Robert Ludlum's: The Bourne Dominion: The Bourne Saga: Book Nine (Bourne 09) [Kindle Edition]

I've been a fan of Jason Bourne since I first read the original way back around 1981 or so. I've been a fan of Ludlum ever since...even during his later years when the quality of his novels began to seriously decline. Over time I realized something: Ludlum at his worst was still--in general--head & shoulders above almost all other spy novelists. I actually almost miss the Cold War simply because it gave so much fuel for Ludlum and his amazingly fertile imagination.

After finishing the Bourne Ultimatum, Ludlum had publicly admitted that he had essentially put Jason out to pasture. I never thought I'd read about him again...however, the estate of Robert Ludlum had different plans. It isn't unheard of that a series has been "Officially Sanctioned" by the estate of a long-dead author, in fact it seems that the practice has kind of enjoyed a little bit of a popularity boost as of late, but when I heard of Van Lustbaders first entry, I was skeptical--and who can blame me? Having never read him before, I dove right in--but NOT before I made a mental note to judge the story NOT based on Ludlum so much as on its own merits. Now I can admit that this is a very difficult thing to do--especially considering how many Ludlum novels I had read and loved over the years. Its always there in the background, but I did my best to judge the story alone.

When judged solely as a Van Lustbader book, I actually enjoyed the entries into the Bourne Universe, which now outnumber Ludlums original trilogy. The most important thing to remember is to do your best NOT to compare these novels to the originals, when you do that, I actually believe the stories are entertaining and action-filled adventures.

With that being said, I can't help but wonder how old Jason Bourne is and how long he can continue as a Superspy in the new millenium. Either way, the Bourne Dominion is a fun and action-oriented tale which, while not as good as the Bourne Sanction and the Bourne Objective, the two previous stories which I felt were the best by Van Lustbader, I still found myself absorbed by the novel. I believe that the story stretches credibility in portions and what seemed to me like a half-hearted attempt to bring back Communist Russia, and I don't mean that literally, its just that it kind of reminded me of how the country was back during the Soviet era. I'll let you decide on your own about that. The storyline is entertaining enough with plenty of globe-trotting action and violence, I just felt that all things considered, it wasn't quite as good as a couple of his previous Bourne attempts...and I really wanted to like this more, but oh well.

Once again, please remember to read this without comparing it to Ludlum, that is almost critical...because without doing so makes the enjoyment seriously fall pretty flat. Lets face it, I haven't read any book which could paint the picture of spies during the Cold War quite like Robert Ludlum could in his heyday--at least not in MY opinion. Either way, if you enjoyed the previous continuation of Jason Bourne via Van Lustbader, you'll probably like this one, too...however, if you didn't, I don't really see how you'd like this one, so think twice and buy accordingly.

In Russia, Viktor Cherkesov informs General Boris Karpov he is the country's chief of FSB-2 secret police if he completes the loyalty test; his assignment is to kill his long time friend and field operative ally Jason Bourne. He begins the hunt at the same time that Bourne seeks out his Russian comrade to help him with a threat to the world equilibrium involving rare earth metals used in modern technology including weapon systems.

Whereas the Chinese has been way ahead of the rest of the globe in procuring the rare earth metals, the Severus Domna anti-American organization, has deployed plans to obtain the rest, which will cause a Greater Depression than that of the Bush era. Bourne knows the only way to prevent the destruction of the American economy and subsequently that of the world is teaming up with the Russian bear who has recently tried to kill him in Columbia.

Eric Van Lustbader's latest Bourne entry is his best to date (see The Bourne Deception and The Bourne Objective)as he captures the essence of the amnesiac especially in the cold environs that he works in where values like loyalty are sold on a sort of commodity exchange. The story line is fast-paced from the moment Karpov tortures and kills several FSB-2 operatives and never slows down as the reader wonders whether Karpov will assist or assassinate his former ally.

Harriet Klausner

I don't object to the Ludlum estate putting out novels in
his name, but I do object to them selling trash. The publisher
should be ashamed for cheating readers who loved Ludlum only
to discover the latest sequels are abominably written. "...his
mouth gaped open like an empty bank vault..." GIMME A BREAK! If the
publisher can't hire an editor and deliver a well-written suspense
novel Ludlum fans should regard this author as dead again and look
for writers who have some talent.