How To Become Even More Terrified Of Your Dentist
Marathon Man, William Goldman, Dell, 1974.
I love this book. It's the perfect thriller. It has a sympathetic, cerebral protagonist, betrayal, skullduggery, torture, infamy, and revenge. "I don't want justice, are you kidding, screw justice, we're way past justice, it's blood now...". In 90s terms, the book borders on camp at times, but succeeds in being a really entertaining read despite that. They should make a movie out of it, yeah, Dustin Hoffman could play the lead... oh, wait, they did. Good movie too.
Tom Levy is the brilliant son of a once-famous academic, trying to follow in his father's footsteps. Unfortunately life has other plans for him, as he becomes sucked into his brother's world of deadly international intrigue, assasination, fugitive Nazi war criminals, and hidden wealth. The character of Levy is brilliantly conceived; an aspiring history student and runner, his sharpness and fanciful wit make the frequent introspection and dialog a pleasure to read. The insecurities bequeathed him by the disgrace of his father, brought down by the McCarthy commission, and his general social awkwardness, contrast well with his brother's world-wise savoir-faire. Levy is a man with basic insecurities about his courage and abilities, and it is pleasant indeed to see character development in what is ostensibly a thriller.
Scylla, David's brother, is a professional assasin in the employ of "The Division", a quasi-governmental organization that falls between the cracks of other organizations, accomplishing necessary but usually illegal functions. His role as a courier for Szell, a protege of Mengele places him at the center of the struggle for Szell's stolen fortune. This picture of the quintessential professional assasin is well-rendered and pithy; he provides an excellent foil to Levy's insecurities.
Like a lot of Cold War fiction, however, this great book risks being dated. Many people born after 1980 are unlikely to have had even a living grandparent to explain the significance and importance of the second world war. Even those of us born in the 70s recall at least some of the final prosecutions of the remaining Nazi war criminals. For later generations, all of this must be regarded in the abstract, and this book will have no connection whatsoever to their real lives. This is unfortunate, as the true horror of the Holocaust and the need for its perpetrators to be brought to final justice may be lost in time, and thus this book finally rendered a work of fiction based in an historical context cerebrally, but not viscereally understood.
Thomas K. Burkholder, October 21, 1998.