Soon to be a major motion picture starring Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway...
I recently found a copy of the 2015 thriller Last Days of the Condor by James Grady, which reintroduces his CIA character codenamed Condor. Luckily, I then found a paperback copy of the original 1974 novel the hit film was based on.
Ronald Malcolm works in a nondesript Washington office building for the unremarkable American Literary Historical Society, actually a branch of the CIA. The small offices are filled with twenty or so workers whose job is to read spy thrillers, combing them for information and comparing fact with fiction. If any correlations appear, a report is sent up the chain of command to decide whether the author was guessing or if they know more than they should.
When Malcolm returns from lunch one day, he finds the building was skillfully attacked and everyone killed. Running for his life, he calls into headquarters using his codename, when both the CIA and the killers discover he is not only alive, but knows why they were targeted.
With the help of a woman whose car he hijacks on the street (forcing her to take him to her apartment) he pieces together that the killers are part of the CIA and he can't trust anyone. Wendy is at first frightened, but after he leaves his gun on the table to have a hot shower, she (in true 1970's fashion) offers up some hot lovemaking. She proves she is on his side and spends the next few days with him on the run in disguise as he pieces it all together.
Well written with a smooth style, it was much more about the CIA and the hidden crosses and double-crosses of the company than Condor's own survival story. At times Condor takes a backseat as Grady describes the ins and outs of CIA business and motives ~ a different style than todays thrillers which feature a star operative following the chain of corruption.
That said, I think it's a solid thriller worthy of being called a "breathless hunt and chase" and original enough to warrant a hit film - retitled down to Three Days of the Condor. Guess they only have time for so many days in a movie.
Interestingly, I was reading that after this novel and movie came out the CIA and KGB of the time were inspired to start branches for agents to read current spy thrillers...
Although James Grady has written several other books, it looks like with the recent publication of Last Days of the Condor, followed by the novella Next Day of the Condor, he has picked the character up over forty years later.
1974 / Paperback / 192 pages
Comments