Eric Van Lustbader’s Jason Bourne has had a
checkered journey, starting off with a de-aged version of himself in The
Bourne Legacy (Book#4), a far cry from Ludlum’s portrayal of him as a man who was
losing his edge in The Bourne Ultimatum – a hero with no more adventures left
inside him, except – may be – on the demands of the publisher.
Bourne, with
his world-saving antics and his stubborn refusal to be outshined by any modern
assassin, had an exhilarating run in Legacy, but things kept moving along in
Bourne’s life and a time came when Lustbader’s own creations began to push him
backstage.
No doubt, Lustbader has been brilliant in writing thrillers that are built of layers and layers of intrigue – sometimes hard to follow, with a plethora of characters and plot twists at every turn – but he definitely loved Leonid Arkadin (a hitman arguably Bourne’s equal in The Bourne Sanction (Book#6)) much more than Bourne, just as he replaced Cactus with Deron as Bourne’s supplier of guns, fake documents and gadgets - a rather hostile takeover of Robert Ludlum’s most memorable hero.
No doubt, Lustbader has been brilliant in writing thrillers that are built of layers and layers of intrigue – sometimes hard to follow, with a plethora of characters and plot twists at every turn – but he definitely loved Leonid Arkadin (a hitman arguably Bourne’s equal in The Bourne Sanction (Book#6)) much more than Bourne, just as he replaced Cactus with Deron as Bourne’s supplier of guns, fake documents and gadgets - a rather hostile takeover of Robert Ludlum’s most memorable hero.
This fact somewhat diminished the appreciation of the
Bourne series for me, and perhaps for many more readers. After all, why would I
want to read about every character in The Bourne Deception (Book#7) being
puppeteered by Arkadin while Bourne remains in the shadows? But Bourne being
the hero of the series must win, so Arkadin must be upstaged in a respectable
way, but not before three books have already elapsed.
I regained my faith in the series with The Bourne
Imperative (Book#10), a brilliant tale of the incomparable (once again, at
last) Bourne pitted against a ruthless and powerful nemesis, an assassin of
legendary talent (Ilan Halevy, the Babylonian) and a weird replica of himself.
It was like revisiting The Bourne Identity. Did this revival of Bourne (for me,
again) had something to do with Lustbader going back to the roots of Ludlum’s
Bourne, his amnesia? Possibly.
Lustbader’s thrillers have some features which are
always present: a plot spanning many countries (with beautiful descriptions of
places, people and culture, albeit laced with personal prejudices), the current
geopolitical scenario and international problems being drawn upon
(Israel-Palestine conflict, Syrian uprising, Mexican drug-cartels, activities
of FARC in Columbia, Iranian problem, Mossad and more), stream-of consciousness
of every major character, mutual conflicts of ambitious politicians and
bureaucrats and their one-upmanship, and Bourne being the pawn who is somehow
always drawn into the dragnet.
The Bourne Ascendancy is not an exception. This time
round, Lustbader weaves a plot straddling Syria, Israel, Afghanistan, the US
and Singapore. One of the most interesting aspects of the story is a
philandering president, a spoof of the Clinton-Lewinsky affair and another ‘nothing-is-what-it-seems’
play with the characters. A weak aspect of the book - in fact, many of his
books - is his obdurate attempt to include as many people (of diverse
nationalities and loyalties) and terrorist outfits as possible, Bourne thereby
getting lost in the maze of Syrians, Taliban and Pakistanis, while the basic
theme of the book acquires centre-stage after such a series of prolix events –
overstretched and often incredible – that I began to lose patience with the book.
A major contributor to the tome of this book (it is
451 pages) is Camilla’s story, the Monica Lewinsky-alter ego whose thoughts,
emotional conflicts, realizations and epiphanies seemingly turn her into
someone even bigger than Bourne himself.
Bourne does emerge victorious, but only after moving at a snail’s pace along a plot that doesn’t turn out as the swashbuckling finale I was expecting. Bourne about to kill the American President at the behest of a terrorist – on pain of a beloved’s death – it all should have been as much of a cliff-hanger as the unlikely Khan-Bourne team out to eliminate the arch-villain in Legacy, or even Ludlum’s fake Jason Bourne (Major Alcott Price in The Bourne Supremacy) planning a hit on a prominent man in China, but it fizzles out, quite like Bourne and Rebecca’s attack on Semid Abdul Qehar’s fortress in The Bourne Dominion.
Bourne does emerge victorious, but only after moving at a snail’s pace along a plot that doesn’t turn out as the swashbuckling finale I was expecting. Bourne about to kill the American President at the behest of a terrorist – on pain of a beloved’s death – it all should have been as much of a cliff-hanger as the unlikely Khan-Bourne team out to eliminate the arch-villain in Legacy, or even Ludlum’s fake Jason Bourne (Major Alcott Price in The Bourne Supremacy) planning a hit on a prominent man in China, but it fizzles out, quite like Bourne and Rebecca’s attack on Semid Abdul Qehar’s fortress in The Bourne Dominion.
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| Bourne and Mary - The Bourne Identity |
I do like the Rebecca-Bourne love undertones, though. It
should have occupied more space. Since the death of Mary, the lonely, inadvertent assassin (or ‘Blacksmith,’ his latest spy-lingo occupation) does need a lovely woman to turn to in the
midst of all the guns, blood and gristle.
