The Bourne Identity
- Published
- 1 February 1980
- Pages
- 535
- ISBN-13
- 9780553450538
- Type
- novel
About this book
The Bourne Identity (1980) opens Robert Ludlum's original trilogy, introducing an assassin found half-dead in the Mediterranean with no memory of who he is -- only a killer's instincts and a Swiss bank account tattooed into his subconscious. It's a paranoid, pre-internet Cold War chase built entirely around amnesia, and the only book that closely resembles the later Matt Damon film franchise.
Key facts about The Bourne Identity
Robert Ludlum wrote The Bourne Identity, a novel on our list. It has been out since 1 February 1980. The book has 535 pages.
We list 2 editions of this novel. Since each edition has its own ISBN, search for 9780553450538 to find the main one.
The Bourne Identity is book 1 of 22 in the Jason Bourne series. The series has 22 published books. As a result, this is the book to start the series with. The Bourne Revenge is the latest book in the series with a full release date, out on 20 January 2026.
Additionally, Robert Ludlum writes Road to Gandolfo and Matarese as separate series. Those series sit on our comedic thriller, espionage thriller and thriller shelves. Meanwhile, The Sigma Protocol is the latest published Robert Ludlum book on file, from 1 January 2001.
About Robert Ludlum
Robert Ludlum was an American thriller writer and former actor and Broadway producer who became one of the genre's defining voices, publishing more than two dozen conspiracy-driven thrillers from his 1971 debut, The Scarlatti Inheritance, until his death in 2001. See every Robert Ludlum book in order.
Its place in Jason Bourne
The Bourne Identity is book 1 in the Jason Bourne series. It is followed by The Bourne Supremacy. See the full Jason Bourne reading order.
Jason Bourne is a black-ops assassin found half-dead in the Mediterranean with no memory of who he is, only the physical instincts of a killer and a Swiss bank account number tattooed into his subconscious. Robert Ludlum's original trilogy (1980-1990) is a paranoid, pre-internet Cold War chase built entirely around Bourne's amnesia and his hunt for his own identity against the CIA program (Treadstone) that made him. After Ludlum's death in 2001, Eric Van Lustbader continued the character for eleven novels, moving…
Editions
- edition · unknown publisher · — · ISBN 9780553260113
- edition · unknown publisher · — · ISBN 9780553450538