Customer Reviews

Mad Dogs

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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!

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."

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!

Best known for his 1974 thriller "Six Days of the Condor" (truncated by
Hollywood into the Robert Redford vehicle "Three Days of the Condor"), Grady returns to the theme of a rogue element loose within the CIA. But while that story was a classic thriller in the '70s mold, this one is all kinds of wild and wacky, and may well not be to the liking of those who like straightforward spy stories. It begins in a top secret government lunatic asylum in rural Maine, where government assets who are psychologically damaged are stashed for observation and safekeeping.

We meet the five heroes in group session with their temporary psychiatrist, and are quickly introduced to their various neuroses. When the psychiatrist is apparently murdered in the their closed ward, the quintet confer and decide that since they're going to get blamed for the murder, they'd better make a break for it. And so begins a rollicking road-trip down the Northeast seaboard to Washington, D.C., where they hope to unmask the true killer and clear themselves. Their escape is inventive, although perhaps a bit too easy -- one would think that some slightly more elaborate security procedures would be in place given the known capabilities of the patients. The trip south is relatively entertaining, as -- coming down off their meds -- they must zig and zag to avoid and outwit local law enforcement and the black ops teams sent to track them dow . Along the way, we get extended flashback chapters explaining what happened to each of the five that shattered their mind.

Posing as a German engineer, geeky Eric got swept up with other guest workers during the first Gulf War and was tortured by Iraqi intelligence to the point where he can only obey orders and has no free will. Black and beautiful Hailey was unexpectedly placed in the middle of a dangerous deal involving an African diamond smuggler / arms merchant / nuclear materials broker and some Russians and the realpolitik of the outcome left her emotionally broken. Zane is an old Vietnam vet whose bright idea for a counterintel operation along the Ho Chi Minh Trail leads to him witnessing the slaughter of his father figure and a grim rescue operation. Russell was working undercover as a Serb militiaman in Bosnia and saw one atrocity too many before he snapped. And for protagonist Victor who was working in Malaysia in the mid-'90s trying to keep tabs on al-Qaeda, it was the death of the woman he loved. These lengthy vignettes are told much more straightforwardly than the rest of the book, and make for much more compelling -- if horrific -- reading. While this background information makes one sympathetic to the five characters, they're not exactly fleshed out in any meaningful way. Each has a distinctive trait or two, and each is given a moment to shine, but they generally feel like types rather than people.

As they make their way from Maine to Manhattan to Asbury Park (NJ) to Wheaton (MD) and finally, Bethesda, the team picks up a hostage/witness and tries to piece together all the parts using their considerable spycraft. Consistently befuddled by each new piece of information, they turn to the one person who may be able to save them, in a denouement that's rather disappointing. The writing is very loose at times, veering into streams of consciousness as Grady peers into the heads of five people coming off their meds and trying to grapple with the outside world. Ultimately the book is full of energy, but energy that's not always harnessed.

I can safely say that the premise of Mad Dogs is unique: mentally ill spies framed for the murder of their psychiatrist escape from a secret mental institution to solve the murder and clear their names. There's nothing else like it. Grady has spun a fascinating and quirky yarn that takes the reader on one hell of a ride.

Very well written a fast and entertaining read. This book could become a series, but I doubt James Grady wants to do that much work...LOL. Anyway, if you want something out of the norm (a very different plot), then this is the one for you. This book will entertain rookie-pro readers. The book is about a group of ex-spec ops/CIA agents who have mental issues and are placed in a secret/secure lockup. After some things go wrong all 5 hit the road for fun and games.....Give the book a shot!

The premise of "Mad Dogs" is a winner - picture an insane asylum just for spies that have been pushed beyond the breaking point. There are victims of torture, people who have compromised cherished values, lost loved ones in the line of duty or have just seen things that no one should have to see.

Now, imagine that 5 of these patients have a doctor that they love - he pushes them, challenges them and makes progress with them. And, he gets murdered right in the room where they do their "group" time, making it look like one of them had done it.

So, this group of misfits decides to flee from the frame job and find the root of the conspiracy that killed their doctor. Each of them resurrects their skills and works together to escape, find clues and follow the scant trail back to the source.

Sounds great, right? Kind of like a hard-edged version of the Michael Keaton comedy The Dream Team(1989).

Well, the follow through does not quite live up to the promise of the basic plotline. Grady sort of skips around from person to person in his narration but does so in a herky-jerky fashion so that the reader is left to guess what is going on from time to time. The over-arching plan and motivation of the villain is fairly underwhelming when it is finally exposed.


However, the "buddy movie" and "road trip" feel of the book and the look into the past lives of these former spies is interesting and overcomes those other problems. It was quite fun watching these characters confront their fears, work together and compensate for each others' weaknesses as they tried to clear their names and avenge their friend.

I knew a soldier in Vietnam that became so good at what he did in combat that he was awarded a number of medals for valor- all the while slowly going crazy in the process. James Grady's MAD DOGS offers up a fictional account of some of nation's best warriors who are very much over the edge and committed to a top secret psycho ward to protect the secrets they are privy too and supposedly the citizens they served.
Grady takes us into the looney bin of five spies or spec ops spooks and the damages caused to each by their missions and what happens to them when someone who knows their backgrounds sets out to eliminate them.
Grady tells his tale with such writing ease and style that you will find yourself page turning long into the night or hoping for a bus driver who views every stop as a requirement.
Inevitably, it will also have you wondering how we do or do not take care of those we collectively send into harm's way and can't find their psychological way out. It may also have you questioning the sanity of those politicos whose ambitions sometimes exceed lunacy under the guise of zealous patriotism or greed.
English majors would do well to read MAD DOGS and study Grady's composition and voice. The story flows with originality, fine tuned dialogue, and a pace that will have you running out and searching for his other books once you reach this book's end.
All in all, a nice discovery.

The mix of humor and action in this novel make it worth the short amount of time it takes to finish. One you get used to the writing style and the character's strange dialog, the story flows well and you really get into the plot.

Another great story from James Grady. The plot's been mentioned so I'll just say that it's a quick paced story with twists and turns that will keep you turning the page. It also had me laughing out loud at times. I liked how he incorporated two spies from previous novels he wrote, kind of letting you know what happened to them. (Malcom a.k.a. Condor and John Lang from Thunder). My one disappointment would be the ending but other than that a great read!