"Cain is for Charlie and Delta is for Cain"

If the title doesn't make sense to you, that's how I felt throughout a good portion of the book. Robert Ludlum did his homework before writing The Bourne Identity. There was endless government/CIA jargon and descriptions of people, actions, and operations that I got lost from time to time.

I did enjoy the read, however, and it all seemed to make enough sense at the end for me to draw conclusions.

I particularly liked the characters of Jason and Marie that Ludlum developed. As you probably know from the movie, Jason Bourne is an amnesiac that is trying to peice his life together, while Marie is his love interest. I was intrigued by the fact that Jason was innocent the whole time (this fact is slightly different from the assassin in the movies), yet he denies his innocence and assumes the worst possible explanation - that he is a killer. It sort of reminds me how we humans sometimes underestimate the goodness in ourselves. Despite all the kindness he shows post-accident, he still doubts these instincts.

And I loved Marie (if you picture Marie as the girl from the movie, don't. She is a much brighter, more respected individual in the book). She showed enormous sacrifice and love for Jason, and was the only one to see the decency in him. Even though Jason took her for hostage, he saved her life and for that, Marie became loyal to him. She is extremely wise and risked her life for a man she believed in. "[Marie] would be destroyed, imprisoned, perhaps killed, for an act of faith that became an act of love" (465). There's no better way to put it.

The ending was sort of expected, however I did find a quote on the very last page of the book that I enjoyed:

"In a way, [Jason is] is a functioning microcosm of us all. We're all trying to find out who the hell we are, aren't we?"

I'll say Amen to that.