Robert Ludlum's The Bourne dominion

It took six tries, but Van Lustbader has finally created a Bourne novel worthy of the Ludlum name. An elite group responsible for manipulating governments sets its sights on disrupting U.S. attempts to stay ahead in the technological race with China. Bourne quickly becomes a target. His friend General Karpov takes the job as head of the top Russian spy agency, FSB-2, and learns that the job comes with a price. He must kill his friend, Bourne. Not knowing whom to trust, Bourne must rely on his instincts if he's going to stop the bad guys. The secondary characters share the spotlight and those story lines as much as the main plot. The twists, the nonstop action, and the multilayered plot that Ludlum fans expect are here in abundance. Fans of the Bourne films will eat this one up.--Ayers, Jef. Copyright 2010 Booklist

Lustbader's complicated, action-packed sixth contribution (after The Bourne Objective) to Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne franchise pits the legendary, amnesiac superagent against longtime pal Boris Karpov, now head of Russia's secret police unit, FSB-2. Jason and Boris have helped each other in the past, but this time Boris's superior, Viktor Cherkesov, has persuaded him that he must kill Bourne to prove his worth and loyalty. Both Jason and Boris are battling a secret organization, Severus Domna, out to destroy America by capturing the only supplies of rare earths-minerals that are vital to all modern weaponry-that aren't in the hands of the Chinese. A host of other dangerous characters are involved, and it's a testament to Lustbader's skills that he can keep everyone in place and blazing away without losing track of the ongoing plot. While one needn't have read the earlier volumes, knowledge of the last two or three would help keep things straight. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.