Rating: 
Summary: Better than the movie...
Review: ...that was pretty good for an action film to begin with. The story of an amnesiac who is driven to think he's a dangerous killer is full of suspense and lots of neat twists that almost never feel contrived. Even though the book is over 20 years old, it rarely feels dated (granted, from time to time you wonder why the hero doesn't just use a cell phone).A few minor gripes: somtimes, the klanguage the characcters speak seems to be straight out of a romance novel. This gets better during the novel. I liked the character of Marie in the movie, where she was very convincingly portrayed by Franka Potente, because she was quite unusual for an action movie sidekick. She's even more interesting in the book, even though I could have done without her stilted language. Her complete change from victim to accomplice which looks very strange without reading it almost makes sense. I didn't like the italics which convey the character's thoughts and are far too repetetive. I didn't care too much for the ending, too. I'm told all will be settled in the third installment, which I will tackle after finishing the second. Any book that makes you buy two sequels at once can't be all bad.
Rating: 
Summary: Lots of Good Action, Too Unrealistic
Review: I think Jason Bourne's name changes two or three times in the book before you get to the end. The action is good, but it's too unrealistic. Unless you're into books that include the die hard James Bond character who manages to survive every impossible scenario, but has time for a love affair all the while trying to learn his identity and escaping the bad guys, then this book is for you. I hope the movie is better.
Rating:
Summary: The Bourne Identity
Review: This was the first book I read by Robert Ludlum. I can say for sure this won't be the last. Ludlum pulls you along with a string and only lets you know what he wants you to know. I was on the edge of my seat reading this from about page 100 on. The plot was excellent and there was great plot twists.
Rating: 
Summary: The Bourne Identity: A Reader's Delight
Review: The Bourne identity is quite possibly Robert Ludlum's greatest work. Ludlum exemplifies his genious in both the big picture and the small picture of his story. He manipulates the reader through a terrifying amount of dizzying twists and turns that leaves the reader satisfied. The dialog is written in such a human manner that the reader can easily relate to the characters in the story.
The story begins with a chilling account of a man being shot of the side of a boat during a storm in the Caribbean. After native fisherman find him near-death, a curious but generous doctor performs surgery on him and helps him to recover. When he awakens from his coma, he cannot remember anything about himself or his past life, including his own name. However, the doctor removes a microfilm implanted in his leg that has a bank account number of a Swiss bank. The man follows this lead. When he arrives in Europe, however, he finds himself robbing innocent people at gunpoint in order to gain a few thousand dollars. Because he is instictively doing this, he assumes that he is either a terrorist or an assassin. The Swiss bank account contains the name "Jason Bourne," as well as millions of dollars and a few weapons.
Amidst Bourne's own confusion of finding out his own identity, he is being hunted by an Carlos the Jackel, a legendary assassin who knows his identity and will do anything to kill him.
Throughout the novel, Bourne is trying to escape American intelligence agents. Without giving the story away, the agents mistake Bourne's actions as negative to them, and therefore they are trying to kill or capture him.
The only light in Jason Bourne's life is Marie. Jason meets Marie by taking her hostage and ordering her at gunpoint to drive him out of the area. She at first dismisses his story that he has amnesia as psycho-babble from the lunatic that he seemed to be, but later believed his story. Marie turned out to be an accountant from Canada. Marie provided Bourne with money that he needed in order to dodge both Carlos and the CIA and to find out his true identity.
Rating:
Summary: Bourne in a tour de force!
Review: The Bourne Identity, the first in a series of three Bourne books, is one of the best books I've ever read. I simply could not put this book down. If you like Clancy, but wish he didn't drag on at times, you'll love Bourne. Bourne is always on the move, discovering more and more about who he is and what he's capable of. This book is action packed, but don't expect complex plot twists or the character developement of Literature. This is spy fiction at its best!
Rating:
Summary: dissapointed
Review: I guess I just expected too much. There was some really good action, but the characters and the plot development were lacking to say the least. Bourne meets up with the love interest Marie and their relationship was just too unbelievable. I couldn't figure out why they were together and it was like Ludlum was just inventing reasons on the fly for her to hang around and be useful. I was all ready to forgive as the story reached the climax, expecting a big finish and maybe a twist that I hadn't expected. But it flopped HARD! He just wrapped it up with such a wimpy ending, very dissapointed and wouldn't recommend it unless you just want a few action sequences (and there weren't even enough of those in my opinion)
Rating:
Summary: It's Not Literature
Review: Lots of action, implausible plot, paper-thin characters. Bourne is an interesting idea overworked. Ludlum must have started out as a sports writer who describes every punch. The "hero" is so fantastic that you can hardly wait to see how he will survive his latest predicament. Not believable, but entertaining. Would make a good comic book. Too complex to be a movie, as recently demonstrated by the recent film, which uses just a few of the situations in the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Heavy on potential, light on delivery.
Review: A very engaging premise with a great deal of promise, but only middling success at delivering the goods. This book would have been much better had it been tighter and more consistent. While much of the intrigue is dated by today's standards, it still has the power to grab the reader's attention. Unfortunately the author's inelegance makes parts of the book tedious and even onerous. I found myself rolling my eyes at several of the situations the characters found themselves in, and was incredulous at the murders at the "top secret" office in New York, coupled with the totally unbelievable "fingerprint on a glass" bit of evidence planting. The ending was just plain bad. Ludlum did several things very well -- the basis for Bourne's existence was well thought out and plausible, as was Cain's mission (raison d'être). I appreciated how he handled the character of Marie, making her competent and intelligent (and an economist!) rather than a typical damsel in distress. I imagine his scenery and setting were accurate, although those details added nothing to the story as far as I was concerned. I'm tempted to give Ludlum the benefit of the doubt since this book was written more than twenty years ago. I'm not sure yet if I'll read another book in the series.
Rating:
Summary: Ludlum novels
Review: I thought this was a really great book. It was the first Robert Ludlum novel I read. Since then I have read many more and I must say his books are good. The reason I read this book was so I could see the movie. But the movie isn't about the book at all. This book is about a man who doesn't know who he is. And when he is picked up he has very strange abilities for a normal man, or so he thinks. I won't tell you how the story goes, but it keeps you on the edge of your seat, and you'll want to keep reading.
Rating:
Summary: Groovy cool!
Review: I picked up this dandy after seeing the excellent Matt Damon movie. As many have said, the book is a totally different story, but both are very good in their own ways. The premise is the same. Man loses memory and finds he has some disturbing gifts as he tries to regain said memory. Ludlum's novel is chock full of suspense, thrills and kills. The action seems almost non stop, but remarkably, there seems to be room enough for a well executed plot. The story moves along with the action and Ludlum only lets the reader know enough to be only a couple of steps ahead of Bourne. We find out pretty much as he finds out. Another thing the author does well is put our hero (or is he an anti-hero? You'll find out soon enough) into situations that the reader has no idea what he can do to get out of it. And the really cool thing is that sometimes, even Bourne doesn't realize he's in these situations. The pace flies and Ludlum ties the complicated plot together satisfyingly enough at the end that the reader is left happy, yet hungering for more "Bounre".
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