The Bourne Supremacy

Infobox Book |
name = The Bourne Supremacy
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = "The Bourne Supremacy" first edition cover.
author = Robert Ludlum
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series = "Jason Bourne",
"Bourne Trilogy"
subject =
genre = Thriller novel
publisher = Random House
pub_date = February 11, 1986
english_pub_date =
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 597 pp "(first edition)"
isbn = ISBN 0394543963
oclc =
preceded_by = The Bourne Identity
followed_by = The Bourne Ultimatum

"The Bourne Supremacy" is the second Jason Bourne novel written by Robert Ludlum, first published in 1986. It was the sequel to Ludlum's bestseller "The Bourne Identity" (1980) and precedes Ludlum's final Bourne novel, "The Bourne Ultimatum" (1990).

"The Bourne Supremacy" was adapted into a film of the same name in 2004 starring Matt Damon, although the film has a completely distinct (and contradictory) plot to the novel.

Plot summary

In the first book, "The Bourne Identity", Jason Bourne suffered amnesia. Over the course of the book he regained his memory with the help of a Canadian economist, Marie, and later found that he was previously a special operative for the United States Government in an elite project in Southeast Asia and Vietnam codenamed Medusa. After a tragic accident involving the death of his family, he joined Project Treadstone 71, where he was used as bait for the infamous European assassin, Carlos the Jackal. Bourne took credit for various kills in China and the rest of Asia, acting as a rival to the Jackal, in order to draw him out of hiding and into the hands of the U.S. Government. In a climactic scene at the end of the book, the Jackal escaped and Bourne was almost killed as he was believed to be a traitor by his uninformed employers.

At the beginning of "The Bourne Supremacy", Bourne has recovered from most mental and all physical injuries and is teaching Asian studies at a university in Maine under his real name of David Webb. He is also living happily on campus with Marie and is getting regular psychological tests from his doctor, Morris Panov.

The reader is then privy to a secretive conversation between high ranking US officials in which they discuss the fragile situation in China. A rogue high ranking Chinese official who is one of the most well liked, respected men in China is planning a hostile takeover that will send all of Asia into a giant civil war disrupting world order. This tai-pan has taken advantage of the Jason Bourne lie created through Treadstone 71, and is deploying this new real-life Jason Bourne to assassinate his rivals in the Chinese government to pave the way for his rise to power. Knowing Webb's mistrust of the US government, and deep-seated emotional instability due to a brutal attack in Vietnam that killed his previous wife and two children, they hatch a plan to abduct Marie, throwing him back into the primal state in which he existed as Delta in Medusa.

It is then that a representative of the U.S. Government arrives and informs Webb of an imitator in Asia, someone who is killing under the name of Jason Bourne, a name feared in Asia because of the accredited kills during his work with Treadstone 71. Webb is told he requires a more visible security force because there is evidence someone wants him dead.

Soon thereafter, Marie is abducted by unknown men while Webb is at the University. Webb returns to the house, finds clues to her abduction, and immediately phones government officials, threatening to leak information about Treadstone and Medusa in an attempt to get assistance. He finds out information has been manipulated in order to make him seem crazy and delusional, and that his only course of action is to follow the instructions left for him by the kidnappers. He turns to the only person he thinks will be able to help him, Alexander Conklin, the very man who recently had ordered "Bourne" to be killed. This all plays into the plan set into motion by the US government to get Webb back to Asia. Conklin is convinced there is government involvement but that they have lost control of the situation and the hired guns holding Marie are no longer in their control. Webb who now has transformed back into his hated persona of Jason Bourne now has no choice but to go to Hong Kong and play out the scenario to get Marie back. There he meets with a wealthy Tai-Pan who wants Bourne to bring back the imposter Jason Bourne because the imposter killed his wife. Unbeknownst to Webb, the target is actually the wealthy businessman who is planning a revolution that poses a serious threat to foreign interests in China, and Webb has been set on the track by the U.S. and British Governments and the only way to gain access to this man is through the imposter Jason Bourne.

The rest of the book consists of Webb-turned-Bourne trying to track down and capture the imposter while Marie tries to escape and find Bourne in order to tell him the part of the truth that she knows. The U.S. and British governments coordinate the scenario, eventually losing control and all the characters stories become intertwined in a massive web of lies and violence.

The story is set during the British negotiated handover of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China on the expiration of its ninety-nine-year lease on the New Territories. Southeast Asia is particularly volatile and fragile, and mistakes cannot be tolerated by any world power.

Publication history

*1986, US, Random House ISBN 0394543963, Pub date February 11, 1986, Hardback
*1987, US, Bantam Books ISBN 0553263226, Pub date February 1, 1987, Paperback
*1986, UK, Grafton ISBN 0246125721 Pub date April 10, 1986, Hardback
*1987, UK, HarperCollins ISBN 0553172999, Pub date March 5, 1987, Paperback