Customer Reviews

The Eiger Sanction

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In the mid 1970s three back to back best sellers were provided by the reclusive and somewhat mysterious author who wrote under the pen name of Trevanian. The three novels were first, "The Eiger Sanction", followeed quickly by a sequel, "The Loo Sanction", and finally, by acomplete change of pace with "Shibumi". Of the three, The Eiger Sanction was easily the best novel. It is, in fact, a taut and thrilling tale of a once famous mountaineer and retired government assassin turned college art history professor who is forced back into the "sanction" business both by personal greed and crude manipulation by the spymaster of the clandestine government agency that requires his services.

An American courier has been killed in Copenhagen, and he happened to an old friend of professor Jonathan Hemlock (Eastwood), who is seduced back into harms way by "Control", an albino ex-Nazi who now heads one of our most clandestine federal agencies. Before long Hemlock is on his way to sanction one of the two assailants, and the chase is on. By dint of coincidence, Control discovers that the other assailant is included in an international mountaineering party, which will assault Switzerland's "Eiger" the coming summer. Naturally, Hemlock is manipulated into preparing for the climb as a replacement climber.

Once we finally make it to the mountain, the action is literally non-stop, quite accurate technically, and absolutely riveting to read about. The author holds our rapt attention with a plot that unfolds in a quite plausible and inevitably tragic fashion with no one necessarily spared as the frenzy reaches its natural conclusion. This is a terrific spy thriller, This is great entertainment, and something I can heartily recommend as a great summer read. Enjoy!

I'd seen the (3 star) movie on the late-late-late show when I was a kid but had no idea it was based on a book. Many years later I came across The Eiger Sanction and The Loo Sanction in a bookstore; figuring the first was a cheap novelization I bought it anyway. I was quite plesantly surprised. (Then I'm like, "Who the heck is Trevanian??" but that's a whole 'nother story.)

Both books are intentional parodies of the classic spy novel, but better written and more interesting than many of the more serious works. (Though almost anything by John le Carre is one obvious exception.) The silliness--goofy names in particular, but some of the scenes and writing techniques--is a very deliberate take on several lesser authors of the genre. If that sort of thing bothers you, you won't be able to enjoy the books.

I loved both works, but I'm amused by the idea of a street-savvy mountain-climbing super-snob art critic turned professional assassin to support his illicit rare painting habit. Pseudo-spy-jargon is tossed about with abandon, every romance ends in death, sex is always used as a weapon. Practically every spy story cliche can be found here, and multiple cliches are creatively combined.

Both books are dated, they frequently use early-1970s concepts, styles, and contemporary events. It's hard to avoid this in a parody and I don't find it to be that distracting. If anything it adds a bit of panache; the early 1970s were a silly time.

The Eiger Sanction is not a great spy story, but if you can appreciate its sometimes subtle, sometimes blatantly ridiculous humor I think it's well worth a read.

I liked the movie, I saw a library copy, the night before I made this review, but reading a used hardcover that I bought of the original Trevanian novel, it was a lot of fun. Especially remembering the fun plot twists and tight control of textural dynamics by the author Trevanian (who's real name is Rod Whitaker, by the way), sure the Clint Eastwood movie is fun, but the novel is a "guilty" pleasure to watch him do his sanctioning, sure Loo is almost as good, but to watch and "watch" (in the novels, both Loo and Eiger, and the Eiger movie) Jonathan Hemlock in action is a really great romp through the psyche, especially in that Nixonian "secretive" white house plumbers time of rampant secret assassinations, game-playing and ingenious art imitating life plot twists. But what I like is how it departs from real life with gung-ho drama and comedy all mixed into an ingenious ball of wax.

Personally, I identify with Jonathan Hemlock, and his whole involvement with CII (C2) in a sense, I don't kill people or anything or perform "sanctions" or even actively climb hills or mountains, but I do identify with that clandestine edge in life like few people in this world do. It's a funny thing, folks, but I love all of Trevanian's work that I've read, including The Main and Shibumi, but Jonathan Hemlock is by far one of my favorite character studies.

