With this book, I have now read everything by Thomas Harris. A whopping six novels – 4 of which feature Hannibal Lecter. This was not a Lecter novel. It was, in fact, Harris’s first novel and a response to the Munich Olympic massacre in 1972.
Black Sunday
Author: Thomas Harris
Pages: 311
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Published: January 1, 1975
Publisher: Putnam
View on Goodreads
Date Completed: November 10, 2024
My rating: 
Thoughts
For some reason, I’ve put off reading this book for a long time. But when I saw it on a shelf at a Maui Friends of the Library location, I took it as a sign.
The story in this book is told somewhat non-linearly, but it’s not totally clear when that’s happening. So I found myself confused from time to time. I think the non-linear storytelling was a good choice; I just wish it had been made more clear where we were in time.
Overall, the book took a long time to get into because sometimes it didn’t seem like what I was reading was completely necessary to the story. By the end it all came together really well, but I admit it was a slog to get through the first 75% or so of this one. The last 25% though, man, I couldn’t put it down. The pace just ripped through and I couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen next. It really was some edge-of-your-seat stuff.
I really found it interesting that we not only follow the good guys, but that we get to look deeply into the lives of the “bad guys” too. I put that in quotes because of the whole “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter,” but let’s be honest – these folks were true villains in the context of this story. A plot to kill everyone at the Super Bowl, including the US President? That’s some villainous stuff right there. But at the same time, I found myself feeling somewhat sorry for one of the main villains – Michael Lander. He’s an American who’s gone through some stuff. He’s definitely got some antisocial personality disorder characteristics, but his life hasn’t helped things much in that regard.
There was one scene, a short paragraph really, that nearly made me put the book down and DNF it… forever. I get it: Lander’s a really bad dude. Did we need that scene? I would have thought it was better if he somehow did what he did to a baby instead of a little animal. Luckily, the horrific scene does not linger and it is only ever-so-briefly mentioned later. So if you’ve read this far in my review and you haven’t read the book yet but are planning to, uh, trigger warning! (It takes place during a scene where Lander is talking/arguing with his wife. It happens so fast. So fast. Like, it was over before I really realized what had happened.)
As for the good guys, I really liked Kobokov. He was kind of like a Jack Bauer – able to resort to not so good things for good purposes. He was a complex character that I really liked reading about.
The action of the last 25% of the book goes right to the last page and man-oh-man this has a good, if tragic, ending. I won’t say any more than that.
I ended up giving this book 3 out of 5 stars. I really wanted to like it more since I like at least a three of Harris’s other books. I think if I were to re-read this, which I may at some point, I could see bumping this up to a 4 out of 5 stars. Especially now that I know to look for the flashbacks/non-linear-ness of the book.
Now that I’ve read this, the first novel by Thomas Harris, I suppose I should continue through his works… stay tuned.
