One of five books that changed Hirsch's life, as shared at Crimespree Magazine:
Marathon Man by William Goldman.Read about another entry on the list.
I remember Marathon Man as the book that activated every reading pleasure center in my brain in telling its story of an average guy who becomes enmeshed in an adventure involving espionage, deadly assassins and fugitive ex-Nazis. Like most thriller writers, I try to write books that you can’t put down, and this is my template for that kind of high-adrenaline storytelling. Is it safe? No, it is not safe.
Marathon Man is on Harlan Coben's six best books list, Jeff Somers's list of "five characters that are basically superheroes, despite appearing in books that aren’t in any way speculative fiction," Paul McEuen's six favorite books list and Howard Gordon's list of the five best thriller plots with terror themes.
--Marshal Zeringue