“Marathon Man” by William Goldman – Diamonds of Demons Past

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

Short Summary

William Goldman is responsible for a few movies and novels considered classics today, and to many people, Marathon Man remains his greatest achievement as an author. It tells the story of Thomas “Babe” Levy, a post-graduate history student at Columbia University, and how he unwittingly gets sucked into a long-standing Nazi conspiracy, at the centre of which stands Dr. Christian Szell, infamously known as the “White Angel of Auschwitz”.

William Goldman Brings the Nazis to New York

The Nazi regime may have officially fallen long ago, but the amount of secrets and intrigue they’ve left for the world at large still lead to discoveries and fuel our collective imagination. Though some today might think their story ended after the end of the Second World War, the truth is that millions of them kept on living any way they could. In Marathon Man, William Goldman drops a Columbia student in the midst of a conspiracy going strong twenty years after the end of the war.

Before discussing the book itself, I’d like to note that yes, the famous movie by the same name was indeed based on the book. There are a few differences between the two of them, and regardless of whether or not you’re familiar with the movie, I still recommend that you read the book for it stands on its own merits and plunges to greater depths on a number of occasions.

In any case, the story begins by introducing us to some key characters, whose tales are bound to converge quite soon. First, there is Christian Szell, a former Nazi SS dentist at Auschwitz, known as the “White Angel”, currently hiding out in Paraguay. A strangely unexpected turn of events forces him out of hiding and has him heading to New York for a simple, yet potentially-fatal mission.

Second, there is Thomas “Babe” Levy, a post-graduate history student at Columbia University, the titular (aspiring) marathon runner, and in love with the beautiful blonde Elsa Opel. He’s leading a crusade of his own, intent on using his thesis to clear his father’s name after his apparent suicide years earlier. A victim of McCarthyism and accused of having Communist affiliations, his father never could find his way above the ordeal.

Finally, there is a man known to most only as Scylla, an international assassin working for a shadowy organization. To Thomas, however, he is simply his older brother Doc. When the latter unexpectedly visits his Thomas and sees right through Elsa, he ends up plunging him into a nightmarish conspiracy where he literally ends up running for his life, with the stack of questions only mounting higher and higher.

A Question of Allegiance in Marathon Man

What exactly makes any spy thriller a great one? Is it the author’s ability to stuff it with as many plot twists as imaginable? Is it the characters? The setting?… In my opinion, and it might differ from yours, what really elevates a spy thriller to the status of greatness, is its ability to keep the reader guessing about the characters’ allegiances.

In Marathon Man, I would boldly argue that William Goldman has achieved precisely that, always keeping us on the edge of our seats and guessing as to who the actual good bad guys might be. The only characters we’re dead certain about are Thomas and Szell, the respective protagonist and antagonist of the novel. Everyone else feels like a complete wild guess.

As a result, I found myself glued to the text when literally anything of interest was happening, desperately trying to figure out who was playing what kind of game, at least before the author gave me the solution. I never felt like I really knew what the expect from the characters, and in that sense, I think they behaved very much like one would expect high-level conspiracy members from a shadowy organization to.

Some spy thrillers, especially older ones, can feel a bit naive sometimes, especially in their portrayal of characters. This is largely because they followed or created trends which, over the decades, have become played out to the point of parody. In my opinion, Marathon Man does not suffer from this particular disease, probably because William Goldman treats the reader with respect, and tries to portray people realistically, rather than simply having them fill any roles he fancied.

Naturally, I’m not trying to say that Marathon Man is a completely unique novel, with nothing like it ever seen before nor since. On the contrary, it feels like it has a commercial quality to it, and was definitely written with the reader’s entertainment in mind, with many old-fashioned elements which, thankfully, don’t go out of style.

Gems and War Criminals

As I’ve mentioned it just now, one thing the novel doesn’t suffer from is a lack of believable and realistic characters. As a matter of fact, it has quite many of them, some being superfluous, but most being moving parts of the complicated overarching puzzle in one way or another. We never spend too long with any single character, and there are always new developments or pieces of knowledge thrown in to keep us on our toes.

At the same time, because we have our definitely good protagonist, and definitely bad antagonist, we never feel like we’re at a complete loss and don’t know what to do. Even during some of the more confusing (in a good way) and thrilling moments where revelations pile on top of each other, we never lose sight who it is we’re ultimately cheering for or against.

The plot in William Goldman‘s Marathon Man is intricate and complex, with a lot of room for character development, but at the same time it also reads like a real page-turner of a thriller. I devoured one page after the next, with new bits of information and surprising twists constantly beckoning me to keep going forward to learn the whole truth.

The old-fashioned elements in this novel, the whole idea of a post-war Nazi conspiracy involving war criminals and diamonds, may have gone to waste in a lesser author’s hands. They are simple and effective elements, even relatable to a certain extent (less-so the further we move away from the war), and Goldman doesn’t blow them out of proportion. In other words, it’s all about the journey travelled by the main character and his fight for survival; the rest is just fuel to move the train forward.

I would also like to commend Goldman‘s uncanny ability to write visceral and vivid action scenes which stay in the mind’s eye long after the book is done. What’s more, he knows to keep them relatively short and sweet, ensuring the reader never loses the thread of what’s happening, which I found to be a common problem among thrillers in general. I believe the perfection with which they’re composed helped to elevate this novel far above its peers, and are part of the reason it remains such a celebrated classic today.

The Final Verdict

Marathon Man by William Goldman without a doubt deserves its place atop the pantheon of the best spy thrillers of all time; it’s no wonder it was a bestseller of the 70s, and continues to be a popular read today. It has all the elements a good thriller ought to have, from well-written characters whose allegiances are always in question to nail-biting action scenes and surprising plot twists.

If you’re looking to see what the best of this genre has to offer, or simply in the mood for an excellent spy story with some good old-fashioned elements, then I strongly suggest you give this book the attention it deserves.

William Goldman

(August 12, 1931 — November 16, 2018)

William Goldman (August 12th, 1931 to November 16th, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and novelist who received two Academy Awards, once for Best Original Screenplay for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and a second time for Best Adapted Screenplay, for All the President’s Men. His better-known novels include Marathon Man and The Princess Bride, both of which were adapted into film versions, now considered classics.