Robert Ludlum created an adventure icon when he created superspy Jason Bourne. For anyone that hasn't read the Bourne books or seen the movies, Jason Bourne is a superspy that trained for the special forces group MEDUSA and his real name was David Webb.

Keep in mind that this took place long before the events of the movies. Webb was originally created around the time of the Vietnam War and not the cell phone wielding superspy of the movies. Webb lost his wife and child and lived and breathed MEDUSA after their death. The group was an assassination team that killed the Viet Cong and their cohorts.

Bourne is betrayed and ends up floating in the Mediterranean without his memory and spends the next couple of books figuring out who he is and why people are trying to kill him. Ludlum wrote the first three books before dying and the series was taken over by Eric Van Lustbader for seven additional books.

Bourne, or Webb, is a complex character and we learn to like him, but that gets harder as we find out more about him and the things he did while working for the government. Even after Bourne learns about his past, the books just keep going. I admit that around book 7, things just got tapped out. The Bourne books have pretty much jumped the shark. There is a 10^th book planned for 2012, but I may not even read it. The Ludlum books are by far the best in the series, so just stop reading after those.