The Bourne Identity (novel)

For the 1988 film starring Richard Chamberlain, see The Bourne Identity (1988 film).

For the 2002 film starring Matt Damon, see The Bourne Identity (2002 film).

The Bourne Identity

Cover of The Bourne Identity
Author	Robert Ludlum
Language	English
Series	Jason Bourne
Genre	Thriller, Spy novel
Publisher	Putnam
Publication date	1980
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	544 pp
ISBN	ISBN 0-553-26011-1
Followed by	The Bourne Supremacy

The Bourne Identity is a 1980 spy fiction thriller novel by Robert Ludlum about an amnesiac who must discover who he is and why several different groups, including an assassin and the CIA, are trying to kill him. It is the first in a series of novels written by Ludlum, and later Eric Van Lustbader, featuring Jason Bourne.

The Bourne Identity has been adapted into a 1988 television mini-series starring Richard Chamberlain and Jaclyn Smith, and a 2002 movie starring Matt Damon and Franka Potente.

Plot summary

For a more in-depth background of the character Bourne, see Jason Bourne.

The protagonist is found floating in the Mediterranean Sea with several bullet wounds, including a head wound which has given him amnesia. The doctor treating him finds a message surgically embedded in his hip that contains details of a Swiss bank account, presumably anonymous.

In Zürich, the protagonist learns that his name is Jason Bourne. While attempting to retrace his steps on his previous visit to the city he attracts the attention of several people who either fear him, warn him of danger, or try to kill him (but all unhelpfully assume that he already knows why). He begins to suspect, on the basis of circumstantial evidence, that he may have been a professional assassin prior to losing his memory. He also meets a woman named Marie St. Jacques in Zürich and on the spur of the moment, uses her as a sort of hostage to escape an attempt on his life in a crowded convention hotel. Realizing that he has put her life in danger as well, he risks his own life to prevent her from being executed. This is the first clue that there may be more to the protagonist than a cold-blooded killer.

As the evidence and the double-crosses mount up, it appears at first that Jason Bourne is an associate of, then a competitor to, the infamous terrorist Carlos. In the end, however, it is revealed that the protagonist is actually a CIA agent in deep cover as a fictional assassin, Jason Bourne, in order to get close to Carlos, and that he received his injuries after blowing his cover trying to prevent an assassination. Jason Bourne goes by many names, such as Cain and Delta. His real name, however, is David Webb. In a dramatic finale, he faces Carlos—alone and unaided as the CIA believes that he's gone rogue.

The 1988 miniseries is reasonably true to the plot of the novel, but the film was changed to exclude the subplot about assassin "Carlos" and, equally or more significantly, the fact of Bourne's innocence — it is maintained that he actually was an assassin (though of CIA employ).

Sequels

Ludlum penned two sequels, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum. In addition, after Ludlum's death, Eric Van Lustbader continued the story of Jason Bourne in a sequel titled The Bourne Legacy.

See also

• XIII is a Franco-Belgian comic series that has many similarities to the character of Jason Bourne as well as the novel The Bourne Identity.
• The 1987 Tamil movie Vetri Vizha starring Kamal Haasan is a loose adaptation of this novel.
• The teen novel series The Sleeper Conspiracy by Tom Sniegoski is similar to the Bourne series.