A wild ride from start to finish, The Borne Identity was one of the most enjoyable spy novels I’ve ever read and was filled to the brim with action and suspense. This is not to say it did not have some basic faults. The dialogue is clunky at times, for example, who repeatedly calls their lover “my love, my love, my only love?” And the events that ignite the romance feel quite forced and out of place and it’s hard to shake off a feeling of improbability about the whole relationship. Also, multiple subplots throughout the novel are essentially forgotten; I can only assume these loose ends are cleared up in the other two novels of the trilogy. But this still cannot stem the furious pace with which readers are propelled from page to page, because…show more content… Following such an instinct, he finds himself taking a hostage in order to get out of a bad situation. That hostage is Canadian economist Marie St. Jacques. At first she’s understandably terrified of her captor, but after he returns to save her from being raped by one of the mysterious killers on his trail when he could have fled, she changes her opinion of Jason Bourne. Suddenly, she wants to help the man who kidnapped her. While the impetus of their relationship seems somewhat improbable, a bond develops and strengthens quickly. Marie is a successful economist and smarter than Bourne. She isn’t just along for the ride; he couldn’t get out of his mess without her deductions and intuitions. In fact, she’s usually a step ahead of him, and if he would only listen to her ideas at several points in the story, he could extract himself from a bad situation with far more ease and far less bloodshed. Bourne himself is a fascinating character as well. While he may have amazing combat skill, both armed and unarmed, he has more personality than one would expect. He has an extremely pessimistic side and often succumbs to self-pity. He also comes off as sardonic, although that could simply be a coping mechanism. Marie seems to be a major reason he’s able to begin unraveling the mystery of his past by helping him get past these character…show more content… A top-secret team, created by various United States intelligence agencies seems like an improbable reaction to the actions of the mysterious Carlos, if only because of the logistical nightmare it would be to have all agents from all these agencies trying to work together. In addition, the strategy to oust Carlos, taking credit for his work, has been employed in numerous entertainment media and I’m not convinced it would actually work in the real world. However, given the secrecy many government agencies operate under, I can understand how it could be seen as plausible. The vast majority of American citizens have little to no idea how intelligence operations are being handled in this country and that could allow for a situation like this to happen, but I still feel like it’s highly unlikely. Especially with the blatant disregard for life or any laws at all. However, this intrigue and excitement strikes a chord with many people and the modern era and is a primary reason for the success of the
