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Paul Kavanagh #2
The Triumph of Evil
“If you’re not part of the solution, you must be part of the problem.”
You heard that a lot in the early 1970s, when the country seemed to be teetering on the brink of revolutionary upheaval. Miles Dorn, living quietly in retirement in the U.S., had come a long way from his roots in Central Europe, leaving his past as an assassin and agent provocateur behind him. But as soon as he walks into his house and smells the smoke from a Turkish cigarette, he knows nobody can walk away from the past. It’s always there, and it can reach out at any moment and get hold of you.
He’s recruited for a series of assassinations designed to render his adopted country vulnerable to a political coup. Instead of the elaborate web that’s the staple of conspiracy theorists, he’s one man, working alone.
He’s also a man falling in love, and with a woman a generation too young for him. “We’re the same age, Miles,” she insists. “I’ve known you for exactly as long as you’ve known me.”
Of course he likes the sound of that, but he knows better than to believe it. Just as he knows better than to believe that their love affair—or anything else in his life—has a real chance of working out. But what can he do? Is Dorn part of the solution—or a principal part of the problem?
You heard that a lot in the early 1970s, when the country seemed to be teetering on the brink of revolutionary upheaval. Miles Dorn, living quietly in retirement in the U.S., had come a long way from his roots in Central Europe, leaving his past as an assassin and agent provocateur behind him. But as soon as he walks into his house and smells the smoke from a Turkish cigarette, he knows nobody can walk away from the past. It’s always there, and it can reach out at any moment and get hold of you.
He’s recruited for a series of assassinations designed to render his adopted country vulnerable to a political coup. Instead of the elaborate web that’s the staple of conspiracy theorists, he’s one man, working alone.
He’s also a man falling in love, and with a woman a generation too young for him. “We’re the same age, Miles,” she insists. “I’ve known you for exactly as long as you’ve known me.”
Of course he likes the sound of that, but he knows better than to believe it. Just as he knows better than to believe that their love affair—or anything else in his life—has a real chance of working out. But what can he do? Is Dorn part of the solution—or a principal part of the problem?
126 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
About the author
Lawrence Block
744 books3,026 followersLawrence Block has been writing crime, mystery, and suspense fiction for more than half a century. He has published in excess (oh, wretched excess!) of 100 books, and no end of short stories.
Born in Buffalo, N.Y., LB attended Antioch College, but left before completing his studies; school authorities advised him that they felt he’d be happier elsewhere, and he thought this was remarkably perceptive of them.
His earliest work, published pseudonymously in the late 1950s, was mostly in the field of midcentury erotica, an apprenticeship he shared with Donald E. Westlake and Robert Silverberg. The first time Lawrence Block’s name appeared in print was when his short story “You Can’t Lose” was published in the February 1958 issue of Manhunt. The first book published under his own name was Mona (1961); it was reissued several times over the years, once as Sweet Slow Death. In 2005 it became the first offering from Hard Case Crime, and bore for the first time LB’s original title, Grifter’s Game.
LB is best known for his series characters, including cop-turned-private investigator Matthew Scudder, gentleman burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr, globe-trotting insomniac Evan Tanner, and introspective assassin Keller.
Because one name is never enough, LB has also published under pseudonyms including Jill Emerson, John Warren Wells, Lesley Evans, and Anne Campbell Clarke.
LB’s magazine appearances include American Heritage, Redbook, Playboy, Linn’s Stamp News, Cosmopolitan, GQ, and The New York Times. His monthly instructional column ran in Writer’s Digest for 14 years, and led to a string of books for writers, including the classics Telling Lies for Fun & Profit and The Liar’s Bible. He has also written episodic television (Tilt!) and the Wong Kar-wai film, My Blueberry Nights.
Several of LB’s books have been filmed. The latest, A Walk Among the Tombstones, stars Liam Neeson as Matthew Scudder and is scheduled for release in September, 2014.
