The Bourne Ultimate Supreme Identity

I recently just finished "The Bourne Ultimatum."  And let me tell you, every chapter felt like a punch in the face.  And the finale was like a big ol' kick in the crotch.  If you haven't read this & have plans to, stop reading now.  Becuase I will be spoiling the ending.  Still here?  Then let's move on.

This had to be some of the worst dialogue I've ever read.  Who talks like this?  Ever!?!  Every year I read a classic novel, & the old world english in those books was often easier to swallow.  It never felt like I was reading a conversation.  It felt like someone who had listened to a conversation, took out all the slang & warmth, & regurgitated it back on the page.  Using affectations like "Darling."  Darling!?!  Who calls the significant other darling in the 20th century that doesn't star on "Leave It To Beaver"?  Other times, it was like listening to people who felt they were too smart for the room they were in.  It often felt like the author was talking down to you.  Throwing in dialogue in foreign languages, without ever offering a hint at the translation.  "Oh, you don't know French?  How droll the commoners can be.  Well, you better ask some of your more educated colleagues to read it to you."  And these so-called "conversations" would go on far too long, without character identifiers.  Sometimes they would be between three characters, & you could no longer tell who was saying what.  Add all of this together, & you get constant frustration on the readers part.

Here come the spoilers.  If you've seen the movies, you still don't know how this book ends.  Because other than having an amnesiac killing machine named Jason Bounre as the main character, they have absolutely nothing in common.  While in the movie, you often feel sympathy, even empathize at some points, for what Jason Bourne goes through.  You never make that connection with the book version.   That Jason Bourne is a whiny, self-serving dick.  Through all three books, his main nemesis is a master assassin called Carlos the Jackal.  In "The Bourne Ultimatum," the final showdown between the two was to take place.  Throughout the book, Jason Bourne has one, never-ending mantra.  "No one else can, or will kill the Jackal!  Only I can do it!"  He constantly turns away help, & alienates those that have the audacity to offer it.  But that never stops him from complaining that (excuse me while I paraphrase Danny Glover) that he's getting to old for this shit.  Regardless of his dwindling skills & refusal of aid, which gets him almost killed a number of times, he finally tracks down Carlos.  And with all his grandstanding of being the sole person on earth who could kill him...  HE DOESN"T FUCKING KILL HIM!!  Someone else does it!  All that build up for some very minor character to get the glory?  WTF!?!

I truly enjoyed the first two books in the series.  But, it really felt that Robert Ludlum had lost all interest in the character by the time he got to this one.  He no longer cared for the character & didn't want you continually bugging him for another installment.  So, instead of killing off Jason Bourne, he tried killing off your desire to read about him.  Well, congratulations.  Job well done Mr. Ludlum.  Well done.