But to a less "deep" analysis of why I was attracted to Trevanian's novels and the Eiger Sanction movie: When I was a kid, I loved to watch Clint Eastwood movies with my Dad, but before I knew about the Eiger Sanction movie, I saw the book in the library and I was fascinated by the name of the author, one word: "Trevanian", I don't know, the name made me think of the swinging beat of Miles Davis's better works and James Brown's jazzier stuff, you know. And more exotic Neville Brothers/Wild Tchoupitoulas recordings and all that kind of thing combined with a positive version of Hugh Hefner "cool", you know. So, I read and I read and I wasn't disappointed. Another satisfaction of my literary tastes, so to speak. Well, that's my review, enjoy.

Captain Josh.

I'd like to know who "Trevanian" is, but biographical details appear to be scarce. From reading this novel, I picture a disaffected former employee of some intelligence agency. The humor which Trevanian directs at the CIA is caustic, and very witty. In his/her novel, the agency is a sort of petty bureaucracy which bungles its way through various operations, always suffering from commically high levels of groupthink. Picture a classically James Bond-esque character working for a bunch of delusional government bureaucrats, and you get a pretty good sense of how this novel plays out.

Another thing which sets this novel out of the classic spy novel mold is that it doesn't portray The Soviet Union as necessarily eeevilll. Instead, we are told that, "`If you're saying that the average shopkeeper in Seattle is a humane

guy, that's perfectly true. But so is the average shopkeeper in

Petropavlovsk...'" This novel gives the impression that it was mostly the people in power who made the world a dangerous place, and it didn't much matter which side of the "Iron curtain" they hailed from.

All this is quite subtly wrapped up in a story which is quite a lot of fun to read in its own right. It's humor with teeth.

This is a great thriller. Once in a while you read a book that isolates you from the rest of the world. This is one of them. If you like thrillers, this book is a must. It has one of the best endings (I won't say more).

What was an exciting adventure novel back in the 1970's for a young pre-teen (was I ever so young?) on re-reading now turns out to be a silly James Bond knock-off/Summer beach book. The most grating conceit is the author's habit of giving every *single* female charactor a "clever" name (Anna Bidet - French, Randi Knickers-English, Jemima Brown-African American, etc...). It hasn't aged well.

If you haven't read Shibumi don't. Read this one first. One should crawl before they walk. In many ways I enjoyed this book more though. In Hemlock, Trevanian created the perfect man of the times (early 1970s); Cold and disconnected from society, Hemlock is without conscience or remorse or guilt. He is socially incomplete, all too aware , and seemingly incapable to change this. He is a reflection of the fragmented seventies. Now more than ever, we need Hemlock back! Hemlock vs Hel? Hint, hint.

I can't add much to the many fine reviews of this classic early 70s spy novel, but I do want to address those who deride the "dated" nature of the material -- nonsense!

If by "dated" you mean this book effectively captures a place and time perfectly, and both manages to reflect and satirize a culture and genre with humor, subtlety and wit, then guilty as charged.

How this is a bad thing for a book is beyond me, and in fact it's not.

For me I felt immediately transported, lifted to a Long Island art professor's converted church home, then finally to an Eiger mountaintop, when things were very much different and yet totally relatable and -- as always, in flux.

I found the perspective illuminating.

Trevanian is one of my favorite authors. I have read all his books and would recommend them all. It's great to take one of his books on vacation. The story keeps you engaged right up to the end. His writing style is humorous at times, but always interesting. Get them all.

I liked the main character, John Hemlock. He's an assassin for the government armed with a sharp tongue. He is a man without conscience but surprisingly Trevanian does a great job of getting you to like his character. I don't wish to spoil the entire book, so if anyone out there likes spy novels, this is the one for you.