LB is a Grand Master of Mystery Writers of America, and a past president of MWA and the Private Eye Writers of America. He has won the Edgar and Shamus awards four times each, and the Japanese Maltese Falcon award twice, as well as the Nero Wolfe and Philip Marlowe awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, and the Diamond Dagger for Life Achievement from the Crime Writers Association (UK). He’s also been honored with the Gumshoe Lifetime Achievement Award from Mystery Ink magazine and the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement in the short story. In France, he has been proclaimed a Grand Maitre du Roman Noir and has twice been awarded the Societe 813 trophy. He has been a guest of honor at Bouchercon and at book fairs and mystery festivals in France, Germany, Australia, Italy, New Zealand, Spain and Taiwan. As if that were not enough, he was also presented with the key to the city of Muncie, Indiana. (But as soon as he left, they changed the locks.)
LB and his wife Lynne are enthusiastic New Yorkers and relentless world travelers; the two are members of the Travelers Century Club, and have visited around 160 countries.
He is a modest and humble fellow, although you would never guess as much from this biographical note.
Born in Buffalo, N.Y., LB attended Antioch College, but left before completing his studies; school authorities advised him that they felt he’d be happier elsewhere, and he thought this was remarkably perceptive of them.
His earliest work, published pseudonymously in the late 1950s, was mostly in the field of midcentury erotica, an apprenticeship he shared with Donald E. Westlake and Robert Silverberg. The first time Lawrence Block’s name appeared in print was when his short story “You Can’t Lose” was published in the February 1958 issue of Manhunt. The first book published under his own name was Mona (1961); it was reissued several times over the years, once as Sweet Slow Death. In 2005 it became the first offering from Hard Case Crime, and bore for the first time LB’s original title, Grifter’s Game.
LB is best known for his series characters, including cop-turned-private investigator Matthew Scudder, gentleman burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr, globe-trotting insomniac Evan Tanner, and introspective assassin Keller.
Because one name is never enough, LB has also published under pseudonyms including Jill Emerson, John Warren Wells, Lesley Evans, and Anne Campbell Clarke.
LB’s magazine appearances include American Heritage, Redbook, Playboy, Linn’s Stamp News, Cosmopolitan, GQ, and The New York Times. His monthly instructional column ran in Writer’s Digest for 14 years, and led to a string of books for writers, including the classics Telling Lies for Fun & Profit and The Liar’s Bible. He has also written episodic television (Tilt!) and the Wong Kar-wai film, My Blueberry Nights.
Several of LB’s books have been filmed. The latest, A Walk Among the Tombstones, stars Liam Neeson as Matthew Scudder and is scheduled for release in September, 2014.
LB is a Grand Master of Mystery Writers of America, and a past president of MWA and the Private Eye Writers of America. He has won the Edgar and Shamus awards four times each, and the Japanese Maltese Falcon award twice, as well as the Nero Wolfe and Philip Marlowe awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, and the Diamond Dagger for Life Achievement from the Crime Writers Association (UK). He’s also been honored with the Gumshoe Lifetime Achievement Award from Mystery Ink magazine and the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement in the short story. In France, he has been proclaimed a Grand Maitre du Roman Noir and has twice been awarded the Societe 813 trophy. He has been a guest of honor at Bouchercon and at book fairs and mystery festivals in France, Germany, Australia, Italy, New Zealand, Spain and Taiwan. As if that were not enough, he was also presented with the key to the city of Muncie, Indiana. (But as soon as he left, they changed the locks.)
LB and his wife Lynne are enthusiastic New Yorkers and relentless world travelers; the two are members of the Travelers Century Club, and have visited around 160 countries.
He is a modest and humble fellow, although you would never guess as much from this biographical note.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
August 16, 2013
I thought I knew Lawrence Block by now. I’ve read all of his Matt Scudder and Keller novels, several of the Bernie Rhodenbarr burglar books as well as all of his Hard Case Crime reprints and one of his short stories collections. Granted, he’s got more out there, but I like to think that I’m pretty well versed on his work. But every once in a while he throws me a curve ball that leaves me shaking my head and saying, “What the hell was THAT??”
I can add The Triumph of Evil to that category. I’d never heard of this one and came across it while trolling through a used bookstore. Written in 1971 and only 126 pages, it’s an intriguing mix of conspiracy theory, political science, sociology and murder. Oh, yeah. It’s a love story, too.
