue at its finest
Jul 01, 2009Lewis Weinstein rated it it was amazing
The best opening scenes ever set a compelling premise.
The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum (1980)
Plagued with amnesia, Jason Bourne must uncover his remarkable abilities, and his true identity. All while being chased by an assassin who wants him dead. https://chadschimke.blogspot.com/2019...
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The Bourne Identity Novel Wikipedia
Robert Ludlum was the author of twenty-seven novels, each one a New York Times bestseller. There are more than 210 million of his books in print, and they have been translated into thirty-two languages. He is the author of The Scarlatti Inheritance, The Chancellor Manuscript, and the Jason Bourne series--The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum--among others. Mr. Ludlum...more
Jason Bourne(1 - 10 of 15 books)
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“I mean, we're all trying to find out who the hell we are, aren't we?”
“The success of any trap lies in its fundamental simplicity. The reverse trap by the nature of its single complication must be swift and simpler still.” More quotes…
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