ROSS THOMAS – The Cold War Swap. William Morrow, 1966. Paperback reprints include: Avon, 1967; Pocket, 1976; Perennial Library, 1984,1986; Mysterious Press, 1992.

   Awed by the reputation of its author and his Edgar-winning first novel, I have made three attempts to get through Ross Thomas’s The Cold War Swap. The third, and most recent, try, in a reprint from Perennial Library, was not the charm, and I gave up at page seventy.

   This spy story, set on both sides of Germany’s wall, shows patches of good writing but is basically contrived with cynical, uninteresting characters caught in the usual web of international treachery.

   Seemingly to pad the book, Thomas has his characters consume an incredible amount of alcohol. If it were possible to get cirrhosis from reading a book, I would now have liver disease. Instead, I merely acquired a case of acute boredom.

[UPDATE] 05-23-09. I asked Marv if by chance he’d had a change of heart about his review of The Cold War Swap since he wrote the review above. It’s over 20 years old, after all. His reply was, “No change in my opinion of that book. Three times is enough, so go ahead and print what I wrote.”

   I’ll be pairing Marv’s comments off with the review that appeared in 1001 Midnights. It will be coming up next, or it will very soon. Look for it in another five to ten minutes.