Five star story

Robert Ludlum and Scott Brick held me in thrall from beginning to end. I had seen the film before listening to this and was not sure. But, I'm glad I did. Scott Brick's narration was excellent and gave life to all the characters. I loved it and will be listening to it again.

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Gripping at times

Very good book that is performed well. It’s gripping at times but does get a bit slow. Would still highly recommend and will be listening to the next book in the series

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finished it for the story.

really bad narrator but story was really good from start to finish, cant wait to start next book.

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gripping!

Don't expect the film. As always the book is better.
I usually listen to books going to and from work but found myself listening in the house.
Sorry to my wife xx

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A good listen

You can relate the film to the book and I enjoyed both. I just wish I had listened to this before I saw the film, never the less I didn't but still enjoyed it greatly. I do rate the Bourne film trilogy as extremely watchable, so it will be interesting to see how I feel about the second book?
If you like this sort of theme you will like this.

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Book great , narrator ? hmmm

The narrators vocal inflections were very wrong at times often confusing changes in time place person or action. A fast paced story that didn't feel as long as it was which is the sign of a good book. Hopefully the narrator will improve.

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Jason Bourne, role model for hero’s

Scott Brick’s narration is peerless. Robert Ludlum admitted he had a volatile temperament, this comes across in his novels. If you want feel truly alive read the Bourne series and other Ludlum novels

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Excellent!

Film vastly undersold this action thriller masterpiece. Bond and Grey man plus more. Excellently narrated.

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Very Good

I loved this story after watching the movie years ago and listening to this a 4th time I still love the style of writing Ludlum did. The way characters interact is incredible. Obviously this story is better and first time I read it I was blown away..still do plus it leaves me wanting more which is a great thing. The narrator does an excellent job with accents and names perfectly and I’d listen to him again easily.

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Several readings over many years.

This audio version disappoints, I'm afraid. Opinions seem bifurcated over the reader, but mine is that the book is worth a better reader than the one it got. There were various interludes where action was slowed down that it was all too easy to nod off, the reader's lifeless delivery letting attention wander.
This is partly due to Ludlum's heavy handed overwritten style, partly to the reading. Can't do anything about the text but certainly a decent selection of reader can overcome a book's shortfalls to some extent by injecting extra life where needed.
The Damon movie almost certainly drew many readers to check the book, and I've sure many found themselves listening to an entirely "rewritten" tale. Only thing is - it was the film that was rejigged. Inevitably, comparisons are drawn. Usually in terms of which one was "best" - disregarding how many different bookish aspects might be considered. If the book and the film had had different titles, then each might have been accepted as a different entity and considered on its own merits.
Bu that's not the world we live in.
The film was faulty in continuity, laughably so in places such as the snow scraped back then reappearing on the embassy fire escape immediately before he shins down the building's rear face and meets Marie, under completely different and far simpler circumstances from the novel. The book's too complex to be made into a watchable flick. And the book's curlicues of scaring the Carlos entourage by multiple injections of rabid nonsense... that was overcooked to the point of being risible.
The book is faulty.
The film is faulty, differently so. And works on a Carlos-free plot that needs few complications.
Re-edit the book, get a decent reader, this would be a far better listen than it is.
If I'd to have only one at the exclusion of the other, I'd choose the film. Because it's livelier.
But also because they wisely got rid of the overwritten overdone romantic stuff, plus that awful recanted phrase Cane is for.. etc. That "got old real fast" for me, every time it resurfaced I felt like tossing the book away. Only there was no book to throw. Frustrating.

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