Robert Ludlum was an American author renowned for his thriller novels. He is best known as the creator of Jason Bourne from the original The Bourne Trilogy series. Ludlum penned a total of 27 novels, each achieving the status of New York Times bestseller. The number of copies of his books in print is estimated between 300 million and 500 million, and they have been published in 33 languages and 40 countries.

Ludlum also utilized the pseudonyms Jonathan Ryder and Michael Shepherd for some of his publications. His novels include titles such as The Scarlatti Inheritance, The Chancellor Manuscript, and the Jason Bourne series—The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum—among others.

Several of Ludlum's works have been adapted into films and mini-series, including The Osterman Weekend, The Holcroft Covenant, The Apocalypse Watch, and the Jason Bourne films.

Robert Ludlum passed away in March 2001.