Robert Ludlum's (TM) The Bourne Imperative

I'm not sure where to begin - the reader, the story line, the writing - they have slowly been getting worse but this book is an absolute disaster. Bourne is a minor character at best - and his skills are not longer a factor - he's just a vanilla character

The story isn't remotely believable - the bad guy is a comple joke

He's not an engaging reader - I've listened to him before and he was OK - I think part of my opinion of Holter is tied to the terrible story he was forced to read

Not really - I love Bourne and even like Lustbader - but this book is just terrible

Dont waste your time - but if you're like me, you'll read it anyway because you love Bourne

It's ridiculously and uncharacteristically (for inclusion in the Bourne series) melodramatic (absolutely intolerable at some points), implausible, and silly.

Until there is some compelling reason to believe that Van Lustbader has improved, not any of his books.

The narrator carries the voice of the women in the story in a single tone of voice: They sound like victims, even if they are ostensibly strong characters.

Frustration. I enjoy Ludlum, and have even enjoyed some of Lustbader. My sense is that publishers thought they could make a quick buck off the Ludlum franchise, intelligence and plausibility be damned. They succeeded.

Bourne is typically not about affairs of the heart nor the body, though they do occur in the novels. It is about the mystery and the thrill: hence the term thriller. This bok has almost none of that and most certainly, the Soraya and Peter relationships are like watching Desperate Housewives.

This book is so terrible, Robert Ludlum should be turning over in his grave. The story doesn't hang together at all and reads like a story that was hastily put together. It's not even close to the early Bourne books.

The narration is on par with the quality of the writing. Narrators Dick Hill or Scott Sowers would have been a better choice.

I couldn't force myself to finish it. I gave up after the first half of the book and switched over to a Lucas Davenport novel. If you can't resist the temptation, at least get it from library so you don't waste your money on it.

This yarn was a slow start. I listened long enough to get into the plot although it was not easy. If I hadn't been driving I would have shut it down. The narrator was good enough, the plot was good enough, but Jason Bourne did not seem to be the main character with far too much attention to details unrelated to his character.

Yes. Narrator was very easy to listen to.

Very good plot, not as good as a couple of his earlier books.

This is the first time I have listened to Holter Graham and will recommend him.

It's Imperative that Bourne has a chance.

The only drawback I had is a couple of characters were very soft spoken and I had to rewind and turn up the volume to hear what the character said.

No. While I've been an avid reader of Eric Van Lustbader for years and a fan of Ludlum's Jason Bourne novels, this one just didn't do it for me. I couldn't finish it. Maybe it had something to do with the constant repetition of the Spanish names. The storyline just started to plod along midway through the novel. This is not what I'd consider one of Lustbader's better efforts.

No

He was ok.

No. In fact, I just couldn't finish listening about two thirds of the way through.

I think the Jason Bourne saga has run it's course.

Story move slowly and did not have the typical Bourne aggressive storyline. While Bourne is part of the plot line, he is not the primary character. This was a little disappointing.

I would give him another try. His other books (Bourne and other stories) were entertaining.

Mr. Graham did fine. His voice inflection allowed you to imagine the different characters.

This book, as written, would not make a strong movie or TV series. However, since Hollywood has already deviated from the Bourne story line, they could take the premise of the story and script it for the screen.

Again, no? many more quality book to listen to.

Characters as always are expertly written

He is the characters

no, little at a time was perfect

This ain't Ludlum. Makes you wonder how much this guy paid to rent the name. This is a collection of overly-worded preposterous banalities, poorly read. Saturday morning cartoons are less insulting to the intellect..

refrained from writing it.

There is no end to the negatives. As much as it was possible, he destroyed a bad book

yes, all three, I think.

Tell this "reader" ,and I use the term loosely, that vaudevillian melodrama is like so yesterday.

Loved the story the action the twists and turns and Bourne survives again. This book reads more like a Movie Script than a Novel. All the detailed descriptions of the chases and escapes were excessive. However; it was a strap yourself in and lets go for a typical Bourne ride.... exciting, entertaining and riveting. Van Lustbader does well to keep Bourne fresh and relevant which is quite an accomplishment.

Holter Grahams performance was disappointing. Bourne needs a strong performance, he sounded like a teenager narrating. If it wasn't a Bourne novel I couldn't have listened for long.