The Bourne Identity

TL;DR

Amazing action thriller, if you want fast paced action with an incredibly trained assassin outsmarting everyone you have to read the Bourne series.

My Scoring System

I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:

✓ - Main Story: It's a great story, I don't have complaints about it. Kept me engaged and it felt like an action movie.

✓ - Side Stories (if it applies): I liked the side story about Jason Bourne's past and the government thinking he's gone rogue without knowing he just has amnesia.

✓ - Characters: I can't think of a bad character that I didn't like, all are great, from the main characters to the villains.

✓ - Setting/Ambiance: A good variety, we go from the Mediterranean sea to Zurich and Paris. I liked the scenery described.

✓ - Ending: This book has a good ending, some things are not resolved yet that will be in the other two books but it doesn't leave you on an unsatisfied cliffhanger.

Extensive Review

I didn't read action thriller books until now. My only experience with them was https://hardcover.app/books/recursion and https://hardcover.app/books/dark-matter people recommends those books as science fiction thrillers and after reading those two I was ready to put down the thriller genre and say it's not for me because those are some of the most boring books I've read. Then I found out the Bourne trilogy. I've seen the movies and thought they were good action movies and read some reviews online saying the books are way better and have nothing to do with the movies.

This is what an action thriller book looks like. I was seriously shocked while reading it, in my mind I was thinking "Ok so this is what people mean when they say this book feels like an action movie, it's fast paced..." (all of those things were said about those books I mentioned and again, incredibly boring reads) so I was not ready for how amazing this book is. I'm coming from seeing the movies first and they don't hold a candle to the books. It's so weird because the story of the first book is like a perfect recipe for an action movie. I have no idea why they removed the main villain and made it out to be Jason vs the government. Carlos the Jackal is a great villain and it's one of the reasons this book is such a great read.

The creativity of Jason Bourne and how he handles different scenarios, how he gets ready and has a plan for everything is incredible. I kept thinking how much of a badass he is constantly.

If you want to read a great action thriller book I don't see how you can go wrong with this one. Highly recommend this book.