Wind Chill Factor

John Cooper #1

by Thomas Gifford

A rollercoaster thriller about terror taking over the world written by Thomas Gifford in 1975. 376 pages.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Adventure, American, Nazi Party

376 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Thomas Eugene Gifford was a best-selling American author of thriller novels. He gained international fame with the suspense novel The Wind Chill Factor and later with the Vatican-based thriller The Assassini .

After graduating from Harvard he moved to the Twin Cities, MN where he and his wife, Kari Sandven, had two children (Thomas Eaton, Rachel Claire). Divorced in 1969, he went on to marry Camille D'Ambrose, a local actress. They moved to Los Angeles for a few years, then returned to Orono, MN. Novels continued to flow from his fountain pen through the years. Gifford eventually moved to New York--a city he loved whose people were of infinite importance to him.

In 1996, he turned his attention to renovating his childhood home in Dubuque, spending more time in Iowa than New York during his last years. He embraced the community of Dubuque, as they embraced their prodigal son. Featured in the Dubuque Telegraph Herald, Gifford recounted his every day occurrences, from learning the pleasure of getting a dog (Katie Maxwell, the Scottie) to peeves and pleasures of the town.

Diagnosed with terminal cancer in February, 2000, Gifford spent his remaining months reading, watching old movies, and chatting with friends and family. He passed away on an unseasonably warm Halloween, just as the ghosts and goblins started their tricks.

Gifford lived life large, had friends throughout the world, and lived life by his favorite credo--we're not here for a long time; we're here for a good time.

Gifford also published under the names Dana Clarins and Thomas Maxwell.

Reviews

[Feliks · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're dismissing this now-obscure thriller as weak or undistinguished; consider this: you're maybe not as dedicated to the genre as much as you might be.

There's many fine qualities in this work which casual readers typically bypass. For one thing, it was very nearly released as a major motion picture. Give it its due--consider how hard it is to bring a thriller to the screen and just how close this one came. You can see the film production specs on the book cover! This attests to the fact that someone in Hollywood saw merit in it; and merit was not easy to earn in the mid '70s.

For another: it was the first--or among the very first--modern novels of international intrigue which was truly 'international' in scope. The incredible plot traverses multiple continents and locales; from sleepy towns in the American mid-west to the exotic capitals of Europe and South America. This is done routinely these days, but Gifford was an early pioneer in bringing broad, world-wide scope to this kind of tale.

Gifford's writing itself is of a respectably high caliber. Smooth; textured; effortlessly-flowing; personal; vivid; evocative.

He succeeds where most of his peers fail, combining a very fast paced, violent mystery with vivid 'everyday'-type characters; resonant emotions; and credible motivations. His lead character is not James Bond or Superman; (in fact he is continually making mistakes and almost getting himself killed).

There's also a special bonus in the story's two romances. Most thriller fiction contains women which are faintly/thinly conceived. But both 'Paula' and 'Lisle'--and what happens to them--are hauntingly drawn. Themes of loyalty, too: Detective Olaf Peterson, (a character- name I can still recall years later, as I'm writing this review) is one of the genre's great supporting sidekicks.

And you simply have to give a nod of respect to a story which involves giant submarines and men in possession of their own private islands. The story also has some of the best 'wintry weather' any writer has ever described.

Conclusion: sure, maybe this is Gifford's only real 'standout work' --but if he only has this one; its certainly enough to mention him in the top tier with Follett and Forsyth. Ranked against all other thrillers which deal with neo-Nazism, "Wind Chill" is clearly the best of breed. Better than 'The Formula'; better than 'The Odessa File'; even better than 'The Quiller Memorandum'.

Jut gotta love this thriller written in the best manifestation of 'classic thriller style'. Dark, bitter, twisted, grim.

[Checkman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing unusual. I first read this book back in the 80's as a high school student. I thought it was very impressive at the time. But time changes things. The second time around it's a product of it's time (mid-70's) and reminded me of an old Alfred Hitchcock movie (actually the narrator refers to Hitchcock more than once in the course of the story). Meaning that while it might have scared contemporary audiences it seems hopelessly out of date in 2012. You know the story, The Fourth Reich (one of the Boogeymen of the 1970's) is not dead. It has infiltrated governments all over the world and our hero stumbles across evidence of the conspiracy. People begin to die and there is an investigation that takes him from the United States to Argentina to Europe and back to the U.S. for the not so shocking final revelations. Most people will figure out what those revelations approximately half way through the book.

This isn't a terrible book. It's just that some novels age better than others and ,despite the plot-line, there is just something special about the writing, characters etc. Which is why some novels survive to become classics and others (like The Wind Chime Legacy) eventually go out of print and become staples of used bookstores and garage sales.