Miles Dorn is a fifty-ish former assassin who has retired to a small southern college town where he entertains himself by tutoring foreign languages. Miles is contacted by an old colleague who is representing some powerful interests with an ambitious plan. They see the growing gap between left and right wing political interests in the chaos of the late ‘60s as an opportunity to push the U.S. to extremes of both sides with a wave of calculated assassinations of key leaders and by provoking more incidents like Kent State to destroy the political center. The theory being that the right wingers outnumber the left wingers, and that when there are no more moderates, the far right will be the winner. And they’ve already got a new president picked out and are grooming him to offer a seemingly reasonable conservative candidate who will actually continue to push the country in the direction they’ve chosen.
(The gods of reading are mocking me here because I just got done reading a great book blasting the notion of conspiracy theories. Then I read this and start thinking about the ‘70s and Ronald Reagan. Ah, there’s my old friend, paranoia.)
Miles is brought in to take out six key figures representing both sides of the left and right wing in politics and labor interests. As he works on his list, the news is filled with other incidents that he attributes to the group he’s working for. There’s one other complication. Miles has fallen for a student he’s been coaching in German, and he’s starting to have second thoughts about his line of work.
Block took the conspiracy theories that sprang up during this time frame to build a chilling story of how the manipulation of public opinion can be easily accomplished by orchestrating violence. And while he was predicting that the left wing would turn to more radical violent acts than actually happened, he did predict the ultimate destruction of the political center in America that seems to have come about. The twists the book takes are unpredictable and the character of Miles has a lot of depth in the different ways we see him act while carrying out his mission, while explaining his personal views of politics and history and his unexpected love for his student.
All this in a 126 pages. Freakin' Lawrence Block.....
I can add The Triumph of Evil to that category. I’d never heard of this one and came across it while trolling through a used bookstore. Written in 1971 and only 126 pages, it’s an intriguing mix of conspiracy theory, political science, sociology and murder. Oh, yeah. It’s a love story, too.
Miles Dorn is a fifty-ish former assassin who has retired to a small southern college town where he entertains himself by tutoring foreign languages. Miles is contacted by an old colleague who is representing some powerful interests with an ambitious plan. They see the growing gap between left and right wing political interests in the chaos of the late ‘60s as an opportunity to push the U.S. to extremes of both sides with a wave of calculated assassinations of key leaders and by provoking more incidents like Kent State to destroy the political center. The theory being that the right wingers outnumber the left wingers, and that when there are no more moderates, the far right will be the winner. And they’ve already got a new president picked out and are grooming him to offer a seemingly reasonable conservative candidate who will actually continue to push the country in the direction they’ve chosen.
(The gods of reading are mocking me here because I just got done reading a great book blasting the notion of conspiracy theories. Then I read this and start thinking about the ‘70s and Ronald Reagan. Ah, there’s my old friend, paranoia.)
Miles is brought in to take out six key figures representing both sides of the left and right wing in politics and labor interests. As he works on his list, the news is filled with other incidents that he attributes to the group he’s working for. There’s one other complication. Miles has fallen for a student he’s been coaching in German, and he’s starting to have second thoughts about his line of work.
Block took the conspiracy theories that sprang up during this time frame to build a chilling story of how the manipulation of public opinion can be easily accomplished by orchestrating violence. And while he was predicting that the left wing would turn to more radical violent acts than actually happened, he did predict the ultimate destruction of the political center in America that seems to have come about. The twists the book takes are unpredictable and the character of Miles has a lot of depth in the different ways we see him act while carrying out his mission, while explaining his personal views of politics and history and his unexpected love for his student.
All this in a 126 pages. Freakin' Lawrence Block.....
August 27, 2016
Lawrence Block has lately been self-publishing a lot of his old crime and 'erotica' novels that he was churning out in the 60's and 70's under pen names. The erotica re-issues are surprisingly weird (well the couple of I've read) in a good way (that anyone would have bought them as erotica is kind of bizarre to me, but what do I know about reading habits of pulp novels in the 60's. They stand above the crime novels he's been re-issuing just because he has been able to get the original artwork to go along with them. The crime novels all have a bland journal / notebook type cover. Boring.
I wasn't sure how to rate this one. I hovered over giving it two stars, just because it's Lawrence Block and I have higher expectations for how much I'll enjoy a book from him than I experienced reading this.
But I usually give two stars to something I have an actual problem with, and my only problem with this was that there seemed to be something missing.
