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I sei giorni del condor (1974)

di James Grady

UtentiRecensioniPopolaritàMedia votiCitazioni
6391536,228 (3.78)11
Fiction. Thriller. HTML:

The classic spy thriller about corruption in the CIA that inspired the hit film and TV show: "A master of intrigue" (John Grisham).
Sandwiches are a part of Ronald Malcolm's every day, but one just saved his life. On the day that gunmen pay a visit to the American Literary Historical Society, he's out at lunch. The society is actually a backwater of the Central Intelligence Agency, where Malcolm and a few other bookworms comb mystery novels for clues that might unlock real life diplomatic questions. One of his colleagues has learned something he wasn't meant to know. A sinister conspiracy has penetrated the CIA, and the gunmen are its representatives. They massacre the office, and only learn later of Malcolmâ??a loose end that needs to be dealt with.

Malcolmâ??codename Condorâ??calls his handlers at the agency, hoping for a safe haven, instead drawing another attempt on his life. With no one left to trust he goes on the run. But like it or not, Malcolm is the only person who can root out the corruption at the highest levels of the CIA.

This "chilling novel of top security gone berserk" earned James Grady his reputation as a Grand Master of the spy thriller, inspiring legions of imitators as well as the classic Sydney Pollack film Three Days of the Condor and the new TV series Condor featuring Max Irons, Mira Sorvino, and Brendan Fraser (Library Journal… (altro)

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I can see why the book might have been influential in its day, but it doesn't hold up the test of time. Malcolm is a dick and way to capable for being untrained. He also seems to have no feelings. There's hardly any suspense or plot. Women are just props to be sexualized. ( )
  martinpkt | Aug 19, 2022 |
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Six Days of the Condor
Series: ----------
Authors: James Grady
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 159
Words: 56K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia.org

Ronald Malcolm is a CIA employee who works in a clandestine operations office in Washington, D.C. responsible for analyzing the plots of mystery and spy novels. One day, when he should be in the office, Malcolm slips out a basement entrance for lunch. In his absence a group of armed men gain entrance to the office and kill everyone there. Malcolm returns, realizes he is in grave danger, and telephones a phone number at CIA headquarters he has been given for emergencies.

When he phones in (and remembers to give his code name "Condor"), he is told to meet an agent named Weatherby who will "bring him in" for protection. However, Weatherby is part of a rogue group within the CIA, the same group responsible for the original assassinations. Weatherby tries to kill Malcolm, who manages to escape. On the run, Malcolm uses his wits to elude both the rogue CIA group and the proper CIA authorities, both of which have a vested interest in his capture or death.

Seeking shelter, Malcolm kidnaps a paralegal named Wendy Ross whom he overhears saying she will spend her coming vacation days holed up in her apartment. Knowing no one will notice her absence, Malcolm enlists her aid in finding out more about the forces after him. She is shot and seriously wounded in the process, but survives.

It is then revealed that the rogue group was using the section where Malcolm works to import illegal drugs from Laos. A supervisor stumbled onto a discrepancy in the records exposing this operation, thus necessitating the section's elimination.

Everything works out in the end and the badguys all get theirs and Malcom gets the girl.

My Thoughts:

I have seen the movie, 3 Days of the Condor starring Robert Redford, several times but had never read the book. So when Dix reviewed the movie a couple of months ago and we got talking about the book in the comments it seemed like the moment was right to hunt down a copy for myself and read it.

There is a reason the movie is better known than the book. My first clue was that the introduction by the author was almost 15% of the book. He kept talking and talking and it was more of a mini-autobiography than a simple introduction. It wasn't bad, but it was NOT what I was expecting.

Once we get to the actual story, it was very similar to the movie. One of the days is spent with Ronald being sick with the flu. You can see why that day got axed from the movie. Then there is Ronald's obsession with big breasted women. He's a guy so I completely understand, but I don't particularly need to know that Ronald gets to work on time every day just so he can watch a girl walk to work and comment on her sartorial choices. Plus, the girl he hooks up with to stay under cover is apparently a horny nympho and jumps his bones every chance she gets. Eye roll.

