I woke up the other morning, went down to work on the outline of the next Jason Bourne novel, The Bourne Objective and realized that I had now written more Bourne novels than the man who created the character. Because I knew Bob Ludlum as well as I did it was a surreal moment, one that was difficult to get my head around.

On the other hand, it was hardly surprising, given that in Bob's mind, at least, Bourne was never meant to be an ongoing character. After The Bourne Identity launched him into another level of the bestseller stratosphere, he resisted his publisher's request for a sequel. It was only some years later that he wrote The Bourne Supremacy. By that time, Bob was older and, feeling his age, brought that sensibility to his favorite hero both in Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, the third and last Bourne novel he was to write.

When I was asked by the executor of Bob's estate to revive Jason Bourne I had to consider how to position the character that Bob had painstakingly created as a series protagonist. For me, that wasn't particularly difficult, since Bourne and my own series hero, Nicholas Linnear, shared many of the same characteristics. But I had to make a decision about the wife and children Bob had created for Bourne because a family is not what you want for a continuing character, especially one who is a deep-cover spy. What would you do with his family? Have them be in danger of being kidnapped or killed in each book, shunted aside until the end of each novel when he goes back to them? Neither of these possibilities seemed like a satisfying solution to me, so I had Marie die between novels and the children shipped off to her family ranch in Canada where at least they'd be safe from Bourne's many enemies.

For me it was easy taking over Bob's character, since I knew him so well; Bob and I used to talk about Bourne and Nicholas Linnear all the time. The character had to remain the absolutely same, true to Bob's vision, because to both of us he was already a living being, but his world had to change, as it did in the films, he had to be brought into the 21st century.

Judging by the phenomenal sales pattern—thousands more books sold with each of my novels—I've done right by Bob and by Bourne. It's been a happy journey for me, full of surprises and a sense of endless global adventure. I wouldn't trade this opportunity for anything.

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Eric Van Lustbader's Favorite Spy

Assuming a fictional spy, since I can't identify my favorite real spy, Maxwell Smart. But seriously, I grew up with James Bond, in the novels, not the films, and I was very much taken with the bits of post-WWII spycraft Ian Fleming, himself a veteran of the British Secret Service, peppered his novels. But it was Elleston Trevor's Quiller series that had the most influence on my writing. The novels were dark and gritty and very serious, much like the Bourne films, and my own Bourne novels. Today, however, my favorite spy is Jason Bourne.

Copyright © 2009 by Eric Van Lustbader. All rights reserved.