William Goldman's Suspense Thriller Marathon Man: Is it Safe?

Is it safe? If those three little words cause your jaw to clench and your stomach to tighten, chances are you have seen the movie Marathon Man. Marathon Man is one of the more memorable thrillers from the 1970s, but as good as the movie is, the novel is even better. This seems to be a trend with movies based on William Goldman novels. Several terrific films adaptations have been made from Goldman’s novels, but the books are all superior. Marathon Man, The Princess Bride, Magic…good movies all, but they are even better in novel form.

Truth be told it is William Goldman who was the true master of suspense in the late 70s, and not Stephen King. Stephen King would probably be the first to agree; he’s a big fan of William Goldman; why not, it was Goldman who wrote the screenplay for Misery. Marathon Man is the kind of suspense thriller that just doesn’t appear very often, combining a fast-moving plot filled with unexpected twists and turns with unusually deep characterizations. The first half of Marathon Man reads like a split-screen narrative, shifting back and forth between the story grad student Babe Levy as he attempts to put together his dissertation in history while training to become a marathon runner, and a mysterious killer for hire known simpy as Scylla.

Of course before we get to that, the reader is treated to a hilariously violent episode in which two old men men give in to road rage that results in fiery death.

How this accident and the death of one of these men will bring the two disconnected stories of Babe and Scylla together is simply the first of an ever-mounting series mysteries in Marathon Man that will eventually be revealed. It turns out that Babe and Scylla are actually brothers; don’t worry, that’s not really a spoiler since that particular revelation comes fairly early in the tale. The two brothers couldn’t be more different.