The main character is an aging assassin whose been hired to kill some people in early 1970's America. The people are all high profile political figures, some on the left and some on the right. A shadowy group of some sort is looking to stir up even more anger among the right and left and bring about a situation reminiscent of the Weimer Republic.
I thought I'd like this more since it's conspiracies and the dark underbelly of the 60' and 70's. But then again going into any book dealing with this kind of thing has me just singing, "Ellroy, Ellroy, Ellroy, Ellroy, Ellroy" in my head. And so little can live up to my total love for his demented retelling of that time period.
I wasn't sure how to rate this one. I hovered over giving it two stars, just because it's Lawrence Block and I have higher expectations for how much I'll enjoy a book from him than I experienced reading this.
But I usually give two stars to something I have an actual problem with, and my only problem with this was that there seemed to be something missing.
The main character is an aging assassin whose been hired to kill some people in early 1970's America. The people are all high profile political figures, some on the left and some on the right. A shadowy group of some sort is looking to stir up even more anger among the right and left and bring about a situation reminiscent of the Weimer Republic.
I thought I'd like this more since it's conspiracies and the dark underbelly of the 60' and 70's. But then again going into any book dealing with this kind of thing has me just singing, "Ellroy, Ellroy, Ellroy, Ellroy, Ellroy" in my head. And so little can live up to my total love for his demented retelling of that time period.
June 1, 2025
I round up to a three because it's Block, and at least the writing is done well. I like parts of the Miles Dorn character, who is an aging assassin tasked to take out political leaders to cause enough havoc to get a certain candidate elected. He unfortunately and unbelievably falls heads over heals for a young hippie girl, which is the bulk of the novel. He has a plan of his own, which makes little sense, but then nobody makes much sense in this one.
Can't recommend, again, the actual writing is pretty good, Block could write from the womb it seems like. Though the story is just sluggish and dull, and most of the characters are one-dimensional. All I can say is how can you make a 126pg book about a political assassin dull? Well, Block found a way.
Can't recommend, again, the actual writing is pretty good, Block could write from the womb it seems like. Though the story is just sluggish and dull, and most of the characters are one-dimensional. All I can say is how can you make a 126pg book about a political assassin dull? Well, Block found a way.
September 25, 2014
I love Block and have read numerous quality novels penned by this author. But this was a shocker. I found it confusing and fragmented. I gave up after about a third of the book, I just knew I wasn't going to understand this let alone enjoy it. Sorry LB, the worst I've come across from you.
August 23, 2017
Block sees the future a year before I was born, and the future is now.
January 23, 2017
Wow. This book isn't the smoothest read, not initially anyway, but it's for sure among the most cerebral thrillers I've ever read. And considering it was published in 1971 (meaning Block must have been working on it well before that), it's pretty fascinating--and, in a word, prescient. Knowing the plot revolves around a series of political assassinations, consider the following passage, which happens fairly early on when the would-be assassin is trying to be convinced that his involvement is necessary lest the country follow a certain path:
"An effective demagogue will surface on the right. He will be well-financed--he had better be damn well-financed--by the dissident eastern financial interests, the ones who I gather have money and power.... When he emerges, the rightest fringe will abandon their little groups and quietly merge under his standard. His program will be anti-black and anti-Red and anti-intellectual. He will talk a great deal about the nation's destiny and rightful place in the world. He will blame the failure to liquidate the guerrillas on treason in high places....
"If it works, he will mobilize the lumpenproletariat.... He will draw his strength from this group. His secondary strength will come from that large portion of the populace that is basically apolitical in more normal times. They will see him as a respite from chaos."
I found it sort of eerie reading those words here in January 2017, a couple days after our latest inauguration. But then a bit later the eerie quotient was amped. The book's leading potential demagogue has given a speech in LA (to "a crowd of New American Patriots"), and afterward his bodyguards beat up a group of potential protesters attempting to enter the hall:
"Look at them," he exhorted his hearers [referring to his contingent of bodyguards]. "They are not long-haired or unkempt or wild-eyed. They are the sort of young men who made America great. They are the young men who will make America great once again."
Shivery. Almost extrasensory.
