ROBERT LUDLUM'S THE BOURNE DEFIANCE

5 stars out of 5

Finally, Matt Damon has left the building. As recently as last year's Bourne Sacrifice, he was still on my mental radar as I thumbed through the pages of my ebook reader after seeing so many of the Bourne motion pictures (one reason I hate reading books after I see the movies instead of the other way around). This time, though, his image was far less noticeable. The story, though, was every bit as exciting as last year's book - and for me, the thrill of a book beats that of watching a big screen every single time.

As expected, this one's another nail-biter that pits Bourne against Lennon, his one-time friend who turned out to be a Russian agent and superbly talented assassin. As the story begins, Bourne is living in Paris with his lover, writer Abbey Laurent - and still trying, on behalf of his employer Treadstone, to nail Lennon (preferrably alive so he can be questioned). Then in Juneau, Alaska, a Treadstone hacker is inexplicably murdered, but not before he sends a crypic message to his Treadstone handler, Nash Rollins: Defiance. As Bourne later learns, that hacker is just one of several Treadstone agents who have been targeted for death. But who's behind it and why?

The answers to those questions takes up the rest of the book, sending Bourne on the chase of his lifetime. It's a complex plot with a ton of characters and can be a little hard to follow, although I'm happy to say, I guess, that I correctly identified the person behind the murder and mayhem fairly early on. The story goes off in so many directions that I can't provide more detail without giving away too much, but suffice it to say there are a couple of unexpected murders and an ending that's truly bittersweet (though not entirely unexpected) that leaves the door open for the next installment. All told, it's another great adventure, and I heartily thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review a pre-release copy.

Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Defiance by Brian Freeman (G.P. Putnam's Sons, July 2023); 384 pp.