You can tell this was dated and written by an amateur. In one of the chapters Ronald is supposed to meet up with somebody he knows to bring him in. The traitor gets involved and Ronald shoots the traitor in the leg with a 357magnum and the traitor shoots the guy Ronald trusts in a bid to make it look like Ronald is the traitor. Now, he does that with a 22 pistol. And it takes almost until the end of the book for the forensics guys to figure this out. For feth's sake!

The one thing that I did like about this better than the movie was how the good guys win. In the movie the Condor is pretty much told that he's powerless against the Machine and it doesn't matter what he does because he'll just be ignored or ground up. In the book the traitors are caught and killed.

Overall, I'm glad I read this but if someone were to ask me whether they should read the book or watch the movie, I'm going to go for the movie. It is just a better, tighter story.

★★★✬☆ ( )
  BookstoogeLT | Mar 1, 2022 |
This was a very enjoyable read.

Malcolm reads and writes reviews, for a living. For the CIA. Someone learned something he wasn't supposed to and Malcolm and all his co-workers are supposed to be killed. But Malcolm wasn't there. And he's on the run, with no idea who to trust.

Probably a fairly standard spy thriller. If you've seen the movie, it's a very faithful adaptation of the book. ( )
  James_Patrick_Joyce | Oct 24, 2020 |
Okay, a slightly mixed review. Initially what I liked most was the preface where the writer explained the book and what it inadvertently causes (the book was made into a movie, the Soviet Union thought the clandestine office within the CIA was real and made one of their own), but then as I started reading (spy thriller is really not my thing) I got hooked and couldn't put it down. Now I am considering all things Grady, especially in the Condor realm. ( )
  bdinsman | Sep 10, 2020 |
One of the few book to movie pairs in which the movie is much better than the book. The book has all the hallmarks of a young man's first novel. Unlikely plot burdened with outrageous coincidences, strained dialog, hackneyed phrases, and more. Still, the plot moves along like a thriller should, not as well as the movie moves, but good. I read it years ago when it first came out and liked it more, but then i was young too at the time. ( )
  Michael_Lilly | Mar 18, 2018 |
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Fiction. Thriller. HTML:

The classic spy thriller about corruption in the CIA that inspired the hit film and TV show: "A master of intrigue" (John Grisham).
Sandwiches are a part of Ronald Malcolm's every day, but one just saved his life. On the day that gunmen pay a visit to the American Literary Historical Society, he's out at lunch. The society is actually a backwater of the Central Intelligence Agency, where Malcolm and a few other bookworms comb mystery novels for clues that might unlock real life diplomatic questions. One of his colleagues has learned something he wasn't meant to know. A sinister conspiracy has penetrated the CIA, and the gunmen are its representatives. They massacre the office, and only learn later of Malcolmâ??a loose end that needs to be dealt with.

Malcolmâ??codename Condorâ??calls his handlers at the agency, hoping for a safe haven, instead drawing another attempt on his life. With no one left to trust he goes on the run. But like it or not, Malcolm is the only person who can root out the corruption at the highest levels of the CIA.

This "chilling novel of top security gone berserk" earned James Grady his reputation as a Grand Master of the spy thriller, inspiring legions of imitators as well as the classic Sydney Pollack film Three Days of the Condor and the new TV series Condor featuring Max Irons, Mira Sorvino, and Brendan Fraser (Library Journal

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Malcolm preferisce Nero Wolfe a Don Chisciotte, e non ne fa mistero nella prova scritta che deve sostenere per la laurea. Ma grazie proprio a questa predilezione per il 'giallo' viene assunto 'per impieghi ordinari' dalla CIA. Presso la oscura Sezione 9 del Dipartimento 17, col nome di battaglia di Condor, Malcolm avrà il solo compito di leggere libri gialli o che parlano di crimini e di spionaggio. Questo monotono lavoro, per nulla emozionante o eroico, si svolge oramai da due anni quando un giorno di primavera, con una orrenda strage, ha inizio la terrificante avventura di Condor. Deve affrontare nemici invisibili, sventare attentati, fare uso di tutto il suo cervello per arrivare a quella verità che il complesso della CIA, dell' FBI e della polizia stenta a scoprire. Qualcuno tradisce, fa il doppio gioco, vuole eliminare Condor. Ma chi? E come può un agente assunto 'per impieghi ordinari' mettere nel sacco agenti espertissimi e killer di professione?
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