Anyway, I gather from other reviews here that Block fans consider this one pretty much at the bottom of his oeuvre. I'm not sure if they wrote those reviews prior to the past year or more. I've read only a few of Block's others and can see this one isn't necessarily business as usual for him, but I think it deserves more consideration. It's at the very least made me a little more in awe of his work.
First line:
"When the doorbell rang, he was sitting at the kitchen table drinking tea and watching baby birds."
"An effective demagogue will surface on the right. He will be well-financed--he had better be damn well-financed--by the dissident eastern financial interests, the ones who I gather have money and power.... When he emerges, the rightest fringe will abandon their little groups and quietly merge under his standard. His program will be anti-black and anti-Red and anti-intellectual. He will talk a great deal about the nation's destiny and rightful place in the world. He will blame the failure to liquidate the guerrillas on treason in high places....
"If it works, he will mobilize the lumpenproletariat.... He will draw his strength from this group. His secondary strength will come from that large portion of the populace that is basically apolitical in more normal times. They will see him as a respite from chaos."
I found it sort of eerie reading those words here in January 2017, a couple days after our latest inauguration. But then a bit later the eerie quotient was amped. The book's leading potential demagogue has given a speech in LA (to "a crowd of New American Patriots"), and afterward his bodyguards beat up a group of potential protesters attempting to enter the hall:
"Look at them," he exhorted his hearers [referring to his contingent of bodyguards]. "They are not long-haired or unkempt or wild-eyed. They are the sort of young men who made America great. They are the young men who will make America great once again."
Shivery. Almost extrasensory.
Anyway, I gather from other reviews here that Block fans consider this one pretty much at the bottom of his oeuvre. I'm not sure if they wrote those reviews prior to the past year or more. I've read only a few of Block's others and can see this one isn't necessarily business as usual for him, but I think it deserves more consideration. It's at the very least made me a little more in awe of his work.
First line:
"When the doorbell rang, he was sitting at the kitchen table drinking tea and watching baby birds."
March 17, 2017
Typically fascinating Block. Stunned to find, in this book first published in 1972, the phrase "Make America Great Again" in the mouth of a racist politician . . .
March 19, 2024
This one's a bit of an oddity. I know Block is diverse--mostly crime, but occasional forays into other genres--but even so, this one feels like an outlier, despite its crime-novel elements. It's more of apolitical thriller, except the actual thriller stuff you'd expect isn't really here. Milos Dorn is an assassin who has retired but who is recruited for a big job: creating chaos in the USA to try to instigate a regime change. Consequently, despite being very much a novel of its time (1971, a year after Kent State, which is reference; two years after Manson, who isn't, though race war is important here), it's also eerily relevant today. One demagogue even wants to "make America great once again." Despite this plot focus, though, the novel has pretensions to literary and philosophical depth. Heck, the guy who sets the plot in motion is called Heidegger, for pete's sake! So, we get some rather unsubtle symbolism (baby robins emerging form their nest; one gets killed by a cat), and we have a well-read protagonist who can cite Eliot, among others. (Coincidentally, I recently finished Stephen King's Billy Summers, and this idea of the well-read killer--along with manty other elements--occur in both books, also I am sure coincidentally.) Dorn also falls in love with and becomes involved with a young hippie-ish hottie, the only person he ever loved, or who ever knew him (not quoting here, but yeah, the novel says this kind of thing), so we have him off killing political figures juxtaposed with the love scenes. Given the plot--six assassinations to carry out, plus a love plot--one might think this would be a longish book, but it's a remarkably economical 126 pages. Block's style is more than concise here, even minimalist. There's also a slightly stilted aspect to the prose, perhaps an attempt to reflect Dorn's background as a Croat, though the novel is not written in the first person. Anyway, this is an interesting curiosity, definitely of interest to Block fans, possibly to thriller fans who don't mind the mayhem not actually getting much narrative attention.
