Jason Bourne Series (abridged)

The Bourne Identity: He is a man with an unknown past and an uncertain future. A man dragged from the sea riddled with bullets, his face altered by plastic surgery - a man bearing the dubious identity of Jason Bourne. The Bourne Supremecy: The Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China is brutally slain in a Kowloon cabaret, and all the clues point to the legendary assassin, Jason Bourne. The Bourne Ultimatum: Thirteen years have passed since David Webb was last forced to assume the alias of the assassin Jason Bourne. Now with one phone call Webb is thrust back into the madness.

He is a man with an unknown past and an uncertain future. A man dragged from the sea riddled with bullets, his face altered by plastic surgery—a man bearing the dubious identity of Jason Bourne. Now he is running for his life, the target of professional assassins, at the center of a maddening, deadly puzzle. Who is Jason Bourne? To answer that question, he must find the secret buried deep in his own past.

He was dragged from the sea, his body riddled with bullets. There are a few clues: a frame of microfilm surgically implanted beneath the skin of his hip; evidence that plastic surgery has altered his face; strange things he says in his delirium, which could be code words. And a number on the film negative that leads to a bank account in Zurich, four million dollars, and a name for the amnesiac: Jason Bourne.Now he is running for his life.

Washington, London and Peking - terror sweeps the globe. The Vice-Premier of the People's Republic has been brutally murdered by a legendary assassin and everyone is asking the same fearful questions: Why has Bourne come back? Who is paying him? Who is next on his death list? But US officials know the shocking truth: there is no Jason Bourne. There never was. But someone has resurrected the name, and if he is not stopped, the world will pay a devastating price. Jason Bourne must live again.

The Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China is brutally slain in a Kowloon cabaret, and all the clues point to the legendary assassin, Jason Bourne. But Bourne never existed! Listen to the sample below to hear Ludlum talk about writing The Bourne Supremacy.

It all starts with a cat-and-mouse chase to the death in a Baltimore funfair: the Jackal, Bourne's age-old antagonist, is back and Bourne is forced from his idyllic retirement with his wife and children to confront his enemy. In Europe, Russia and America there are men and women whose lust for power is disguised by their positions and respectability. Their aim: to gain control at the highest level, to avenge, to destroy.

Thirteen years have passed since David Webb was last forced to assume the alias of the assassin Jason Bourne. Now, with one phone call, Webb is thrust back into the madness.

Jason Bourne, international assassin of deadly repute, was an identity assumed by covert agent David Webb. Retired from the CIA and now a professor at Georgetown University, Webb's life is finally his own. His newfound calm is shattered when he becomes the target of an assassin and is framed for the murder of his two closest associates—the only ones who knew the full truth about Bourne. Fighting for his life against unseen assailants, the Bourne identity asserts itself and Jason Bourne is once again in control.

Jason Bourne takes a mission to rescue his only friend in the CIA, Martin Lindros, who disappeared in Africa while tracking shipments of yellowcake uranium. Once safely back in America, Lindros persuades Bourne to help track the money trail of terrorists buying the nuclear material.

For Jason Bourne, forever caught between two identities - mild-mannered linguist David Webb and lethal super-spy - life can never be ordinary. But when his old mentor, Professor Spector, installs him as head of the comparative linguistics department at Georgetown University, it seems he may have found a measure of normalcy at last. That is, until a hitherto unknown terrorist organisation comes up with a plan to execute a major attack on the East Coast of the United States within a week.

Jason Bourne needs to regain his life as David Webb, so he accepts an invitation from his beloved mentor, Dominic Specter, to join the Linguistics department at Georgetown. It's a relief to leave the Bourne identity behind, but Jason soon finds himself in a life-or-death confrontation in which every move might be his last.

Jason Bourne's nemesis, Arkadin, is still hot on his trail, and the two continue their struggle, reversing roles of hunter and hunted. When Bourne is ambushed and badly wounded, he fakes his death and goes into hiding. In safety, he takes on a new identity, and begins a mission to find out who tried to assassinate him. Jason begins to question who he really is, how much of him is tied up in the Bourne identity, and what he would become if that was suddenly taken away from him.

Readers and listeners were first introduced to Jason Bourne's nemesis, Leonid Arkadin, a brilliant Russian assassin and fearless international mercenary, in The Bourne Sanction. His girlfriend was killed during a fight for which an enraged Arkadin blames Bourne. In The Bourne Deception, Arkadin hunted Bourne to take revenge and kill him. Now, in The Bourne Objective, Jason will turn the tables and target Arkadin. Hunter will become hunted.

Of all Robert Ludlum's best sellers, the Bourne novels remain among his most-read, most listened-to, and most-loved. Re-enter the shadowy world of Jason Bourne, an expert assassin like no other, in this latest fast-paced, action-packed instalment that shows why Ludlum still remains the unsurpassed master of the genre.