Mad Dogs [Audiobook, CD, Unabridged] [Audio CD]

James Grady (Author), William Dufris (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2006

James Grady revolutionized the political thriller with his first novel, Six Days of the Condor. Now Grady breaks fresh thriller territory with Mad Dogs, a brilliant novel launched from a totally original creation: the CIA's secret insane asylum for "retired" agents.Five deranged CIA killers, all of them dependent on their meds and deep in the woods of Maine, are forced to break out of the asylum when someone murders their psychiatrist-and frames them for the deed.Crazy and traumatized by their experiences in the CIA, they operate under somewhat skewed perceptions of the real world. Their training, however, has prepared them to survive in an unfriendly world-even if that world is the Boston-to-Washington corridor as they chase down the real killer.Suspenseful, fast, and edgy, as well as funny and humane, Mad Dogs is a stunning novel of political commentary and a tour-de-force of contemporary literary style, a look at twenty-first-century spy wars. . .

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Grady's first thriller in a decade finds the author of Six Days of the Condor taking an altogether different look at the spook trade-the lives of CIA operatives who had to be institutionalized because they went crazy on the job. Five spies, all being held at an asylum in Maine, find themselves the likely victims of a frame-up when their psychiatrist is murdered in their therapy room. With remarkable ease, they escape their confines and embark on a week-long run for freedom and revenge that takes the so-called Mad Dogs-all off their meds-to the nation's capital to find out who killed their shrink and why. The adventure is narrated by Victor, the most intellectual of the bunch, who cracked up after a particularly harrowing experience on the job in Malaysia. Grady (White Flame) punctuates whipsaw bouts of action with dark humor and poignant glimpses into his characters' broken lives. Unfortunately, the Mad Dogs' search for the killer is interrupted all too often by zany, psycho-fueled episodes that sidetrack their mission and the reader's interest.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

His first novel (Six Days of the Condor, 1974) may still be his best, but this one gets points for sheer weirdness. Five former CIA operatives, now living in a government-run, top-secret insane asylum in Maine, break out after their psychiatrist is murdered. Framed for murder and running for their lives, they make their way to Washington, D.C., and a man they hope holds the key to the mystery. But these are deeply unbalanced individuals, each of whom sees the world in his or her unique way. Can they--and, by extension, the reader--trust their perceptions? There are a couple of ways to read the novel: as a flat-out thriller or as an extended hallucination. Either reading works just fine. Grady does a remarkable job of crafting his characters and of creating their "mission," an infiltration of a strange and frightening world: the U.S. For these former heroes, passing as "normal" is their greatest challenge, and, ultimately, this is a story of emancipation, of breaking free from--or at least coming to terms with--their own troubled minds. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Tantor Media; Unabridged edition (December 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400103185
• ISBN-13: 978-1400103188
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 6.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,692,722 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A New Cukoo's Nest!, October 24, 2006

By 

Mystery Maven (DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mad Dogs (Hardcover)

Mad Dogs is more than a remarkable ride -- it is a fast-paced and literate (and, at times, twisted and wildly homorous) escapade into the the insanity of present-day national security. As in One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest, you'll cheer on the inmates, five broken and believable characters who will keep you riveted to the page with their individual and collective stories. Grady really gets inside their minds. I couldn't put it down. My husband couldn't. Nor could my neice. The ending is a kicker!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Leave it to the Experts, September 27, 2006

By 

Nora Charles "Thrillerfan" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mad Dogs (Hardcover)

I loved this book but LIBRARY JOURNAL says it better than I could "Five agents, all hidden in a lunatic asylum in Maine because they are damaged goods, make a break for the Boston-Washington, DC corridor when a terrifying murder triggers their fight-or-flight instincts. As with any good team, each member has a talent or weakness that meshes with those of the others, often to surprising effect during their week-long hegira. Grady, whose phenomenal Six Days of the Condor transformed the spy genre, grips you immediately with phantasmagoric writing at a breakneck pace. Avoiding introspection, he nonetheless illuminates the trauma at the heart of each agent's psychic wound so that you care about what happens. Could this new novel from a veteran writer/reporter be the One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest of the cyber-generation? Indisputably, it belongs in every suspense collection."

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars James Grady Hits a Home Run, November 2, 2006

By 

R. J. Buikema (Silver Spring, MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mad Dogs (Hardcover)

Mad Dogs is one of the most enjoyable fiction books that I have read in the past few years. Combining wit, humor, and intrigue, it is a true page-turner, fast-paced with interesting twists and turns. Jim Grady possesses a confidence and maturity in his writing style that set him in an elite class of authors, no question about it. I surprisingly found myself laughing out loud on mass transit today - the book is that good!