January 8, 2021
Meet Miles Dorn, a retired assassin who had plied his trade in Central Europe in the ’70s, then moved to the United States to escape his past. In the United States, the time was right for political upheaval, for a coup to shake the very foundation and change direction. Miles was recruited to implement this change. One man, to alter history. Miles’ manager, Eric Heidinger is quite the linguist. His dialogue with Miles always made me smile. He is quite witty and seemed very educated. The hit list, comprised of labor and political leaders, was given to Miles to execute. In the following weeks, Miles met Jocelyn; a politically savvy young student half Miles’ age. I don’t believe Miles had ever been in love, and this growing relationship had him rethinking much of his prior and present life. As we follow Miles, we find him changing, contemplating, justifying, and condemning his choices in life. This third-person narrative is exquisite in its delivery. The excellent narration by Alan Sklar has you present in Miles’ thoughts. This short novel is wonderful, prescience in events that came to be, and the love story; the love story is beautiful and captivating.
January 22, 2018
The tale of an assassin who has been ordered to kill people that will change the political landscape of America. Love saves him (sort of). Sadly, a lot of what is said in the book is more true today. But I don't know, the book was good, it was just missing something for me. And the ending was a little weak. Still, pretty engaging none the less.
September 18, 2023
3 rounded up to 3.5 due to Block's uncanny ability to foresee the US circa 2020 . An evil US politician throwing around the phrase 'Make America Great Again'. Yikes
As far as hit men go, I prefer Keller, but I guess there's a reason this was written under a pen name. Having said that, I'd read the phone book if it was written by Block.
As far as hit men go, I prefer Keller, but I guess there's a reason this was written under a pen name. Having said that, I'd read the phone book if it was written by Block.
January 16, 2020
Dated, but quite good. An assassin is brought out of retirement and deals with the problems of liking his employer, falling in love, and making several difficult decisions. Very different from any Block I've read before.
April 2, 2022
Good Block writing but the plot was messy.
October 4, 2022
The political characters in this book parallel many real-life politicians today. It is an interesting idea and Block gets extra points for predicting many parts of the future through fiction.
September 11, 2023
Somewhat difficult to follow even convoluted. Weirdly prescient.
July 23, 2024
I read this book by accident, but generally enjoyed it despite not being of my choice-genre.
December 20, 2024
strange story could take place today.
April 21, 2026
Read this for a book discussion. I don't care for crime novels. Glad it was short.
April 5, 2025
"The mistake everyone makes is to believe that the alternative to change is preservation of the status quo. And this is so rarely true. The alternative to change is another sort of change."
Miles Dorn is a semi-retired Croatian assassin living in South Carolina. He fills his idle days tutoring local college students in foreign languages and watching robins nest in his backyard. Then one day, he is given an assignment to murder six prominent politicians of different beliefs and allegiances across the political spectrum in order to deliver the American government into the hands of a fascist leader:
"A governor, a senator, a labor leader, two mayors. A vice-president. Worms to feed my baby robins. Men to nourish worms."
Despite being a fan of Lawrence Block for many years, I resisted reading this 1971 novel just because the kill-the-Vice-President storyline has been done to death. However, I should not have worried. Like Isaac Asimov, Lawrence Block simply cannot write a bad novel.
This short exercise in crime noir also doubles as a snapshot of the American political system in crisis with some penetrating social commentary. It is anchored by conversations between Dorn, with his European sense of political movements, and his left-leaning hippie activist German-language student, Jocelyn.
The details of the plot as Dorn stakes out his marks and carries out his mission are firmly rooted in the political paranoia after the killings of JFK, RFK, MLK, and Malcolm X. Frustration over Vietnam and Communist fears percolate in the background.
However, the dangers of the radical Right and the radical Left (and the disappearing Center) resonate just as much in 2025. One of Block's politico leaders even uses the phrase "make America great once again" in his speech.
I alternated between the Kindle edition and the audiobook narrated by Alan Sklar.
4 stars.
Miles Dorn is a semi-retired Croatian assassin living in South Carolina. He fills his idle days tutoring local college students in foreign languages and watching robins nest in his backyard. Then one day, he is given an assignment to murder six prominent politicians of different beliefs and allegiances across the political spectrum in order to deliver the American government into the hands of a fascist leader:
"A governor, a senator, a labor leader, two mayors. A vice-president. Worms to feed my baby robins. Men to nourish worms."
Despite being a fan of Lawrence Block for many years, I resisted reading this 1971 novel just because the kill-the-Vice-President storyline has been done to death. However, I should not have worried. Like Isaac Asimov, Lawrence Block simply cannot write a bad novel.
