History Literature / TheBourneSeries

* HeroesWantRedheads: Bourne to Marie. And a few others seem to be attracted to her somewhat as well.

** In the first book, the first hint that Bourne's past was contentious is when he emerges from a bank vault and a man entering the building freaks out:

* EvilCounterpart: ''So many'' examples. Carlos. The faux Jason Bourne. Fadi. Leonid Arkadin. Nicodemo. Ivan Borz. The novels are replete with antagonists who, like Bourne, are highly-skilled assassins and MasterOfDisguise.

* MythologyGag: ''The Bourne Evolution'', Brian Freeman's ContinuityReboot of the series, contains a number of overt and subtle references and easter eggs to Ludlum's ''The Bourne Identity''.
** The name of the company ''Carillon'' Technologies is taken from the hotel ''Carillon du Lac'' from the original novel.
** A bar named ''Villiers'' (named after General Villers from Ludlum's novel) and a bistro named ''Bergeron'' (named after a dress-shop from Ludlum's novel) both appear.
** The journalist Abbey Laurent, an auburn-haired Canadian woman who is dragged into Bourne's violent world and ends up [[spoiler: falling in love with him]] bears more than a passing resemblance to the auburn-haired Canadian economist Marie St. Jacques from the original novel, who goes through a similar journey.
** A number of people are killed by being shot in the throat, either by Bourne or by Miss Shirley. A shot to the throat was famously Carlos' SignatureMove in Ludlum's novel.
** There is an assassin wearing gold-rimmed glasses who targets the novel's female lead in both ''Identity'' and ''Evolution''. [[spoiler: Needless to say, in both novels, the assassin is killed by Bourne]].
** The name ''Medusa'' is taken from Ludlum's original novel, and the idea of it being [[spoiler: a secret cabal manipulating governments and private organizations across the globe]] is borrowed from Ludlum's ''The Bourne Ultimatum''.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: ''Maceo Encarnacion''. It's Spanish for "heavy staff incarnate".

Series of 16 novels (so far), three written by Creator/RobertLudlum, the next 11 [[FranchiseZombie by Eric Van Lustbader]], and the most recent two by Brian Freeman. In the Ludlum book, the man who will eventually become "Jason Bourne" is really David Webb, a foreign service officer specializing in Far East Affairs. While on assignment in Cambodia, his wife and children were inadvertently slaughtered in an action against the Viet Cong. Mad with grief he fled and joined Medusa, a special forces death squad made up of hardcore criminals. After the war, he was a recruited to Treadstone 71, a joint-Military Intelligence/CIA program that was going after the (real-life) legendary assassin, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_the_Jackal Carlos the Jackal]]. David Webb takes on the name of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Bourne Jason Bourne]] as part of his plan to lure out Carlos the Jackal by taking credit for Carlos' kills, then kill him.

The first novel, ''The Bourne Identity'' (1980), involves Jason Bourne losing his memory and being hunted through the streets of Paris by the CIA (who think he's dodgy) and Carlos the Jackal (who just wants to kill him). On his way, he meets (well, more or less kidnaps) a Canadian economist called Marie St Jacques.

In ''The Bourne Supremacy'', someone has started killing under the Bourne name and is threatening to cause a war between China and the West. To get Bourne to kill him, the CIA kidnap Marie (now married to Bourne). Carlos the Jackal does not really feature here.

Series of 14 novels (so far), three written by Creator/RobertLudlum, the rest [[FranchiseZombie by Eric Van Lustbader]]. In the Ludlum book, the man who will eventually become "Jason Bourne" is really David Webb, a foreign service officer specializing in Far East Affairs. While on assignment in Cambodia, his wife and children were inadvertently slaughtered in an action against the Viet Cong. Mad with grief he fled and joined Medusa, a special forces death squad made up of hardcore criminals. After the war, he was a recruited to Treadstone 71, a joint-Military Intelligence/CIA program that was going after the (real-life) legendary assassin, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_the_Jackal Carlos the Jackal]]. David Webb takes on the name of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Bourne Jason Bourne]] as part of his plan to lure out Carlos the Jackal by taking credit for Carlos' kills, then kill him.

* LondonEnglandSyndrome: Inverted - a guy has to specify he wants Vienna, Virginia, not Vienna, Austria

* MasterOfDisguise: Bourne's story was influenced by real-life 20th-century assassin Carlos "The Jackal", who was infamous for his ability to blend in and elude the authorities. See also ''Literature/TheDayOfTheJackal'', another espionage thriller and resulting films [[LifeImitatesArt where Carlos supposedly got his nickname]]. Bournés light gray eyes are perfect for color-changing contacts, his hair is easily died, and he even underwent plastic surgery to make his face unmemorable. On top of that, not only is he so fluent in multiple languages that he can alter his accent in each in order to play a role, but he can assume a role on a moment's notice, from arrogant tourist to low class fisherman to purchaser of haute couture. As per the trope, Bourne even calls himself The Chameleon. A lot.

* PurpleProse[=/=]SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Books that are written by Lustbader suffers this greatly. See links on Flanderization above.

* {{Retcanon}}: The movies have significantly influenced the continuation novels by Lustbader. For instance, Bourne is considered a RogueAgent by the CIA, just as he is in the movies (whereas in Ludlum's novels [[spoiler: he cooperates with the CIA in the latter installments]]. Also, characters like [[spoiler: Marie and Alex Conklin were killed]], just like they were in the movies, whereas they [[spoiler: survived]] in the original books.