Robert Ludlum Books In Order

Publication Order of Jason Bourne Books

Publication Order of Covert-One Books

Publication Order of Matarese Dynasty Books

Publication Order of Paul Janson Books

Publication Order of Road to Books

Publication Order of Treadstone Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

About Robert Ludlum:

Robert Ludlum is undoubtedly the author you must know about. His collection of novels has found audience not only among English readers but also among millions of people in thirty three other languages. Moreover his books have been published in forty other countries.

A great author is identified by his ability to maintain a steady and dynamic audience which identifies with the theme or characters of the story. Many readers love to be fascinated and kept at the edge of their chairs as the intrigues of the story unfold. Mystery is captivating when it happens to be tucked in a book that seeks to raise the reader’s adrenaline as he flips page by page.

The author who succeeds in doing this and more, time and again indeed qualifies as being legendary. The works of Robert Ludlum clearly place him in this rank.

Biography of Mr Ludlum

May 25, 1927 saw the birth of Ludlum in the American city of New York. Some time later, he joined The Rectory School and later went to Cheshire Academy. After high school, he joined Wesleyan University in Connecticut. While studying there he met an actress, Mary Ryducha, who later became his wife from 1951 until her death in 1999.

Together, they had three children. Like many of his fellow authors, he never ventured into writing in his early life. Rather, Mr Ludlum first served in different jobs before finally starting a career in writing in his late thirties. First, Robert Ludlum became a United States Marine.

Thereafter he turned into a theatrical actor and eventually, a producer. His experience in theatre works seemed to have played a great role in helping him understand what readers would want in a novel. It inspired his style of writing that is spiced with suspense and energy as he pens out thrillers and spy fictions. The late sixties is when Ludlum began writing novels.

It was not until the age of forty four that his first novel got published. A total of twenty seven novels got to be published over the years until the year 2000. That year marked the end of production of novels written by Ludlum himself. He passed on at Naples, Florida in the USA in March 12, 2001.

Books and films by Robert Ludlum

Most of Ludlum’s books have been adapted into films and television series. Even after his death, more novels have been written by other authors as sequels to his already published books. Some of his books were written under one of his pen names.

Ludlum had two pen names; Jonathan Ryder and Michael Shepherd. His books were always titled in a similar way and depicted themes motivated by conspiracy theories. The plot in most of his books portrayed a man or group of people who have to face powerful antagonists that are bent on carrying out their evil plans unjustly.

A number of his novels, such as the Bourne series turned into bestsellers that continued to captivate readers across the age divide. Examples of his novels include the following: The Scarlatti Inheritance The Matlock Paper The Rhinemann Exchange The Holcroft Covenant The Bourne Identity The Bourne Supremacy The Bourne Ultimatum The Apocalypse Watch The Sigma Protocol

Among the most popular books by Robert Ludlum is the Bourne series. Although these books were not written and published one immediately after the other, they still form a trilogy sequel of one another. Even after his passing away, the legacy of Robert Ludlum’s Bourne trilogy has been propagated by the author Eric Van Lustbader in books such as The Bourne Betrayal and The Bourne Dominion among many others.

The Bourne Identity has its main character as Jason Bourne. It focuses on the life story of Mr Bourne who happens to have retrograde amnesia and must therefore find out his true identity. This is captured well as the book begins with Jason being rescued by fishermen who find him floating in the Mediterranean Sea. Jason discovers he cannot remember anything after he got hit severely on the head.

A visit to the local doctor leads to the discovery of a microfilm surgically implanted in Jason’s hip. Information from this microfilm reveals his name as Jason Bourne who worked for a company known as Treadstone Corporation. It leads him to a bank in Zurich and while there, three men launch an attack on him. In a bid to save himself, Jason takes a lady, Marie, hostage to drive him away.

His attackers later catch up with them and when one tries to abuse Marie, Jason comes to her rescue. During this scuffle, Jason gets hurt but they manage to escape. Marie attends to him and discovers that Jason is on the quest to find his true identity. Resolving to help him, Marie falls in love with Jason and the two leave for France.

That is where they discover that Carlos the Jackal, a known dangerous assassin is the leader masterminding the attacks on Jason. The story unfolds with Jason seeking to outwit Carlos. What follows is a series of carefully hatched conspiracies, suspense and hair-raising action as Jason makes decisions in accomplishing his quest.

The book ends with Marie discovering the truth of Jason’s past real life and that he was a project of the US government that was using him to rival Carlos and eventually kill him. The Bourne Supremacy is the second book in this trilogy. The story continues with Jason having regained most of his memory.

He goes into teaching in the University in Maine and lives happily with his lady rescuer, Marie. At the same time, a situation arises within the US government; a Chinese communist is planning to wreak havoc in the country. The government decides to use Jason to kill the communist.

In the Bourne Identity, Jason turned an assassin after his wife and children were killed by an airplane during a war. Being an unfortunate victim of circumstances his hatred for the assassins drove him to play rival to Carlos the Jackal.

This time round, the government hatches a plan to abduct Jason’s lover, Marie. This situation plunges Jason back into his radical mission to avenge; a state of mind the government wanted Jason to be in. He finally gets to kill the Chinese and almost gets killed himself.

Marie manages to escape from her abductors and she reunites with Jason revealing the whole plan that had been unknown to them. These two books and more have been adapted to films featuring top notch actors and actresses. Other novels have also been turned into TV mini-series.

One Response to “Robert Ludlum”

1. CDR: 6 years ago

   Good job with this.

   Reply