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Facing down mercenaries in Africa, Jason Bourne witnesses the death of an art dealer named Tracy Atherton. Her killing dredges up snatches of Bourne's impaired memory, in particular the murder of a young woman on Bali who entrusted him with a strangely engraved ring-an artifact of such powerful significance that people have killed to obtain it. Now he's determined to find the ring's owner and purpose. But Bourne never knows what terrible acts he'll discover he committed when he digs into the past.
The trail will lead him through layers of conspiracy to a vicious Russian mercenary, Leonid Arkadin, who was also a graduate of the Central Intelligence training program Treadstone. A covert course designed to create ruthless assassins for C.I., it was shuttered by Congress for corruption. Yet before it was dismantled, it produced Bourne and Arkadin, giving them equal skills, equal force, and equal cunning.
As Bourne's destiny circles closer to Arkadin's, it becomes clear that the eventual collision of these men is not of their own making. Someone else has been watching and manipulating them. Someone who wants to know, Who is the more deadly agent?
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Creators
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Series
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Publisher
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Awards
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Release date
June 1, 2010 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781607882275
- File size: 415234 KB
- Duration: 14:25:04
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Languages
- English
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Levels
- Text Difficulty: 9-12
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Reviews
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Jason Bourne hits the ground running as he seeks an important artifact at the same time that he tantalizingly uncovers bits of his impaired memory. The trail of deadly mayhem moves through Africa and Bali, and ultimately involves a Russian mercenary who was part of the same covert CIA training program as Bourne. This installment explores secret societies, amassed gold, and hidden temples. Bourne fans will enjoy the audio portions peppered with gunfire and other realistic sound effects. Scott Sowers ably narrates various foreign accents, as well as Bourne's youthful and jaded vocalizations. Sowers delivers the book's nonstop action by speeding up his performance as we follow the characters through one fast-paced chase scene after another. The background music gives the story the feel of a movie. A.W. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine -
April 5, 2010
Lustbader's cookie-cutter fifth Jason Bourne novel in the Ludlum franchise (after The Bourne Deception
) downgrades the title character to a mere co-star with villain Leonid Arkadin, a graduate of the same covert training program, who also possesses almost superhuman combat skills. Bourne and Arkadin's globe-trotting pursuit of each other drives the main plot, which includes yet another secret cabal bent on world domination, Severus Domna. The members of Severus Domna have their eye on a ring Bourne possesses that's a clue to the location of King Solomon's legendary gold. Arkadin's use of silly aliases (e.g., Stanley Kowalski, Frank N. Stein) dissipates any effort at realism, while implausible and formulaic side stories involving Soraya Moore, ousted from her position with the CIA, don't help. Those who don't mind Bourne's devolution from the tortured amnesiac soul Ludlum created into a stock action hero will be most satisfied. -
May 1, 2010
No one is what he or she seems to be. Lustbader's fifth installment (after "The Bourne Deception") of Ludlum's saga of rogue agent Jason Bourne finds Bourne in possession of a ring with a cryptic engraving. Bourne, a product of the newly reformed ruthless and clandestine American Central Intelligence program called Treadstone, is still being hunted by his former employer. Treadstone is anxious to capture Bourne and Russian Leonid Arkadin, two of their top lethal graduates, to find out where their training went wrong. If that fails they want to manipulate the killer-with-a-conscience Bourne and the unscrupulous Arkadin into destroying each other. As Bourne works to put the shattered pieces of his memories back together, he doesn't know whom or what to trust. And time is running short for Bourne as various parties work to gain control over the ring, a key to unimaginable wealth, and terminate the indestructible Bourne. VERDICT Thriller addicts who love intricate webs of conspiracy mixed with an adrenalin rush of action and global adventure will snap this one up. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 2/1/10; for more summer thrillers, see Andrew Smith's "Short Takes: Summer Men's Fiction," p. 68.Ed.]Susan O. Moritz, Montgomery Cty. P.L.s, MDCopyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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