So in the past week I've only read into 25 pages into The Bourne Identity, this includes the first chapter and the beginning of the second chapter. Chapter 1 is... intense. I can assume that it's in the perspective of this so called "Bourne Identity" or whoever this man calls himself. However, it's hard to tell because the chapter moves so quickly and the character you follow is unnamed. He is only given a "name" until later in the chapter, but I'll get to that later. Anyways, the chapter starts off like crazy, immediately throwing down quick events left and right. All of sudden somebody is thrown off of a ship and into the crashing waves, the next moment a man is chasing him down with a loaded gun. In a flash, this portion of the chapter is over and you are greeted by a scene on the gentle coast somewhere along the Mediterranean Sea. I liked this chapter very much because of how much the two settings contradicted each other. It made the two scenes pop out.
Later in Chapter 1, the unnamed man was found at the coast by a group of fishermen and was brought to the local doctor, Dr. Geoffrey Washburn. The doctor is a peculiar character. He has a reputation around town of being a drunkard who, on every Saturday night "was roaring drunk in the village, ending the evening with whatever whore was available." At first, he seemed like a horrible guy, but then he began to work on the man who was found by the fishermen, and he began to surprise me. He was able to work the surgery with unbelievable precision, and despite the man's body being peppered with bullet wounds, Washburn was able to maintain a calm demeanor.
Later in Chapter 1, the unnamed man was found at the coast by a group of fishermen and was brought to the local doctor, Dr. Geoffrey Washburn. The doctor is a peculiar character. He has a reputation around town of being a drunkard who, on every Saturday night "was roaring drunk in the village, ending the evening with whatever whore was available." At first, he seemed like a horrible guy, but then he began to work on the man who was found by the fishermen, and he began to surprise me. He was able to work the surgery with unbelievable precision, and despite the man's body being peppered with bullet wounds, Washburn was able to maintain a calm demeanor.
When the man woke up, Washburn began to interview him. There was a severe wound to the man's head, and Washburn needed to test his memory.
This is when things get weird.
The man was able to speak three different languages: English, French, and Chinese. He was alternating through these languages while still unconscious. His face also had evidence of some sort of surgery. "You have a pronounced chin; I daresay there was a cleft in it. It's been removed. Your upper left cheekbone has minute traces of a surgical scar." These surgical actions left his face with a very generic look. One that could blend in maybe? What's also interesting is one other test that Washburn instructed the man to do. The man was given a gun and was told to take it apart. He dismantled it within thirty seconds. And what's more is that there was a chip, surgically implanted above the man's hip bone, that held the numbers to a key that opened up a vault somewhere in Zurich. And to be ever so convenient, the man doesn't remember anything from his past at all.
It think it's pretty obvious to say that this man was a secret agent. That would explain the first chapter when he was locked in a gunfight with somebody, his surgically modified body figure, his knowledge of firearms, and the code found on that chip. I can't wait for this book open up and reach the man's realization of his past. So stay tuned to my blog for more The Bourne Identity if you want to find out!
This book seems filled with adventure and action. I like how the character was unnamed through the beginning of the book making it seem suspenseful. This definitely seems like a good read
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