Like The Icarus Agenda (1988), this novel is in the genre of the espionage thriller. Its clearest precedent is John le Carre's The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963). Webb/ Bourne wants to come in out of the cold world of international spying; he yearns to live a peaceful life. As in le Carre's novel, The Bourne Ultimatum presents a world of moral ambiguity, in which right and wrong are easily confused.