Read it a long time ago, but still rate this one as a five. Couldn't put this one down and for it's time it was a breakout concept the set the stage for many other great authors.

David Putnam author of the Bruno Johnson series.

now i am hooked. This was such a great, easy and creative book. i was hooked after the first page.

The characters were easy to fall in love with and follow, along with the story. the author made the mental visions so easy and vivid of the surroundings and the characters actions felt so real.

i would highly recommend this author and this book.

Secret agent Jason Bourne has lost his memory while on a top secret mission. Now, he must rediscover his assignment, his contact, and himself! On the way, Bourne will battle a host of thugs, fall in love with a witty economist and track a legendary assassin.

But the big star is the method; Bourne may have lost his memories, but he can still rely on his advanced training. You'll follow his thought process as he evaluates dangerous situations on the fly, economizes his time and psychoanalyzes his foes. This is an iconic thriller for a reason, even if the flow sometimes bogs down as Bourne repeats key elements of his modus-operandi.

So if you like the movie, give the novel a try. The themes are similar, but the story is 90% different.

Edited 4/8/2020

This was the novel that made me a Robert Ludlum in the first place, way back in 1987 at the tender age of 12. Mind you, I only read 1/3 of the book back then, though I read "The Bourne Supremacy" cover-to-cover a year later, go figure. Anyways, nice to finally get fully caught up on the book after all these years, as I'm able to appreciate it now more than ever, with the benefit of military experience and world travel under my belt. Great action, mysterious plotline that keeps you guessing and turning pages, and wonderful character development. Now to re-read "The Bourne Supremacy" and read "The Bourne Ultimatum" for the first time.

Just a few firearms-related technical nitpicks that prevent me from rating this book a full 5 stars:
--p. 341: Argh, yet another author who thinks "revolvers" have safety catches and can be easily silenced with just a barrel suppressor....probably just using "revolver" as a generic synonym for a handgun even though it's most likely an autopistol. RIP Mr. Ludlum, but c'mon man!
--p.507: A .357 Magnum automatic," eh? Well, lessee, at the time the book was published (1980) the only .357 Mag autopistol in existence (Desert Eagle and LAR Grizzly were bth still three years away from being invented), and moreover the Coonan was never hugely popular, and thus an unlikely choice for an undercover operative, especially in a country like France where American revolver caliber ammo would be quite rare
--p. 585: "In his hands was a deadly automatic field machine gun with a rod and brace for a stock." Um, by "rod and brace," did the author mean a collapsible metallic folding stock?

Other observations:
--p. 326: General MacKenzie Hawkins!?!? The same Mac Hawkins from "The Road to Gnadolfo" and "The Road to Omaha??"
--I wonder if this Congressman Walters character was at least partially based upon the real-life Congressman Charlie Wilson.
--In retrospect, I'd say the 1988 ABC-TV mini-series starring Richard Chamberlain as the title character was more faithful to the novel than the 2002 theatrical film with Matt Damon.

This was great! The book differs majorly in that the Bourne character has more human qualities: he can get hurt, bleed, and has the ability to reason. I thought also he has a sense of premeditative, cognitive, thinking patterns that allowed him to create a more thrilling story than the movies.

The movies portray him as a programmed and unstoppable machine which is quite the contrary to the real Jason Bourne/David Webb. The backstory Ithought really added to the mystique of the character. Recommended for suspense and action readers. It may be a little dated because the Vietnam War was a focal point, but still a worthy read. Thanks!

I tried. I really did, but this book takes the cake for most words used that were completely unnecessary. The book could have been a tight novella and it would have been a vast improvement, but only for the mercy of sparing us much of Ludlum's awful prose.

The love story between Bourne and Marie reads like it was written by a 13-year-old boy whose only experience with romance is his mother's Harlequin novels.

The dialogue is atrocious, the descriptions are laborious, the character development is non-existent beyond the admittedly engaging intro to Bourne in Port Noir. Marie is a joke. She's as cardboard as a character can be. Totally flat. I don't want to spoil anything, if you've somehow got it in you sit through the torture of reading this book, but she experiences a number of traumas, one of which you might say is the worst thing a woman can go through, and it rolls off her like it's nothing at all. Each thing that should render any ordinary person emotionally devastated leaves no impression on her.

All I want out of any story is for it to seem credible. Not true. Not real, per se. But credible. "The Bourne Identity" is one of the most incredible books I've read, and that is NOT a compliment; I mean it literally. As in: "impossible to believe."

Avoid this time-suck at all costs.

It's a shame, too, because obviously the story itself was worthwhile enough to be the foundation of a pretty good movie. But--and I never thought I'd say this about ANY book--watch the movie; it's way better. Astronomically better.

I decided to finally jump on the Robert Ludlum train and read this. I'd recently also jumped on the Mat Damon train and watched the film trilogy. Yes, where had I been the past few years? Well being a teenager of course and living in places where these trains didn't run. Humour aside I'm going to use the next few paragraphs to convince you of why I enjoyed this novel so much and to assure you why you should read this book (or re-read or re-re-read it or re-re-re-read it... or re-re-re-re-re-read...or...).

Many people know the premise of this story but for those who don't spoiler alert right about........now. The Bourne Identity begins with the discovery of a man shot and left floating in the water. He gets rescued and nursed back to health. But he's lost his memory. (collective gasp from the audience) Well head trauma is not meant to be good for your memories. The only thing he knows is that he has had facial surgery, he has deadly fighting skills and...oh yeah there's a bank account number for a bank in Zurich.

That's the basic plot synopsis. What happens next is much more complicated. It involves a man discovering his identity, losing his identity and getting caught up in the hunt for a terrorist which happens to coincide with his past. The plot is clever - brilliant in fact - and worthy of its renown. I found myself drawn into a shadowy world with multiple twists and turns. In fact I would go so far as to label this a psychologically laced thriller of epic proportions. Yes that is what The Bourne Identity is. It is a smart, thriller, a kind of entertaining book that is intelligent at the same time.

I must however sadly announce that the end of this book was unfulfilling. It tasted sour, as if the author was simply setting me up to go and read the second book. Which I cannot obtain with ease from my library. So I'm simply left thinking to myself: what happens next? I hate cliff-hangers of this kind which force me to read on. In fact I think I can hear Ludlum laughing at me from the grave.

However I do recommend this as a fine example of thriller writing. Amongst the best I've read. Although for classic thrilling writing I still cannot go past Edgar Allan Poe the man who really started it all off with his tales... Well they were thrillers in some aspects. But yes compared to some of the very few other 'thriller' thrillers I've read this is a very fine example (much better than the few snippets I've seen of Lee Child and plot-wise better than Matthew Reilly - although he has good plots nonetheless and his writing style is more accessible). Still read this if you like clever plots, quality writing (well apart from some coarse language I considered inappropriate - with religious connotations) and are gritty. This may be your train to jump on.

Geçmişi Olmayan Adam uzun zamandır aradığım ama bir türlü bulamadığım bir kitap, ne kitapçılarda ne sahaflarda ne de internette bulamadım. Bir ara tesadüfen e-kitap halini bulunca da çok sevindim ve nihayet okuyabildim.

Uzun zamandır aksiyon kitabı okumuyordum bu kitap iyi geldi. Jason Bourne hafızasını kaybetmiş biri, geçmişi yok ve geleceği bilinmeyen geçmişinden gelen güçler tarafından tehlike altında. Yazar hafıza kaybını ve karakterde meydana getireceği duygu durumlarını kitapta çok iyi yansıtmış, daha önce de hafıza kaybının yer aldığı kitaplar okudum ve okuduklarım arasında en iyi bu kitapta işlendiğini düşünüyorum.

Hepimiz kim olduğumuzu anlamaya çalışıyoruz, değil mi?

Kitabın kurgusunu ve sunumunu beğendim, bir çok olay oluyor, kitap sizi oradan oraya sürüklüyor ve hiç sıkılmadan kendinizi olayın akışına bırakabiliyorsunuz. Karakterler ve Jason'ın geçmiş hayatı ile ilgili gizemler sizi kitaba daha çok bağlıyor.

Geçmişi Olmayan Adam, türünde başarılı bulduğum bir kitap oldu, yazarın diğer kitaplarını da merak ediyorum ancak yazarın kitaplarını bulmak oldukça zor.

Admittedly, it has been a while since I have seen the first Bourne movie. With that in mind, my memory is strong enough to remember that the movie is nothing like the book, both in character development and storyline. If I had to judge, I would lean towards the book (name me a movie that outdid a book, eh?), with its detail and its thoroughness, as well as its character presentation. The plot, though not as overarching in Ludlum’s first Bourne creation as Hollywood presented, is much more ‘spy worthy’ and explanatory. Ludlum, more than likely becoming famous because of this series, lays out an excellent novel, full of drama, thrill, and even detail. While it does become dense at spots, the story is quite meticulous and any reader, who takes the time to look for it, will see it.

Putting the book and its writing style into perspective, the reader must remember The Bourne Identity was penned in 1980, at a time when it was the USSR was the great enemy and any mention of a War in Afghanistan was being fought by the aforementioned Soviets. No internet (readily available to the public) and spying was a matter of late night knowledge swapping and double agent work. We are so used to computers tapping into the lives of potential enemies and Islam seen as a warning beacon for the good guys to find the state-less enemy of the Free World. High tech does not levitate Ludlum’s book into the stratosphere, but his attention to detail and ability to peel the onion back slowly is the crux of his writing style. While Hollywood needs Damon to make the book work and Bond-like technology to keep one’s attention, a spy gem like this is perfect for the reader who likes a slow discovery of information and the need to use one’s grey matter to piece things together.

While you have been gone for over a decade, Mr. Ludlum, I owe you great kudos for your great work. I hope the other two books in the series you penned are as good and that your contemporary, Mr. van Lustbader fills your shoes well.

This is an incredibly complex and brilliant story. I mostly listen to it in the audible version which was recorded 28 years after the book was first published in 1980. It is a very long story and we know that the hero makes it through to the end because we know that there are a series of very popular movies about the books. I have to say that there is nothing really very believable about the story but it is nonetheless captivating and very well read. It does not present the world of US intelligence and espionage in a very favorable light but that is really only a small part of the story. I know I have seen parts of some of the movies and when I saw this audible format on sale I thought it was about time that I experience the book. They must’ve left a lot of the book out of the movie but if they Omitted half of the action there would still be a whole lot left! I thought the love relationship between the two main characters was probably the weakest part of the story even though it was a critical aspect that held the whole thing together. But the strength of the book is That it is a thriller and not a romance. And you just have to accept that unlikely things continue to happen. At the end the bad guy escapes and the hero survives obviously to fight on in the next chapter as totally unlikely as that seems. The hero must’ve been the precursor of the bionic man since he suffered so many injuries both physical and mental in this first book.

n  ***2018 Summer of Spies***n

Perhaps I came into this novel expecting a bit too much—I’ve never seen the movies, only advertising for them, so I didn’t go in completely blind to the story, but about as close as you can get in our society. I can certainly see that this would make a great shoot-‘em-up, car-chase intense movie. I really can’t say that I cared whether Bourne got his memory back or who he actually was. I would have been much more interested in more exploration of nature of the memory loss rather than all the frantic chasing around!

Kudos to him for his good taste in women, however. I was amused to find out that she was Canadian, from my city. It was also revealing that, although she is a very capable, knowledgeable economist in her own right, she is still often referred to as a ‘girl.’ Oh, I do not miss the 1980s!

I did very much like the book’s ending, but for me it is the perfect ending. I won’t ruin it by continuing on with the rest of the trilogy.

Uh well not what I was hoping for. I'm old enough to know that movies and the novels they are based on are only distantly related at best. I went into this one expecting the book to be different and it was. What I wasn't expecting was how cheesy it was. The other thing I wasn't expecting was that so much of the dialogue was over the top and verbose. It was actually very much on the side of melodrama right down to mustache twirling and evil laughter. This is my first Ludlum novel. I had high hopes and they weren't met. Now I have read the Ludlum had a theatrical background and he admitted to being theatrical. Perhaps coming from such a background has something to do with it, but I didn't care for it. Sometimes I enjoy larger than life stories and over the top characters. This time it just didn't work for me.