If you're at the beach for a long weekend or are stuck at your parents without anything to read from your library this book isn't a bad way to go. It will at least burn a few hours. Sort of like watching an average thriller from the late sixties. Goes down okay and has a few predictable twists.

[Julio The Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best of the "What if the Nazis had taken over the world?" novels. Hint: They already have! Second generation Nazis are everywhere but respectable, so no one notices. Gifford's novel bounces back and forth between the hero discovering a dark family secret and exposing a vast fascist worldwide web of power and corruption. The son of a prominent World War II American hero returns to his home town, freezing under the wind chill factor, to find his brother dead and the family papers missing. Pretty soon, the whole village is up in flames and someone is blowing up everything is sight. But who? Who wants to erase his family history, at the point of arson and murder? The mystery is too good for him to pass up.

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, that was... increasingly surreal.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nazis in 1970's, family in Cooper's Falls, Minnesota.
People keep getting killed, including librarian who found records of WWII. Library blown up.
John Cooper is grandson of a Nazi collaborator who finds out a lot about his family.

[Donna S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Smooth, even all-round good read. The Catholic Church takes another hit, but survives nicely as a powerful force always does. Read it with a crackling fire and a warm blanket.

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nazi/Fourth Reich conspiracy novels were kind of a thing in the 1970s, Ira Levin's "The Boys from Brazil" being a popular example. In Gifford's 1975 version, a man's realization that his long-dead sister might still be alive leads to his discovery that Nazis are not only also still around but are -- gasp -- still plotting to take over the world. There are several international locales and some plot twists, but the hero is kind of dull and the pace seems slower than it may have 40-plus years ago. Okay, but not the best of its genre.

[Kristi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in 1975 when it was first published. I am an avid reader of WWII literature and non-fiction. Mr. Gifford was living in Minnesota at the time, so I am always interested in local authors. The book stands up despite the years. Excellent and compelling tale about the Nazi threat after the war. Recommend. Kristi & Abby Tabby

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whaaaaaaaaat did I just read??

Way back around 2010 when I was the Nook seller at my local B&N, I helped teach a woman how to use hers and she scribbled some book recommendations on an envelope. I still have it, and this was one of those recommendations.

This book just kept... not going where I thought it might go. And the end is WILD.

[mike coulter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Are they all this good?

My first T. Gifford book. It is excellent. Lots of twists and turns. Plenty of blood and violence too. It's not overdone, just rounds out the story. Or stories?

[Jane M Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did not disappoint

I never write reviews. Few books deserve them but this book was worth it. The story eerily reflected today's dysfunction & craziness in the political world. Hopefully the world in this book doesn't exist. But maybe it does.

[Blerina · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
This book surprised me for good. I didn't have any expectations when I started reading it, but it was good. I liked the story, the plot twists even though I could tell from the beginning who was behind it all.

[Greg L Goldstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my conspiracy thriller books, I re-read it every few years.

Very well written and very self aware about how ludicrous this genre could sometimes be, especially the sub-genre of Nazis still around in the 70s. (Boys From Brazil, Marathon Man, Holcroft Covenant, et all.)

[Wiebke Kuhn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still worth reading - while the mystery appears to be about a missing sister, the background of old and new Nazis, not just in Germany, brings our clueless protagonist to the realization that his family's history is rather troubled. Not sure that he learns anything from it.

[Jack Freedman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

Mind challenges abound ...works on many levels on par with Sinclair Lewis for alienated protagonists...worth a look...well worth it enjoy!

[Daniel Driewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

First for pleasure book that I read during college

[Karen C Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the third time I have read this book and it is very good.

[Muriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A suspense novel involving a Nazi theory.

[Eureka-Gardener · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good thriller that I read when it first came out. Added interest because some of the story takes place in my home state of Minnesota.

[Michael · Rating 1 out of 5]

Could be the most long winded book I have ever read. Add some incest and a convoluted plot with way too many characters and you have a one star rating.

[Edward Maroncha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read

[Bobby H · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars. Meh. Good idea for story, a little long and boring at times

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing story and a great mystery.

[Doug Steinmeyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

When the main character states there are too many details to track, there are too many details to track for the reader, too.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thomas Guthrie was a prolific writer of popular thrillers. “The Wind Chill Factor,” published in 1975, was his first. The protagonist is John Cooper, scion of the affluent Cooper family of Cooper’s Falls, Minnesota. In the early 1970s John is a 34-year old writer living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, when he receives an urgent telegram from his brother, Cyril: “Meet me in Cooper’s Falls. The family tree needs tending.”

John understands that the problematical part of the Cooper family tree is his grandfather, Austin Cooper. Now dead, Austin was the creator of the family fortune and a Nazi sympathizer with connections to Hitler and his crew. So John jumps into his 1972 Lincoln and starts driving toward northern Minnesota and into a major snowstorm. On the way, someone runs him off the road and tries to kill him. Slightly wounded, he reaches Cooper’s Falls in a raging snowstorm. There he meets Cyril’s high school girlfriend, a former hottie turned librarian, who says she found papers in the archives showing disturbing connections between Austin and the Nazis: this seems to be the genesis of Cyril’s telegram.

