VJ Books Blog

Cheating Death – Part 2

John Hutchinson, VJ Books
November 5, 2015

John Hutchinson VJ BooksThanks to Matt Damon, Jason Bourne has become an icon.

It was 1980 when Jason Bourne emerged from Treadstone in Robert Ludlum’s Bourne Identity.  While Ludlum wrote over 20 books, only three featured Jason Bourne.  The last, The Bourne Ultimatum, was released in 1990.  The last decade of Ludlum’s life, Jason Bourne was nowhere to be seen.  Was that to be the end of him?

It appears that Bourne returned to Georgetown and to the name David Webb.  That is where Eric Van Lustbader found him, and where The Bourne Legacy picks up.  Lustbader has written nine Bourne novels – the latest, The Bourne Ascendancy was released last year.  The Bourne Enigma is in the works, with more books sure to follow.

Four films feature the Bourne character, with the fifth scheduled for next year with Matt Damon reprising his role as Jason Bourne.

After many brushes with death, Jason Bourne remains active in the world of “black ops.”

The Last Man by Vince FlynnThat brings me to Mitch Rapp – spy extraordinaire.   Rapp is my hero – he hears no excuses – gets the job done.  Rapp has single- handedly saved us from terrorist attacks in thirteen Vince Flynn novels beginning in 2000 with Transfer of Power.   Flynn died shortly after the release of The Last Man.  It looked like Mitch Rapp has fought his last battle for the good guys, and I was devastated.

But it seems like you can’t keep a good spy down – Rapp returns this fall in The Survivor by Kyle Mills.

So – when the author of your favorite character puts down his pen for the last time – fear not, some characters are immortal.