Book Review: The Bourne Legacy

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

The Bourne Legacy     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Eric Van Lustbader , Robert Ludlum
Class/Genre:   Mystery
St. Martin’s, Jul 2004, $25.95, 464 pp.

David Webb teaches comparative languages at Georgetown University though he misses the excitement of his former life as a government employee working clandestine operations. Following an on campus incident, David reflects back to the death of his first wife and children in Phnom Penh, his meeting of his former handler Alex Conklin, his execution of Jason Bourne, and his three years as Bourne the assassin with an international reputation until he almost died. Now David is a married academic with two children, but Bourne still lingers on the edges and sometimes over the top.

A cracked marksman tries to kill David on the campus, but he cleverly escapes as Bourne takes over. Jason visits his former handler only to find Alex and agency psychologist Mo Panov dead. The CIA assumes Bourne went rogue. As Jason eludes the CIA and a professional as good as he was in his hey day, he remains unaware that he is an expendable pawn in a global game that is set for five days hence.

THE BOURNE LEGACY is a terrific tale that the late Robert Ludlum would have been proud to write because Eric Van Lustbader keeps the essences of both David and Jason consistent with previous novels. The story line is fast-paced from the moment Khan takes two shots at David on the Georgetown campus and never slows down until the final confrontation. Readers will be shocked as to why Bourne became dragged into the middle of a plot that threatened heads of states in this terrific tale in which his life in Southeast Asia has surfaced in DC.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner