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Jason Bourne has a long and troubled history with CI, one of the numerous intelligence agencies in Washington, DC. One of his few friends, Martin Lindros, has gone to bat for Jason more than once. It seems only fair that Jason save Martin’s butt just this one time. Martin has disappeared in the wilds of Ethiopia, hot on the trail of terrorists and nuclear weapons. Everyone on the mission with him is dead, but Jason refuses to believe that Martin is a corpse somewhere. It turns out Jason is right. Martin is alive. Jason rescues him and gets him back to Washington and his job as head of CI. After that, I forget exactly what happens in what order. For me, this kind of book borders on science fiction. The gadgets and science available to Jason and his cohorts may already be available in that murky world, but I find the accumulation and distribution of all this stuff to such a wide range of groups mind-boggling. Bourne, over the course of a few weeks, finds himself on three or four continents, dealing with spies and counter-spies, allies and enemies, never sure which of his memories is to be relied upon and which discounted. The title is very apt. Betrayal is rampant. In this world, nobody trusts anybody, and rightly so. Office politics on steroids doesn't begin to cover the nuances and depths of betrayal at all levels of inter-agency dealings in Washington, and that doesn't change when the story shifts to the terrorist groups or foreign countries. Jason Bourne, in the course of THE BOURNE BETRAYAL, has his memory messed with. He is beaten up more than once, shot, knifed, and wades through seawater and something that may well be raw sewage. An IV or two, a few days worth of antibiotics, and he’s good to go. Someone else has major reconstructive surgery, including the transplant of an eye (!) and manages to walk around like nothing has happened in a matter of weeks. No mention of anti-rejection drugs, no pain, nobody notices a thing. So perhaps I am not the best person to be reviewing this book. I will say that Van Lustbader, in spite of the issues mentioned above, wrote a story that held my interest. I cared about Jason Bourne and what happened to him. I enjoyed some of the minor characters, particularly the ghetto kids in Washington. I’m not big into conspiracy theory; I find the concept of international intrigue founders, for me, on the very human inability of more than three people to truly keep a secret, most of the time. And still I kept reading. No matter how often I put down THE BOURNE BETRAYAL, saying to myself, "No way! Not possible!", I kept picking it back up. I will also say this: I can very easily see this making a great action/adventure movie. I suspect that may be, at least in part, what Van Lustbader was working towards.
Reviewed by P. J. Coldren, June 2007
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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