New Arrival: The Bourne Ultimatum by Robert Ludlum

Time is at a premium this week, as Existential Ennui will be off on its summer hols next week and I've got annoying stuff like, y'know, work to get done before then. But I've got a flurry of new arrivals to get through, so I'll sling 'em up here as and when. And to kick off:

A UK hardback first edition of Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Ultimatum, published by Grafton in 1990. This is the third and final of Ludlum's original Bourne trilogy (Eric Van Lustbader – great name – carried on the series after Ludlum's death in 2001). Judging by the jacket flap copy the plot's completely different to Paul Greengrass' film, as was The Bourne Supremacy (and indeed The Bourne Identity has significant differences to its movie adaptation). The jacket photo is by one Colin Thomas, who may well have also done the photos for the previous two books; consummate professional that I am, I don't have them to hand to check. But the design of the books is certainly consistent:














Collect 'em all! Er, which I have. So that's one collecting goal accomplished at least. Let's hope they're worth the effort (although in truth it didn't take much effort to get first editions); I read somewhere once that Ludlum's a bit leaden. Anyone read any of his stuff?

(UPDATE: I have since "read his stuff"; you can find a review of the first novel, The Bourne Identity, here.)