Bourne’s trauma causing a sort of dual personality is still interesting in the sequel, but the premise is less interesting in this one. Marie is kidnapped by the government in order to force a psychological break and get Bourne back, bringing him back into the fold to take on an assassin who is claiming to be Bourne.

The problem is that it’s also a tour of China that, while clearly well researched, still feels like it’s reductive and a monoculture experience. Which is actually ironic considering there are times when people talk about little people understand about China being composed of many different cultures. Later on, Bourne keeps claiming he knows “the oriental mind” (like 12 times) and can therefor predict the actions and thoughts of any given person he needs to handle. It’s inconsistent and baffling.

Where the book shines though, is the trade craft and it’s implementation. There’s some good action and really inventive obstacles that are circumvented in really interesting ways. Overall liked it, but not as much as the first where the psychology and more complex questions were interwoven into the premise.