I loved it., 12 Aug 1999
I read it in two days. After I finished, I just sat with it inmy lap and thought about it, musing the characters. I can't say that too many books have had that effect...

WRITE MORE, TREVANIAN...

This isn't the real Trevanian!, 21 May 1999
Once upon a time, I ran across Trevanian's personal secretary in a bookstore in Maryland. She told me the sad, sad story of a man who got divorced and, as part of the divorce settlement, lost his right to the pseudonym! So all subsequent books are by his WIFE!! And totally without the hard-paced action we'd become accustomed to!!

There oughta be a LAW against using someone else's pseudonym, don't you think???!!!

Just a great story by a great story teller., 15 Feb 1999
I just wish that Trevanian was more prolific. All his books are readable and some are great. This one is great.

not a Trevanian style, 12 Jul 1998
That book is pretty different from the other pieces of Trevanian. First of all, there is barely action. Well, there are, but these are only details. This is a story of a town, and its ordinary people. While reading it, I went like: "Hey, nothing's happening, yet I still want to keep on reading". That is how I usually react when reading a Steinbeck book. For those who liked Trevainian just by reading Hemlock's adventures, you may not like this one. Yet, it is a great novel. The best part was its conclusion. It suprised me. See, that surely ain't an action novel (other Trevanian book are not either. However someone can just read them as if they are, and miss the depth of the novels).

Ambitious and thoughtful police procedural., 16 Apr 1998
Rod Whitaker's first novel took ten years to write and was preceeded to print by his bestsellers, The Eiger Sanction and The Loo Sanction, and his cowritten film of The Eiger Sanction. Better known as Trevanian, Whitaker's literate (albeit strikingly crass) and acerbic voice is here presented in an unusual third-person, present-tense format; this reveals Whitaker's earlier incarnation as a filmmaker. The story is familiar: an old, streetwise cop is matched with a n uptight, by-the-book rookie to solve a murder. The quality is in the details: the complex social strata of French Canada; a love of Zola; the moral grey areas of life as a beat cop. Fabulous texture and heart-rending sentiment that Trevanian was not to show again until his final novel, The Summer of Katya.

I loved it., 12 Aug 1999
I read it in two days. After I finished, I just sat with it inmy lap and thought about it, musing the characters. I can't say that too many books have had that effect...

WRITE MORE, TREVANIAN...

This isn't the real Trevanian!, 21 May 1999
Once upon a time, I ran across Trevanian's personal secretary in a bookstore in Maryland. She told me the sad, sad story of a man who got divorced and, as part of the divorce settlement, lost his right to the pseudonym! So all subsequent books are by his WIFE!! And totally without the hard-paced action we'd become accustomed to!!

There oughta be a LAW against using someone else's pseudonym, don't you think???!!!

Just a great story by a great story teller., 15 Feb 1999
I just wish that Trevanian was more prolific. All his books are readable and some are great. This one is great.

not a Trevanian style, 12 Jul 1998
That book is pretty different from the other pieces of Trevanian. First of all, there is barely action. Well, there are, but these are only details. This is a story of a town, and its ordinary people. While reading it, I went like: "Hey, nothing's happening, yet I still want to keep on reading". That is how I usually react when reading a Steinbeck book. For those who liked Trevainian just by reading Hemlock's adventures, you may not like this one. Yet, it is a great novel. The best part was its conclusion. It suprised me. See, that surely ain't an action novel (other Trevanian book are not either. However someone can just read them as if they are, and miss the depth of the novels).

Ambitious and thoughtful police procedural., 16 Apr 1998
Rod Whitaker's first novel took ten years to write and was preceeded to print by his bestsellers, The Eiger Sanction and The Loo Sanction, and his cowritten film of The Eiger Sanction. Better known as Trevanian, Whitaker's literate (albeit strikingly crass) and acerbic voice is here presented in an unusual third-person, present-tense format; this reveals Whitaker's earlier incarnation as a filmmaker. The story is familiar: an old, streetwise cop is matched with a n uptight, by-the-book rookie to solve a murder. The quality is in the details: the complex social strata of French Canada; a love of Zola; the moral grey areas of life as a beat cop. Fabulous texture and heart-rending sentiment that Trevanian was not to show again until his final novel, The Summer of Katya.

Unconvincing Ian Fleming wannabe, 20 Aug 2002
A world renowned Art Historian, trained to kill by the US military and recruited by a CIA knock-off Government agency, is assigned to kill an enemy agent on a climb up the Eiger in Switzerland.
This is a book that desperately wants to be James Bond, and just isn't. From the improbably skilled hero (loner, art expert, deadly assassin, connoisseur of the finest things), to the ridiculous names of the female characters (Randie Nickers, anyone? Anyone?), to the predictable-100-pages-before twist at the end, Ian Fleming remains head and shoulders above Trevanian in this style of writing.

