Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Deception by Eric Van Lustbader

Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Deception by Eric Van Lustbader

Review by Ed Homa

The seventh book in the Bourne series picks up where the previous book ended. Bourne thinks that he has killed Arkadin, pushed off a ship into the ocean. And Bourne is still a thorn in the side of many in the U.S. government. A deal is made with a Russian (a disguised Arkadin) to kill Bourne. Bourne is almost assassinated and he fakes his death to find out who is after him. As Bourne searches for who is responsible for his “death” he is being stalked by his greatest enemy.

While Arkadin hunts Bourne a U.S. airliner is shot down over Egypt and the U.S. blames Iranian terrorists. The American Secretary of Defense is looking to get in a war with Iran and Bourne is pulled into the conflict. With war brewing Bourne must uncover the truth. The book travels around the world to solve the many mysteries presented.

Since his first Bourne book, Lustbader has made Bourne into “his” character. Pretty much killing off all of the Ludlum supporting characters and creating his own supporting cast for Bourne, both allies and enemies. I am a fan of Ludlum’s Bourne and I am a fan of Lustbader’s Bourne. But I do not view the two as the same character. To me the Lustbader Bourne is a different character from Ludlum’s with a similar background. Without viewing Bourne this way the series doesn’t work for me.

Even though I am a fan of Lustbader’s and I have been enjoying his work on Bourne, the Bourne Deception is a step backwards. I enjoyed much of it and I am a fan of the characters that Lustbader has introduced into the series but there wasn’t enough Jason Bourne in this book. Bourne was in the background, almost missing in action. As the book ended I wanted more of Bourne, because of his limited part and because I wanted a great Bourne book and I didn’t get it.

I don’t think non-Bourne fans will enjoy this book and I think that fans of Lustbader’s Bourne will be disappointed. I was hoping for a good beach read, a page-turner and I didn’t get it. I am hoping that Lustbader will do better with next years’ Bourne novel, the Bourne Objective.

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