I stayed up late the last two nights reading Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Identity (which has recently been turned into a movie). Before switching to this book, I had been reading Terry Goodkind’s Wizard’s First Rule, and was beginning to suspect that having four kids had eroded my attention span to the point where I couldn’t concentrate long enough to read thick novels. Fortunately, it turned out that the Goodkind book was just a stinker; I devoured The Bourne Identity quickly and in long stretches.

The plot centers around an amnesiac who who wakes without any idea of his own identity. As he recovers from the wounds that caused the memory loss, he starts to get clues to his past from his subconscious — unexplained phrases, impressions, and abilities that hint at his life before. The gradual unfurling of his history creates a nice overall story arc, with enough unexpected twists and well-written action to keep one flipping pages well into the night. Well worth a read.