ROBERT LUDLUM'S THE BOURNE SACRIFICE

Jason Bourne confronts a strange and frightening enemy in the latest entry in the series created by Ludlum and written by Freeman.

Let's face it, Bourne is never going to learn the secrets of his past. In this latest episode, he reunites with Canadian journalist Abbey Laurent, who plays a key part in this fast-moving thriller. He had left her behind two years earlier because “when you're with me, you're in danger….I'm a killer.” For her part, she is known in her profession as “one of the few people who calls out the bullshit on both sides.” A woman is stabbed to death near the Potomac, and Abbey wants to know why. The killing is the work of the Pyramid, a secretive organization that ostensibly fights lies and misinformation around the world but does so with lies of its own. She asks too many questions about the murder and runs afoul of the organization, which ruins her career by planting false stories about her on social media. But worse, the Pyramid wants her dead. “It doesn't matter what's true and what’s a lie,” she’s told. In Iceland, Bourne silently awaits his prey, an evil dude named Lennon who enjoys sharing a surname with the late Beatle, so much so that he even has an evil girlfriend named Yoko. Hero and villain meet several times, each missing or simply passing up chances to kill the other, apparently because they'd rather talk than pull the trigger. As fans know, Bourne has lost all memory of his life before being shot in the head. The CIA doesn’t want him to learn of his past, which is the mystery that drives the series. Meanwhile, he’s a loner by necessity, because “nothing gets you killed faster than trust.” There are odd coincidences, such as Bourne and Abbey meeting again and the hero and the bad guy meeting again and again, but readers won’t mind. Can Abbey Laurent get her life back? Or even survive? Will she have sex with Jason Bourne?

Colorful characters and solid plotting continue to make this series a pleasure.