The Memory Man

by John Griffiths

Book by Griffiths, John

307 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.

Reviews

[Geof · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a so-so Cold War thriller written in 1981 that I did not finish. The premise is that the Soviet Union has a new anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system that will alter the arms parity. A Soviet scientist wishes to give the keys to the ABM to the United States to avoid a nuclear holocaust. The CIA, pressed for time, enlists a number of civilians, the main one being an American chess master currently in Russia for a chess tournament. Arden Wylie is his name and he has a photographic memory, capable of remember complex scientific things that he knows nothing of.

Later he demands $500,000 from the CIA for the information. The CIA balks and starts searching Europe for him. The KGB is also looking for him to contain the situation. Somethings happen after that which I have no knowledge of as I found the book kind of annoying.

The most annoying part of the book was the printing. It is printed straight from the spine of the book with no margin. It is a miracle that the spine is not completely cracked due to the original owner and myself trying to read the words next to the spine. I surmise that the original owner also quit the book before finishing it.

The bottom line is that it is neither good nor bad. It is what it is.