Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Evolution

By: Brian Freeman

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's Summary

America's most enduring hero, Jason Bourne, returns in a propulsive, fresh story for the Bourne canon that tests old skills - and uncovers new ones.

After the death of his lover in a mass shooting, Secret Agent Jason Bourne is convinced that there is more to her murder than it seems. Worse, he believes that Treadstone - the agency that made him who he is, that trained him - is behind the killing. Bourne goes rogue, leaving Treadstone behind and taking on a new mission to infiltrate and expose an anarchist group, Medusa.

But when a congresswoman is assassinated in New York, Bourne is framed for the crime, and he finds himself alone and on the run, hunted by both Treadstone and the tech cabal that had hired him. In his quest to stay one step ahead of his enemies, Bourne teams up with a journalist, Abbey Laurent, to figure out who was behind the frame-up and to learn as much as he can about the ever-growing threat of the mysterious Medusa group. As more and more enemies begin to hunt Bourne, it's a race against the clock to discover who led him into a trap...and what their next move may be.

©2020 Brian Freeman (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Brian Freeman authors this Bourne novel!

Robert Ludllum's three Bourne novels were released in 1980, 1986, and 1990. After Ludlum died in 2001 his family hired Eric Lustbader to start the Bourne series anew. Lustbader never came close to achieving the quality standard set by Ludlum. Brian Freeman has now been hired to continue and the recent release of THE BOURNE EVOLUTION the first Bourne novel by Freeman has been released with Scott Brick narrating. I decided to try it. This novel is pretty good and would have been better without Miss Shirley and Medusa, but Eric Lustbader is the cause of that awful character. Now that Shirley is dead the next Brian Freeman novel in the Bourne series should be much better.

Background to Bourne series: In the 1980 novel The Bourne Identity CIA agent David Webb suffers from amnesia and emerges as Jason Bourne. Bourne has no memory of his prior life as Webb but he inherits all of Webb's old enemies who want him dead. Bourne never recovers his memory. Everyone including Webb's old CIA want Bourne dead, but Bourne has a remarkable ability to escape death.

I look forward to seeing where Freeman takes Bourne hopefully without Miss Shirley and Medusa. Hopefully Scott Brick will continue narrating.

Not The Bourne You’re Looking For

Scott Brick is up to his usual narrative excellence and delivers a great performance of a bad, cliche ridden story by Brian Freeman not worthy of Mr. Brick’s substantial talent. "The Cabal?” "Medusa?” "Miss Shirley?” Really? This is young adult formula spy stuff that does not follow the Bourne story, history or trajectory at all. Mr. Freeman made up a strangely inept and tentative former spy guy who happens to be named Jason Bourne, but this guy bears no resemblance to the Jason Bourne of Mr. Ludlum’s great series. Cardboard, histrionic characters fill out a routine cast in a routine story. Only Mr. Brick’s great reading caused me to listen to an unrewarding end.

I have run into a few clunkers lately in series that I’ve always loved. This is one of them. I need a new Orphan X or Longmire to clear my ears.

This is not a book worth your time.

This book does notfollow the life of Jason Bourne like the previous books. For one thing, Bourne does not work for Treadstone in any book prior to this one, and He has been involved with a Mossad agent in the previous books. This author should have done his homework on the character before writing this book that should not be included in the series.

The Bourne Again Inanity

I don't usually write audiobook critiques until I've finished an audiobook, but there is such a glaring production error at the beginning of this audiobook that I feel bears mention . . . namely - chapter four is missing and, in its place there resides chapter six, after which we get chapter five and then . . . chapter six, redux. I'm hoping that chapter four will make an appearance somewhere before the story ends or before the terrible writing and hideous narration forces me to toss this piece of potential junk into the trash . . .

I'm not holding out hope. My advice - if you want to read or listen to Brian Freeman at his best, pick up on any one of his Jonathan Stride novels and, if you want the best of Jason Bourne, go back and revisit the three Bourne novels written by Ludlum himself.

Confusing retelling

I’ve seen the movies and read several of the other Bourne books. Maybe I missed the one prior to this that lead up to this one, but for me I didn’t see where this fit into any of the Bourne timelines. There are characters in this story I’ve never heard of and couldn’t get them to fit in what I knew about Jason Bourne. I also found it predictable and I was able to guess major plot lines as they were being played out. I think a prelude would have been helpful but I’m a reader not writer.

What an Ending!!

never heard this narrator before but done an excellent job with someone listening with trouble of focusing for long periods.. Went through this book in a few days.

Bourne is basically Bond now

A good not great story with good not great narrator, that doesn't quite sound like I imagine Bourne sounding.(a radio drama of this would have been great!) I like the story much more than the Van Lustbader books I read. But it certainly isn't a continuation of Ludlum's trilogy. Gone is the switching between identities that made Webb/Delta/Bourne psychologically interesting. This Bourne is much more like the one from the movies which is ok. It just means there are a few to many cliches for my liking. how many times will the US government go after Bourne? Every time apparently. add in colorful the vllians and a romantic subplot and Bourne is a blue collar Bond. hopefully the next book can ditch some cliches and take some more risks.

Strange transition from Van Lustbader to Freeman as the author

Overall a good story and well read. I was a bit thrown off by the fact that Freeman dropped some long-standing back story and created new history that had never been brought up before. I wish he has stuck with the thread of Van Lustbader for better continuity. I caught up pretty fast though and moved on to his next book.

Scott brick is a no for me

Scott Brick makes me sleepy. Total snooze fest any time he reads anything. He’s not cut it for action or thriller at all I can’t imagine who hired him to read the Bourne or Jack Reacher novels. He makes it difficult to follow a story or get engaged.

Bourne Again

Great continuation of the Bourne saga! Scott Brick is one of my favorite narrators; always keeps the listener involved.