Six Days of the Condor

By James Grady

The novel that inspired the Robert Redford film Three Days of the Condor.

Sandwiches save Ronald Malcolm's life. On the day that gunmen pay a visit to the American Literary Historical Society, he's out at lunch. The Society is actually a backwater of the Central Intelligence Agency, where Malcolm and a few other bookworms comb mystery novels for clues that might unlock real life diplomatic questions. One of his colleagues has learned something he wasn't meant to know. A sinister conspiracy has penetrated the CIA, and the gunmen are its representatives. They massacre the office, and only learn later of Malcolm -- a loose end that needs to be dealt with.

Malcolm -- codename Condor -- calls his handlers at the Agency, hoping for a safe haven, instead drawing another attempt on his life. With no one left to trust he goes on the run. But like it or not, Malcolm is the only person who can root out the corruption at the highest levels of the CIA.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Head of Zeus
• Release date: Jun 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781784085131

James Grady

James Grady is the award-winning author of more than a dozen novels and three times as many short stories. His first novel, Six Days of the Condor, became the classic Robert Redford movie Three Days of the Condor and the current Max Irons TV series Condor. A Mystery Writers of America Edgar finalist, he has received Italy’s Raymond Chandler Medal, France’s Grand Prix Du Roman Noir, Japan’s Baka-Misu literature award, and two Regardie's magazine short-story awards.

Reviews for Six Days of the Condor

[michael_lilly-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

One of the few book to movie pairs in which the movie is much better than the book. The book has all the hallmarks of a young man's first novel. Unlikely plot burdened with outrageous coincidences, strained dialog, hackneyed phrases, and more. Still, the plot moves along like a thriller should, not as well as the movie moves, but good. I read it years ago when it first came out and liked it more, but then i was young too at the time.

[stahl2ricco · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"Who guards the guardians?"So, a part of the CIA attacks another part of the CIA, and the Condor is caught in the middle, literally "Malcom" is in the middle!!! And then, he goes to work! This is a short, slam bang action thriller with lots of alphabet agencies and multiple pawns being moved around D.C.! A nice, quick summer read!

[hardlyhardy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This spy thriller moves so fast you may be finished with it before you realize it's almost as far fetched as last night's dream.Ronald Malcolm, code name Condor, works for the CIA, but the closest he comes to cloak and dagger stuff is reading spy novels. That's his job -- reading and analyzing the latest spy fiction to see if he can find anything in it the real spies haven't thought of yet. The most exciting part of his day is watching a certain beauty pass his window every morning.But then one day while he is out of his office on an errand, some men show up with a machine gun and kill all of his associates in Section 9, Department 17.The rest of the novel is one long, breathless chase, as Malcolm runs for his life from both the unknown killers and from the CIA, which has a traitor in its midst.

[bcquinnsmom · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The national headquarters of the American Literary Historical Society is in Washington, DC, its purpose ostensibly for literary analysis, advance and achievement. No one goes there and takes tours -- they can't get past the main desk without proper clearance. In reality, it's a CIA office where people read and analyze mystery and spy novels (what a dream job!) to seek out correlations between fiction and fact. One of the employees there, Ronald Malcolm, advises another employee (Heidegger) to ignore it when he finds a record for two crates of books that the society never received, but for which they had paid. Malcolm's advice was not followed. Shortly after this, it's Malcolm's turn to go out and get lunch for the group, which he does, taking his time. Upon his return, he finds everyone at the society dead. Sizing up the situation, he realizes that now he's in danger, and he does what he's been trained to do: calls the panic line at CIA headquarters, where he identifies himself as Condor. From this point, things go horribly wrong for Malcolm, and he finds himself on the run, with his life on the line.An awesome book -- you seriously don't know who you can trust in this story which heightens the experience and the aura of suspense which builds throughout. Even 34 years later this book still has the ability to keep you turning pages. Recommended for people who enjoy espionage fiction, suspense or people who like stories about the CIA.

[brettjames · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book, and the subsequent movie entitled, "The three Days of the Condor," tell you everything you need to know about adapting novels to the screen.

[james_patrick_joyce · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a very enjoyable read.

Malcolm reads and writes reviews, for a living. For the CIA. Someone learned something he wasn't supposed to and Malcolm and all his co-workers are supposed to be killed. But Malcolm wasn't there. And he's on the run, with no idea who to trust.

Probably a fairly standard spy thriller. If you've seen the movie, it's a very faithful adaptation of the book.

[eyejaybee · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This was one of those rare instances where the cinema adaptation is so much better than the book that inspired it. The film, with Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway, is an espionage classic, with Redford excelling as the slightly naïve operative who, by dint of being absent on an errand at the critical moment, escapes being murdered when a hit squad storms his office.In the film, the tension is maintained throughout, and the viewer's attention is held, effortlessly. Sadly, I found that the reverse was the case with the book, and it required a concerted effort to persevere through to the end