The Bourne Series (novel): Difference between revisions

* [[Bulletproof Human Shield]]: Subverted in ''The Bourne Legacy'', as a terrorist attempts to use a fallen guard as a human shield, but is mowed down when the blast go right through the body anyway.

* [[Cold War]]

* [[Contrived Coincidence]]: An atrocious one. In Lustbader's novels, a character can just use prosthetics and cosmetics and pass off as another character. That in and of itself is quite a stretch to believe, but the kicker is this word: '''HEIGHT'''. Apparently in Lustbader's universe everyone has the same height.

* [[Crazy Prepared]]: Bourne and Carlos are good at planning several steps ahead, which is why they're so good at their jobs.

* [[Creator's Pet]]: Lustbader's Arkadin. Lustbader keeps filling the narration with Arkadin's past and making Bourne exhausted so Bourne cannot kill Arkadin. When someone writes Bourne novels and guarantees upfront that the villain is going to have his own '''trilogy''', you know that villain is a pet.

* [[Deep-Cover Agent]]:

** In Bourne Sanction, Lustbader repeatedly uses NSA field agents to assassinate Bourne. [[Critical Research Failure|NSA is signal intelligence; it does not send field spies.]]

* [[Discontinuity]]: See [[False-Flag Operation]] below. In Ludlum's novel, Bourne is no assassin; he's just a tough man who takes credit of assassination. In Lustbader's, Bourne is a full-blown killer.

* [[Insistent Terminology]]: "CI", in Lustbader books. For reason unknown Lustbader always omits the "A" in "CIA" and "Agency" after "Central Intelligence". Made even more puzzling in that in his other novels, Lustbader uses "CIA" correctly.

* [[Kissing Cousins]]: Carlos and his first cousin were lovers since childhood

* [[The Main Characters Do Everything]]: Soraya Moore, Boris Karpov, and Amun Chalthoum qualify. They are directors of nationwide spy agencies, and yet they are continuously found in the field. It never seem to occur to them that they can just delegate their own investigation.

* [[Master of Disguise]]: Bourne's story was influenced by real-life 20th-century assassin Carlos "The Jackal", who was infamous for his ability to blend in and elude the authorities. See also ''[[The Day of the Jackal]]'', another espionage thriller and resulting films [[Life Imitates Art|where Carlos supposedly got his nickname]].

* [[Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves]]: Irritable turncoat {{spoiler|Alfred Gillette}} is promptly shot dead by Carlos' hitman, [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|after serving his purpose]].

* [[Scary Shiny Glasses]]: During the Zurich lecture scene Ludlum lavishes attention on how much the light from the projector reflects off the lenses of the gold-rimmed glasses of the hitman.

** Jason Bourne in Legacy. Stepan Spalko really has to choose someone weaker to {{spoiler|be set up}}.

** {{spoiler|the truth of Sarah ibn Ashef's murder}} in Betrayal. At that climax of the book, CIA is under complete control of {{spoiler|Karim, an Islamist supremacist who poses as CIA's Deputy Director. He breaks his cool and calm when Bourne reveals that truth}}.

* [[The Vietnam War]]: [[Backstory]]

* [[Villainous Breakdown]]: At the climax of Betrayal. {{spoiler|Confronting Karim,}} Bourne {{spoiler|reveals the truth of the murder of his sister, which causes the terrorist lunge up to him recklessly.}}

** Kowloon

** Nizhny Tagil in the new series.

* [[Xanatos Gambit]]: Arkadin's plan in Deception. If Bourne survives the ambush in Bali, the trail would lead him to {{spoiler|Nikolai Yevsen}}, an arms dealer {{spoiler|whose business empire is on Arkadin's takeover list. If Yevsen kills Bourne Arkadin's vengeance on Bourne is fulfilled; if Bourne kills Yevsen then Yevsen's business is Arkadin's. Either way, Arkadin wins.}}

* [[Xanatos Speed Chess]]: Bourne and Carlos are good at setting, predicting, and reversing traps. When they go directly against each other, this results in [[Gambit Pileup|traps being double and triple reversed ''constantly'']]

 

{{reflist}}