Intelligent, pulsating vortex of a thriller, 18 Feb 2002
Trevanian is esteemed by his fans as the finest novelist of the last thirty years. His novels pack a mean bundle of intelligence, originality and excitement, which position him very much in a class of his own. The Eiger Sanction (made into a 1974 blockbuster starring Clint Eastwood)is the tale of an art lecturer who moonlights as an assassin and is coerced by the government into accepting one last assignment before he retires. This involves scaling the north face of the Eiger and killing one of his climbing partners. The
additional complication is that the target's identity has not been revealed and stalker may become prey. Fans of this will also enjoy the sequel 'The Loo Sanction', epic 'Shibumi' and sublime 'The Sunmmer of Katya', the latter of which has got to be the finest most heartrending
love story never filmed.

I loved it., 12 Aug 1999
I read it in two days. After I finished, I just sat with it inmy lap and thought about it, musing the characters. I can't say that too many books have had that effect...

WRITE MORE, TREVANIAN...

This isn't the real Trevanian!, 21 May 1999
Once upon a time, I ran across Trevanian's personal secretary in a bookstore in Maryland. She told me the sad, sad story of a man who got divorced and, as part of the divorce settlement, lost his right to the pseudonym! So all subsequent books are by his WIFE!! And totally without the hard-paced action we'd become accustomed to!!

There oughta be a LAW against using someone else's pseudonym, don't you think???!!!

Just a great story by a great story teller., 15 Feb 1999
I just wish that Trevanian was more prolific. All his books are readable and some are great. This one is great.

not a Trevanian style, 12 Jul 1998
That book is pretty different from the other pieces of Trevanian. First of all, there is barely action. Well, there are, but these are only details. This is a story of a town, and its ordinary people. While reading it, I went like: "Hey, nothing's happening, yet I still want to keep on reading". That is how I usually react when reading a Steinbeck book. For those who liked Trevainian just by reading Hemlock's adventures, you may not like this one. Yet, it is a great novel. The best part was its conclusion. It suprised me. See, that surely ain't an action novel (other Trevanian book are not either. However someone can just read them as if they are, and miss the depth of the novels).

Ambitious and thoughtful police procedural., 16 Apr 1998
Rod Whitaker's first novel took ten years to write and was preceeded to print by his bestsellers, The Eiger Sanction and The Loo Sanction, and his cowritten film of The Eiger Sanction. Better known as Trevanian, Whitaker's literate (albeit strikingly crass) and acerbic voice is here presented in an unusual third-person, present-tense format; this reveals Whitaker's earlier incarnation as a filmmaker. The story is familiar: an old, streetwise cop is matched with a n uptight, by-the-book rookie to solve a murder. The quality is in the details: the complex social strata of French Canada; a love of Zola; the moral grey areas of life as a beat cop. Fabulous texture and heart-rending sentiment that Trevanian was not to show again until his final novel, The Summer of Katya.

Unconvincing Ian Fleming wannabe, 20 Aug 2002
A world renowned Art Historian, trained to kill by the US military and recruited by a CIA knock-off Government agency, is assigned to kill an enemy agent on a climb up the Eiger in Switzerland.
This is a book that desperately wants to be James Bond, and just isn't. From the improbably skilled hero (loner, art expert, deadly assassin, connoisseur of the finest things), to the ridiculous names of the female characters (Randie Nickers, anyone? Anyone?), to the predictable-100-pages-before twist at the end, Ian Fleming remains head and shoulders above Trevanian in this style of writing.

Intelligent, pulsating vortex of a thriller, 18 Feb 2002
Trevanian is esteemed by his fans as the finest novelist of the last thirty years. His novels pack a mean bundle of intelligence, originality and excitement, which position him very much in a class of his own. The Eiger Sanction (made into a 1974 blockbuster starring Clint Eastwood)is the tale of an art lecturer who moonlights as an assassin and is coerced by the government into accepting one last assignment before he retires. This involves scaling the north face of the Eiger and killing one of his climbing partners. The
additional complication is that the target's identity has not been revealed and stalker may become prey. Fans of this will also enjoy the sequel 'The Loo Sanction', epic 'Shibumi' and sublime 'The Sunmmer of Katya', the latter of which has got to be the finest most heartrending
love story never filmed.

Great book!, 09 Sep 2007
I had never heard of Trevanian before and bought the book on a whim. I am so glad I did. I read a lot of books and found this one outstanding. The writing is entertaining and extremely humorous it had me, literally, laughing out loud. I will be buying more books by Trevanian on the strength of this one.