Leave this "fish" in the water...

What disappointed you about Robert Ludlum's (TM) The Bourne Imperative?

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

What do you think your next listen will be?

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

How could the performance have been better?

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.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

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.

5 people found this helpful

Dreadful - save your credits.

What was most disappointing about Eric Van Lustbader’s story?

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.

4 people found this helpful

TEDIOUS

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.

3 people found this helpful

Worst Bourne ever

What disappointed you about 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

What was most disappointing about Eric Van Lustbader’s story?

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

What didn’t you like about Holter Graham’s performance?

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

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

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

Any additional comments?

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

4 people found this helpful

Narrator high then low volume

Overall it was great, but a couple of the character voices were very soft. Cranking them up for my old ears would then result in the volume being way too loud, and it seemed often the quiet voice was talking to the loud guy.

Bourne, I think not

This was the most disjointed storyline in the series. There were way too many characters and everyone ended up dying. Who were all those people?? Bourne was a tertiary character at best. I bought this to hear more stories about a great character, not the author’s attempt to make minor characters into a whole world of characters. Give it up.

Great story.

I listen in my truck so the way this book is read with more dramatic inflection made it a little hard to hear at time. When using earbuds I had no problems.

Another exciting extension of the Bourne saga

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes,I have read both Ludlum and Lustbader for many years and believe that Lustbader adds a different facet to the Bourne character. Lustbader expands the character slowly from a two dimensional killing machine to a splintered man that is on a journey of discovery.

What other book might you compare Robert Ludlum's (TM) The Bourne Imperative to and why?

I find myself comparing this to other Lustbader stories in the Bourne saga - as I have read (both myself and through Audio books) the whole series.

What does Holter Graham bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I enjoy the narration of Holter Graham - his reading of the characters lends both credibility and excitement to the story (as does the editing and subtle music score).

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Bourne back to save us all - and himself

Any additional comments?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book - I believe that the credibility with the technical detail and the blossoming of the character is reminiscent of a Bond novel (Ian Fleming - all of which I have read in my youth).

I'm a little disappointed in this book.

this book was a little dull and slow compared to all other books in this series. It's still a decent book but I would give it a six out of ten just because of how slow it is.

This was by far the most boring of the series

It was so slow moving. Had I not paid for it I would have stopped listening. Oh, and how come Jason isn't visibly black and blue from Head to toe because he goes from fight to fight to fight. He never has time to recover and yet walking around in public no one is wondering or commenting on bruising.