ivplay's Full Review: Robert Ludlum - The Bourne Ultimatum
Jason Bourne is back in this last installment of the Bourne trilogy crafted by Robert Ludlum. Unfortunately for Jason, so is Carlos, the Jackal. Carlos, an international assassin, is hunting Jason down. Jason escaped from the Jackal’s clutches thirteen years previous, and the Jackal has come to settle up. Bourne decides that the best defense is a good offense, and so he packs his wife and kids off to a safe place and begins hunting the Jackal, knowing that only one of them will survive their next confrontation.
Jason pairs up with his old friends, CIA agent Alex Conklin and psychiatrist Morris Panov. Together they create a plot with enough truth mixed in to get Jason close enough to the Jackal to kill him. Through the course of their undertaking, however, they mistakenly uncover a secret and powerful organization left over from the remnants of Medusa, the organization that spawned the assassin Jason Bourne in the jungles of Vietnam. The deeper they get the closer they come to the Jackal, and the closer the Jackal comes to Jason and his family.
Throughout the book Jason Bourne ends up traveling to such destinations as the tropical island of Montserrat, the magical city of Paris, and Moscow. Through it all he is either the hunted or the hunter, alternating shots with the Jackal as well as the organization, Medusa. Is Jason Bourne up to the task of killing the killer? Can he escape the Jackal’s army throughout Europe as well as the far-reaching and powerful Medusa? More importantly, can he, Alex and Morris keep his wife and children safe through it all?
My thoughts
This is the third book in the Bourne trilogy and in my estimation it is the worst of the three. Robert Ludlum left the first book of the trilogy (The Bourne Identity) wide-open, never tying up the loose ends. As it was the first in the trilogy, it was somewhat understandable. However, The Bourne Supremacy, while a great book in its own right, carried none of the plot over from the first book and ended up a little too tidily. The Ultimatum seems to pick up the storyline from Identity, yet somewhat disjointedly.
As with the other two books in the series, the plot is what carries this book along and keeps the reader interested. Ludlum is a great crafter of storyline, and the twists and turns will suck you in. The heights to which the Medusa organization reaches are almost unbelievable, and the power that the organization wields is impressive, to say the least. The Jackal uses his army of disciples to obtain unattainable information. He has moles in most every government and dirt on most every politician. He has not lived as long as he has without good reason, and some would classify him as an egomaniacal, paranoid psychotic. Jason Bourne ends up on both of these organization’s hit lists, and the only way out is to kill the Jackal before he himself is killed.
The character development in the Ultimatum is better than the other two books of the trilogy, yet still not great. You do find out much more about Carlos the Jackal, yet there are still those teasers into Jason’s and Alex’s past dating back to Vietnam. To me the flashbacks never add up to anything, although I believe that they were peppered into the text to force the reader to understand Jason’s psychosis. It failed to do so with me, as it was not believable.
The biggest downfall of this book, however, would have to be the dialogue. Someone should have explained to Mr. Ludlum that there is no need to use conversation to explain plot twists or past history! It is rather annoying to me to read the dialogue and catch myself thinking (each time) that there is no way two people would have this conversation. The author may have been better served to use flashbacks to accomplish the same goal.
The Bourne Ultimatum is the third installment in the trilogy, and as I said earlier is my least favorite. That being said, I am happy that I have read it, as the plot carries the book. Get past the jerky dialogue and vague character development and you too can enjoy this book.
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