The Bourne Vendetta

Freeman’s limp sixth Jason Bourne adventure (after The Bourne Shadow) is more soap opera than spy thriller. Everyone in the global intelligence community is after “the Files,” a database of hacked information teeming with secrets ripe for blackmail. Rogue former Treadstone agent Johanna, aka Storm, seeks the files to bring down her former employer. Shadow, the head of Treadstone, has her own plans for the material, and assigns amnesiac spy Jason Bourne to get to them before Storm can. Instead, former lovers Storm and Jason join forces against sadistic Russian pornographers and relentless Chinese assassins seeking the files for their own nefarious ends. First, Bourne must rescue Tatiana Reznikova—a character improbably reappearing after the events of The Bourne Treachery—from sexual slavery. Meanwhile, Abbey Laurent, Bourne’s former fiancée, becomes the apparent target of a contract killer while investigating a suspicious wildfire. Freeman brings the heat in both the action and the bedroom scenes, but the way his otherwise strong female characters pine for Jason’s attention grows tedious, and some plot inconsistencies distract (Bourne’s amnesia is mostly, well, forgotten). With his romantic life finally settled by the story’s conclusion, here’s hoping Bourne will be better equipped for his next mission. Agent: Deborah Gelfman, Gelfman Schneider Literary. (Jan.)