In which a movie sends me back 44 years and a show dupes me into reading a really good book.
The Books:
The Amateur by Robert Littell, published in 1981. (The movie premiered in April 2025.)
Zero Day by David Baldacci, published in 2011. (No, not that Zero Day (Taiwanese thriller). No, not that Zero Day, either (Robert DeNiro Netflix thriller).
The Heroes:
Charlie Heller, CIA cryptographer with a Mona Lisa grin.
John Puller, Army CID investigator and no-nonsense combat veteran.
The Sidekicks:
Elizabeth, the mysterious contact in Prague.
Samantha (Sam), the local police detective in Drake, West Virginia.
The Bad Guys:
Palestinian terrorists and their enablers – some too close to home.
Greedy bigwigs without an ounce of patriotism.
Themes, Plots and Subplots:
Blackmail and vengeance. A Palestinian hostage situation / murder of Heller’s fiancée leads to his quest for revenge. In a literary subplot, Charlie has a side project searching for ciphers to prove Shakespeare didn’t write his plays.
Greed and treason. A series of confounding murders in a small West Virginia coal mining town leads to a crisis with national implications. Puller’s brother adds a subplot with more questions than answers…he was convicted of treason and is an inmate at Leavenworth.
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These are both enjoyable and entertaining novels. I saw the trailer for the movie The Amateur, and of course I wondered if it was based on a book. Set in the early 1970s, it’s a trip back in time to the Cold War, but it doesn’t feel dated due to Littell’s elegant writing. (Although a reference to Heller’s distinctive yellow Pinto broke the spell and had me laughing. If you know, you know.) The novel is quietly relentless, with its desk guy turned assassin. It’s believable – mostly – with inventive violence and a sweet surprise at the end. Littell is the more literary author with a world-weary and wry sense of humor.
Baldacci is more matter of fact but has occasional moments of beauty and reflection. I thought I was reading the book that the recent Netflix show was based on – something about AI and computer malfunctions – but my internet search pointed me in the wrong direction. I’m not mad about it. I’d heard of David Baldacci, and now I know why he’s so well loved. John Puller is an interesting character, and I was happy to learn that there are three more novels that feature him.
How do you like your heroes, unlikely or reluctant?
bookthrasher 