This short exercise in crime noir also doubles as a snapshot of the American political system in crisis with some penetrating social commentary. It is anchored by conversations between Dorn, with his European sense of political movements, and his left-leaning hippie activist German-language student, Jocelyn.
The details of the plot as Dorn stakes out his marks and carries out his mission are firmly rooted in the political paranoia after the killings of JFK, RFK, MLK, and Malcolm X. Frustration over Vietnam and Communist fears percolate in the background.
However, the dangers of the radical Right and the radical Left (and the disappearing Center) resonate just as much in 2025. One of Block's politico leaders even uses the phrase "make America great once again" in his speech.
I alternated between the Kindle edition and the audiobook narrated by Alan Sklar.
4 stars.
February 27, 2017
6.5/10
204 pages
Political thriller from Lawrence Block set in the late 60s / early 70s, featuring a European assassin who has been tasked with targeting several influential political leaders. Crisscrossing the assassin arc is a love story with an impressionable young woman.
Sometimes hard to follow, Triumph of Evil does intrigue. Understanding the period it was written for is essential. Nothing special, but a quick read nonetheless.
204 pages
Political thriller from Lawrence Block set in the late 60s / early 70s, featuring a European assassin who has been tasked with targeting several influential political leaders. Crisscrossing the assassin arc is a love story with an impressionable young woman.
Sometimes hard to follow, Triumph of Evil does intrigue. Understanding the period it was written for is essential. Nothing special, but a quick read nonetheless.
September 9, 2014
“The mistake everyone makes is to believe that the alternative to change is preservation of the status quo. And this is so rarely true. The alternative to change is another sort of change.”
This was written immediately after the original Tanner series (although originally published under a pseudonym), and with a not-too-dissimilar feel to it, albeit with a much darker tone. Yet even though the Balkans or Baltics have changed much more significantly than the US since the 1960s, this book seems more dated. Maybe it's just trapped in the uncanny valley, where too much of it is still recognisable and plausible, making the parts that aren't jar too much.
NB: The reissued ebook seems to have been created by OCRing an original, as there are quite a few errors in the text (‘to’ becoming ‘lo’; ‘face’ becoming ‘fare’; a somewhat humorous ‘Central Pink West’ etc.)
This was written immediately after the original Tanner series (although originally published under a pseudonym), and with a not-too-dissimilar feel to it, albeit with a much darker tone. Yet even though the Balkans or Baltics have changed much more significantly than the US since the 1960s, this book seems more dated. Maybe it's just trapped in the uncanny valley, where too much of it is still recognisable and plausible, making the parts that aren't jar too much.
NB: The reissued ebook seems to have been created by OCRing an original, as there are quite a few errors in the text (‘to’ becoming ‘lo’; ‘face’ becoming ‘fare’; a somewhat humorous ‘Central Pink West’ etc.)
October 3, 2009
I just finished this. It's a tale written in 1971 of a group that decides the country is going to the left and employs an assassin to kill several political leaders to cause distrust between groups and political revolution. Very disturbing to read it with the current shouting match going on in the media.
February 7, 2014
My least favorite Block book to date. Mostly it's problem is it's so short it feels more like the outline for a novel than a real novel. I could see a modern day adaptation of this since many of the politics of it are still relevant today.
December 23, 2014
A tumbling time!_
Thinking back to the 60s and the questions we all had- I like the fact that one man seem to do it all.
The love aspect was fun- I enjoyed his justification even though unreasonable.
Thinking back to the 60s and the questions we all had- I like the fact that one man seem to do it all.
The love aspect was fun- I enjoyed his justification even though unreasonable.
February 27, 2016
Written by Lawrence Block as Paul Kavanagh.
Thriller - Miles Dorn is an assassin hired to eliminate five national figures to facilitate the overthrow of the US government. What effect will his growing relationship with young university dropout Jocelyn have on his mission?
Thriller - Miles Dorn is an assassin hired to eliminate five national figures to facilitate the overthrow of the US government. What effect will his growing relationship with young university dropout Jocelyn have on his mission?
Want to Read
September 28, 2009AKA: Sheldon Lord, Jill Emerson, Paul Kavanaugh, Chip Harrison, Lawrence Block
February 26, 2019
Solid crime story
July 2, 2013
Well written but not a great tale.
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