Marathon Man by William Goldman is a first-rate conspiracy thriller. Completely recommended. It was made into an Oscar nominated 1976 film starring Dustin Hoffman. Goldman also wrote the screenplays for The Princess Bride, Magic, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Stepford Wives, All The Presidents Men, Misery, A Few Good Men, and Chaplin.
The novel follows two threads - Thomas Babington Levy, nicknamed Babe, is a New York university student and long distance runner whose main problem is picking up girls; and Scylla, a ruthless hitman who follows a strict unwritten code - being friendly with co-workers when off duty but viciously killing them at the drop of a hat when the need arises, which increases as he realizes he has been targeted for removal.
I wondered what these two had to do with each other for quite a while as the story played out, and was actually shocked when they collided. Suddenly, Babe is watched by the police and hunted by a hidden network named The Division working between the cracks of the FBI and the CIA. A man named Christian Szell is the head of the network and they believe Babe has wanted information he knows nothing about. Szell worked alongside Josef Mengele as an SS Dentist at Aushwitz, and has been hiding out in Paraguay. Once Babe is captured, Szell repeatedly uses his tools on Babe's healthy teeth to extract information without anesthetic. There is a cache of diamonds waiting in bank vault that Szell wants to retrieve, but only when it is safe to do so.
"Is it safe?" "Is it safe?"
This is an intense read, well plotted and, although it differs from the film, has a terrific ending. There is an undercurrent message about refugees and Nazi war criminals living quiet, simple lives in America. Goldman says he was inspired by the idea of bringing a major Nazi to the biggest Jewish city in the world, indeed into the heart of the Jewish diamond district itself - and having the protagonist be a complete innocent, indeed not even comprehending what is happening.
Nerve-wracking and terrific.
One of the best. A dynamite read.
1974 / Tradeback / 279 pages
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