Monday, July 15, 2013

Marathon Man

Marathon Man by William Goldman
Open Road Media,  January 8, 2013 edition
ebook, approximately 336 pages
ASIN: B00AQAD1Z0 

Description:

The thriller that inspired the classic movie: Caught in an international conspiracy, a man’s only choice is to run.
Rosenbaum is stuck in traffic on the Upper East Side when the heat gets the better of him. A Volkswagen has stalled out in the middle of 87th Street, and even when its elderly German driver gets it going, Rosenbaum cannot contain his rage. With one shocking act, he initiates a chain of events that spell doom for Babe Levy.   
A PhD candidate and aspiring marathon runner, Babe is driven by shame over his father’s suicide. Smart, fit, but incredibly awkward, he can’t get a date and he’s got a nagging toothache. But his troubles are about to get a whole lot worse. Though he doesn’t know it, Levy is on a collision course with one of the most fearsome villains of the Second World War, running a race that only one of them will survive.  
This ebook features a biography of William Goldman.

My Thoughts:


Most people have likely at least heard of the movie (1976) if not the 1974 book Marathon Man by William Goldman and know something about the plot. I was curious to read the book and see if it held the same intensity as the movie. I was not disappointed. Goldman, perhaps best known as a screen writer, is first and foremost a writer. He does an excellent job carefully crafting his plot and setting up the tension. That nail-biting tension builds and builds until you feel like you are running a marathon to finish the novel.

With it's well defined characters and escalating tension, Marathon Man by William Goldman is a classic thriller that packs a punch even years after it was written. Because it was written 40 years ago, the book is, quite naturally, dated, but still highly entertaining. 


Or you could get your hands on a copy of the movie starring Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, and Roy Scheider.

Excerpt



Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Open Road Media via Netgalley for review purposes.

P.S. I should not have read this just before having some dental work done...

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