Saturday, December 17, 2005

Trevanian, R. I. P.


Thriller author Trevanian dead at 74: "NEW YORK, NY, United States (UPI) -- Author Rodney 'Trevanian' Whitaker, whose 'The Eiger Sanction' became a hit 1972 Clint Eastwood film, has died in England at age 74."

I thoroughly enjoyed The Eiger Sanction when it appeared. It was funny and exciting, and I was sure Trevanian would be a big name. He was, for a while. Later, his bestseller status deserted him, but I'm not sure he cared. The last book I read by him was Incident at Twenty-Mile, certainly not the kind of novel calculated to get him back on the Big List. I have a book of his short stories around somewhere, and I should get it out and read a few of them.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

This hasn't been my month. First they take Robert Sheckley... now Trevanian? I first read THE EIGER SANCTION two years ago and absolutely loved it. A completely sardonic and hilarious spy novel that's also thrilling as hell. Who else but Trevanian could write a cliffhanger that's actually about guys hanging off cliffs?

Michael Berry said...

Shibumi is the zenith, I think. Completely absurd but completely delectable.

Incident is also interesting, a deadpan deconstruction of the mythology of the American West.

ted said...

Incident is a phenomenal read,bring it to the cinema.