Book review: Marathon Man

A finished Marathon Man and a cup of coffee,
Pork & Co, Canterbury

Tom ‘Babe’ Levy is a young intellectual living in New York with dreams of being a professional marathon runner. However, Babe’s life takes a dramatic turn following an unexpected visit from his brother. Unprepared, Babe finds himself on a run unlike any other as he is thrown inside the world of villainous assassins and torture.

It may have taken me almost 5 months to the day (a personal best) however I have finally finished the William Goldman novel Marathon Man. As you would expect the initial few chapters aim to establish context whilst familiarising us with key characters. Although the narrative begins slowly and skips from seemingly one unrelated incident to another, we are quickly reassured that these chapters have absolute relevance to the story and this quickly snowballs; Goldman’s characters have a lot of depth and as soon as their paths appear to cross the novel develops into a gripping thriller. Full of story twists and surprises Marathon Man will have the reader thinking ‘what’s next?’, even when the page corner is folded and the book has been put down for the day. Goldman’s storytelling is intense and dramatic scenes are described in teeth grindingly chilling detail.

Please don’t let the fact that it took me 5 months to finish this book put you off - Marathon Man is a thriller of epic proportion.