The Bourne Ultimatum by Robert Ludlum

The world's two deadliest spies in the ultimate showdown. At a small-town carnival two men, each mysteriously summoned by telegram, witness a bizarre killing. The telegrams are signed Jason Bourne. Only they know Bourne's true identity and understand the telegram is really a message from Bourne's mortal enemy, Carlos, known also as the Jackal, the world's deadliest and most elusive terrorist. And furthermore, they know that the Jackal wants: a final confrontation with Bourne. Now David Webb, professor of Oriental studies, husband, and father, must do what he hoped he would never have to do again-- assume the terrible identity of Jason Bourne. His plan is simple: to infiltrate the politically and economically Medusan group and use himself as bait to lure the cunning Jackal into a deadly trap-- a trap from which only one of them will escape. "From the Paperback edition."

A bit of a chore to be honest. Narrated very well by Scott Brick - even the Russian is good, and I should know. The plot though, just so bloated and contrived.

This was my second time listening to this book and I remembered very little about it, possibly because if its being so bloated that I simply forgot. I remember having it on in the car taking my daughter to nursery school, so we're taking around 2006. I love the first book, so much so that I don't know how many times I've read it - three of four anyway. I think that's me done though - enough with Bourne. Time to stop rereading and start reading anew.

Read this awhile ago. I liked this much more than book 2, but not quite as much as book one though.

30 hours! Dragged on and on and on.

TL;DR

Weakest of the trilogy by far, this is an average action thriller and when comparing it to the other two this one isn't even on the same league. Shame because here's where the conflict with Carlos the Jackal get resolved and it's disappointing. I'm going to keep reading the rest of the series to see where they go but if you just stop at the second book you're good.

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: The only interesting part is when Jason is going after Carlos, every other thing that happens is not nearly as engaging.

X - Side Stories (if it applies): There are a lot of them and I didn't care about most of them. The medusa one, the Italian mafia the brother in law and his resort. All pretty boring and I didn't care.

✓ - Characters: Great set of characters as always. Dimitri Krupkin and Jacques Bernardine were the stars by far. The author did Bernardine dirty which again made me sad.

✓ - Setting/Ambiance: We're back to Paris, home of the Jackal and we also go to Russia, Novgorod was actually very interesting to imagine.

X - Ending: I did not like how the conflict with Carlos ended, you will have to read and find out yourself but in my opinion it was disappointing.

Extensive Review

I didn't like this one very much compared to the other two previous books. Jason is old and he's pretty much lost everything that made him Jason Bourne. He constantly thinks he's still got it but he doesn't. In the previous books we heard his inner monologue and Jason talking to David and I liked that but in this book he's gone full schizophrenic talking like he's two different persons. Saying "He loves you...I mean I love you" to Marie and the only word I can use to describe this is cringe.

In the previous book you had interactions like this "You're..." "I wouldn't finish that sentence" never trying to reveal who he is. Meanwhile on this book every one is "You're the legendary Jason Bourne", even Jason himself constantly keeps saying "I'm Jason Bourne" to every living creature he encounters and this wouldn't be a problem if it were true but it's not. He always loses to Carlos, gets outsmarted on every encounter they meet. And Jason's keeps saying "I'm better than he ever was", "I can take him", "I'm going to beat him". Yet every single time they meet he gets his ass handed to him and Carlos manages to escape, also it's not just Jason alone he always has help from multiple parties and still they can't beat Carlos, it's embarrassing. It's sad to see Jason go from the previous book where he was at his best and you can see how ruthless and exceptional he can be to this version of himself.

We're not going to talk about the ending and how the final showdown goes. The final sequence is great but how it ends isn't at all. It's incredibly disappointing.

Not a bad book action thriller but this isn't Jason Bourne how we know him.