King's Gambit

by George C. Chesbro

Chess, espionage, and redemption are the themes of "King's Gambit", the novel that began a remarkable career. "Chesbro writes wonderfully strange mystery novels. . . . In Chesbro's hands (the events) are not only possible but real enough to make you nervous . . . perfectly calculated, nail-biting tension".--"Boston Sunday Herald".

128 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1976

About the author

George C. Chesbro was an American author of detective fiction. His most notable works feature Dr. Robert "Mongo the Magnificent" Fredrickson, a private detective with dwarfism. He also wrote the novelization of The Golden Child, a movie of the same name starring Eddie Murphy.

Chesbro was born in Washington, D.C. He worked as a special education teacher at Pearl River and later at rockland Psychiatric Center, where he worked with trouble teens. Chebro was married and had one daughter and two step-daughters.

Reviews

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I am a big fan of Chesbro

I loved this book. Chess is something I have always struggled with and just cannot grasp but I love stories about chess and I still think Chess is one of the best ever musicals.

Yes this book is about chess but it's also about politics, loneliness, spies, Russia, and even more. Chesbro is really great at writing outlying characters the reader finds themselves caring about.

The topics are definitely a bit dated but the story still works in 2018.

If you are fan of the Mongo series I would recommend giving this a try. Even if you dislike chess.

[Henry Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

hated to stop reading

It is strange that I became engrossed in a book with a chess backbone. I do not play chess but I yelled “No” when the book ended before the champions played

[Dutch Waterman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chesbro's first novel lacks the luster of his later books.