Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Dominion

De: Eric Van Lustbader, Robert Ludlum

Narrado por: Jeremy Davidson

Of all Robert Ludlum's best sellers, the Bourne novels remain among his most-read, most listened-to, and most-loved. Re-enter the shadowy world of Jason Bourne, an expert assassin like no other, in this latest fast-paced, action-packed instalment that shows why Ludlum still remains the unsurpassed master of the genre.

Bourne's enemies are gathering force. Severus Domna, a secret and ancient cabal, has called forth its members from around the globe, with one objective: to vanquish the last person capable of destroying their bid to de-stabilize the world economy: Jason Bourne. But how can they possibly succeed where so many others have failed? By turning Bourne's most trusted friend into his greatest - and most deadly - enemy.

Boris Karpov has reached the pinnacle of his career. He has taken over one of the most powerful security organisations in the world - but at a price. Karpov agreed to a devil's pact with the former head, and now he has to deliver. But it's far worse than anything Karpov could have imagined - he must kill his oldest friend, Jason Bourne.

Now Bourne finds himself in a world where friend and foe go hand-in-hand. Bourne's journey will lead him down a path of brutal murder and destruction - one from which there is no escape....

Bourne is back, and this time the stakes are higher than ever.

©2011 Eric Van Lustbader and Robert Ludlum (P)2011 Orion Publishing Group Limited

Makes better films than audio tales

That’s not totally fair for Ludlum is a fêted master. But this book, for some unknown reason, has weird music at the beginning and end of each chapter which throws the ear totally. Then again, maybe a blessing for Jeremy Davidson would not have been my reader of choice. Over produced and thin in characterization made me put this down until I have a big listening gap at which time I might give it another try.

Overwritten - tries too hard

I was very disappointed with this book, although as another reader has suggested the Bourne books make better films than a good read. The plots are always a little far fetched, especially when the heroes can always take out 10 bad guys.

The writing was too contrived and when I say over-written I mean the author tries too hard to describe things that could be left to the reader. The most over-used word in this book is "like" because it overuses similes..... as in "like a string of rotten pearls".. or a dog's arched back looking "like a scimitar". Once I noticed that I couldn't help counting the similes and in one 10 minute segment I heard four. Sometimes the words don't need to be explained... we get it. Many other authors (eg Grisham, Connelly etc) paint just as good a picture without having to explain what a common sound or smell is "like". I just found this distracted me from the plot and it became annoying.

The narrator had a clear voice and differentiated the characters, but I found him a little staccato for my liking.

I also found it annoying that the producers had to put theme music in to signify the mood (fast and dramatic for the action scenes, slow for the wistful). My impression was they didn't think the narrator could convey the mood (he could) or they didn't believe I could work out it was a dramatic scene.... or maybe they were into similes too. Background music works in the movies... doesn't work here. I marked the performance down because of that.

I could easily have stopped listening to this book halfway through. I did finish it and thoroughly enjoyed the next book from my library all the more, just for the pleasure of hearing simple effective writing.