Best 1972 Adventures (4)
By:
October 7, 2017
One in a series of 10 posts identifying Josh Glenn’s favorite 1972 adventure novels. Happy 45th anniversary!
Trevanian’s sardonic espionage adventure The Eiger Sanction.
Dr. Hemlock, an art professor and mountaineer, who doubles as a hired “counter-assassin” for a secret government agency (headed by a sinister albino), and who collects stolen artwork as a hobby, intends to retire from the “sanctions” business. However, he’s cajoled into a hazardous effort that takes him first to Montreal, and then embroils him an attempt to scale the north face of the Eiger — one of the most treacherous peaks in the Swiss Alps. Which member of the climbing team is the assassin that Hemlock must kill… and how will the Eiger climb reveal that crucial intel? An intentionally ludicrous effort that still manages to be thrilling, when you’re not scratching your head.
Fun facts: Rodney Whitaker was a University of Texas, Austin, film scholar who wrote best-selling thrillers — including The Loo Sanction (1973), The Main (1976), and Shibumi (1979) — as “Trevanian.” The Eiger Sanction, his first novel, was adapted as a 1975 movie starring Clint Eastwood.
Let me know if I’ve missed any 1972 adventures that you particularly admire.