Like Jon Jackson
last week Robert Littell is an
author who I have more books by than fingers, despite managing to have never
read him. Most if not all are in the
espionage genre.
His first book was published in 1973 – The Defection of A.J. Lewinter and there have been another 17
since.
Littell turned 80
earlier this year. He was born and raised in New York and spent four years in
the US Navy before turning to journalism. He worked for Newsweek during the Cold War and he doesn’t appear to have a
website!
An Israeli government minister is assassinated in the home
of his mistress. Leading the Palestinian assassination team is Dr. Ishmael
al-Shaath, a half-blind Palestinian doctor imprisoned by the Israelis for years
for crimes he did not commit. Days later, Elihu, an aging and decorated Mossad
officer, leads his final raid, killing a Hamas leader in his bed--and barely
escaping with his life.
Out of this familiarly cyclical scenario emerges what is
perhaps Robert Littell's most heartfelt and suspenseful novel. Isaac Apfelbaum,
a well-known fundamentalist Rabbi, is taken hostage by Dr. al-Saath, who demands
the release of several Palestinian prisoners in exchange for his prisoner. As
Israel coaxes Elihu out of retirement to hunt down the terrorist who motivated
his final mission, al-Saath and Apfelbaum find themselves building an
extraordinary relationship between hostage taker and hostage: parallels between
these two battle-hardened partisans become the bonds that could lead to
reconciliation. But with Elihu's Mossad strike team closing in and a peace
treaty at stake, has the vicious circle already been closed?
Ferociously suspenseful and brilliantly topical, Vicious
Circle is a thriller that, like The Company before it, breaks down an entire
culture of violence into the corrupted consciences that embody it.
Walking Back the Cat
The USA's smallest Indian tribe has started up a gambling
casino, but someone - possibly the Mafia or the CIA - is shaking them down for
the profits. A KGB killer, adrift after the breakup of the Soviet Union, joins
forces with a young hot-air balloonist to investigate
'A young hot-air balloonist'? Not what I expect to find in an up-to-the-minute spy thriller, hardly high tech. I read that CIA book, The Company, and felt personally every one of its 900 pages, it was just too long. It wasn't terrible, but I feel it has filled my Robert Littell category for ever and ever thank you.
ReplyDeleteI think this one might be his least espionag'ish - probably not a good choice to highlight. You haven't put me off yet. I'll try my long book method on the Mark Smith and see if it works - then the 900 page beast awaits!
DeleteCol - I was stopped at the hot-air balloonist too. I'm not one to reach first for an espionage thriller, but I know Littell wrote several such stories. Not sure I'd start with The Company though... I'll be interested in what you think of the two you've profiled here.
ReplyDeleteMargot maybe a couple of cracking reviews will have you scrabbling for copies......but somehow I doubt it! Haha - no problem, if we all liked the same things it would be extremely dull.
DeleteCol, the "espionage" tag is enough to prick my ears and VICIOUS CIRCLE sounds good, more so since I have been following the Israel-Palestine conflict for many years.
ReplyDeleteSad to say, I think that's a conflict we will all be following until the end of our days. I hope you (and me of course), get to try and enjoy a Littell book soon!
DeleteI have 13 of Littell's books but have only read 2 of them. The Company was good but too long as Moira says, but I did see a TV adaptation and liked it a lot and may reread it some day. I loved, loved, loved Legends, which I may have already told you. I do have Walking back the Cat but not Vicious Circle. I hope I can read one or two of his books this year.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping I get to him this year also, but we'll see
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