On arriving at his family’s empty mansion in Cooper’s Falls, John finds his brother dead; Cyril’s murderer likes cigars and brandy. That death brings Olaf Petersen, Cooper Falls’ police chief, into the story; he likes cigars and brandy. We also meet Arthur Brenner, the long-time Cooper family lawyer, who likes cigars and brandy. Soon the village erupts in violence: the librarian is murdered, there is another attempt on John’s life, and the courthouse and library are blown up, along with lawyer Brenner’s front door. Cooper’s Falls has gone from zero murders in forty years to several deaths, several more attempted murders, and severe mistreatment of municipal property. Someone is feeling threatened, but by what—and why?

We follow John and Olaf as they try to find the answer. Their search takes them on Cyril’s last-known travel itinerary—to Buenos Aires, Munich, and England. More deaths occur, but Cooper and Petersen press on. Clearly, life insurance agents should be alert when Cooper arrives! And, indeed, a Scottish insurance agent is part of the story. Eventually they learn what had piqued Cyril’s interest, and the search gains focus, leading them to secrets global in significance and worth killing to hide.

Be assured that Gifford will cleverly draw you along into the wee hours of the night with his complex narrative and his ability to tell a story. This is a very good thrilla with a chilla.
Four stars.

[John Schaefer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read TWCF shortly after finishing college, when it was first published and found it rather intriguing with the possibility of the rise of a Fourth Reich, not simply in Germany but world-wide, even in the USA. The idea that Gifford raises that the Nazis may return to power in the United States, but may do so under the guise of being called a Democrat or Republican or new political party and may be someone that we may least suspect as such thought provoking and so Thomas Gifford became one of my favorite authors and I enjoyed several more of his books through the years. 20 years after TWCF, I remember being excited to learn of a sequel, The First Sacrifice, only to be a bit disappointed after completing it. So now, 45 years after my first encounter with TWCF, I decided to re-read it and found the main character difficult to enjoy due to his unending neurasthenia-he is always sweating, feeling light-headed or outright fainting, having difficulty with his thoughts or emotions, but the kicker was his confusion about his feelings/attraction to his probable sister. I therefore down-graded my rating to 4 stars after all this years, but hope to soon complete the round-trip with John Cooper, a not very credible 'hero' in my opinion, by completing my second reading of The First Sacrifice.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: some Nazi survivors view their defeat as a temporary setback. John Cooper is an heir to this evil, but he thought it was over.

[Otto Penzler · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Wind Chill Factor is the first great Thomas Gifford thriller and quickly became a New York Times best-seller with more than a million copies sold. He further enhanced his position as an international master of espionage ficiton with his 1978 novel The Glendower Legacy (made into a dreadful 1981 movie titled Dirty Tricks). Cooper’s family history is deeply connected with the Nazis – his grandfather was a powerful industrialist and staunch Nazi supporter in the 1930s. Now the family’s dark legacy has caught up to him, and it is up to him to set the world right once and for all. The Wind Chill Factor is a powerful, terrifying, and suspenseful thriller executed by a true master in the field. Strongly recommended for anyone interested in political thrillers, crime, suspense, historical, and conspiracy novels.

[Donna Crupi · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an interesting tale! I could say it’s due to the premise of the story, and I suppose it is. I could also say it is the depth of character and it most certainly is as well. But it is so much more than these elements.

Thomas Gifford pulls off this first person POV with ease and brings us into a story that is not rushed, but nurtured. He teases the interest out of his readers as the main character, John Cooper is drawn into a spider’s web of global power struggles rooted deep in past, yet frighteningly current political ideology.

Gifford is more than a talented writer--he is a director who holds the view finder in front of us and allows us to peer through his lens. And we want to keep looking. From start to finish, this book is captivating, thought provoking and satisfying.

[Jeff Swystun · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a Canadian I could appreciate the book's title and the cold conditions that kick off the action in Minnesota. Yet, what entertained me throughout was the old thriller chestnut of Nazis coming back for another go at world domination. The book was first published in 1975 when plots about surviving Nazis and the Fourth Reich were de rigueur. Remember Frederick Forsyth's "The Odessa File" and Ira Levin's "The Boys from Brazil"?

The plot moves with speed, the action and dialogue are more contemporary than expected, and the characters are believable and interesting. Colonel Steynes, Inspector Peterson, Lise Brendel and Martin St. John are all engaging. Gifford comes from that revered old school where his mates are Robert Ludlum, Alistair MacLean, Len Deighton, Ken Follett, and others.