A review by etoiline
The Bourne Imperative by Eric Van Lustbader

3.0

I like the Bourne movies, but I've never been able to get past the first few chapters of the third book. I think it's probably because those first few books are awfully dated (and the movies stray so far from them that they're hardly similar any more), and I was hoping that even though I hadn't read the books between this one and those first few that I might like it better. I think I did, though there are definitely things I was missing because I didn't know the recent history of the characters. I think I like Lustbader's style better than Ludlum's, though I'd be hard pressed to mention the differences. This is an action book, through and through. You'll find political drama, a lot of whodunit (there's another character with amnesia, after all), some romance, and not a little cheesy dialogue. The settings range all over the world, and there are some gritty, ugly places that Bourne and his fellow spies have to deal with. Quite a few people betray others, and there are deaths and injuries that might take you by surprise. Sometimes the plot moves slowly, but it builds to an intense finish. One of these days I'll go back and try to read some of the other books in the series so I can figure out what the characters were talking about. The characters sometimes spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about what they're going to do and what they've done, but if you can make it through those parts, you'll be rewarded with detailed action.

I received this as a digital ARC via Netgalley and the publisher.