Los Angeles  - Ron Howard is to direct The Parcifal Mosaic, a spy thriller based on a novel by Bourne Identity author Robert Ludlum, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The tale revolves around a CIA operative who thinks he witnessed the execution of his lover after she was identified as a KGB double agent.

The Universal Pictures film will be made as the studio prepares a fourth Bourne installment with director Paul Greengrass, and The Sigma Protocol which is an adaptation of another Ludlum spy thriller.(dpa0