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Black Sunday

Thomas Harris

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Jun 21, 2012 Feliks rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: genre-thrillers

Frankly I can't give a **** about the recent and far-fetched, 'Hannibal Lecter' saga. I think that though it is the more popular, it is clearly the less thoughtful or compelling work from Harris' career; it smacks of "pandering" (as do the works of Brett Easton Ellis) to the usual morbid American fascination with blood-and-gore. That's what the high sales of that franchise say to me.

Instead, I say the peak moment of Harris' writing career came with this novel, 'Black Sunday'. Why? Because i Frankly I can't give a **** about the recent and far-fetched, 'Hannibal Lecter' saga. I think that though it is the more popular, it is clearly the less thoughtful or compelling work from Harris' career; it smacks of "pandering" (as do the works of Brett Easton Ellis) to the usual morbid American fascination with blood-and-gore. That's what the high sales of that franchise say to me.

Instead, I say the peak moment of Harris' writing career came with this novel, 'Black Sunday'. Why? Because its written with realism, the much more difficult task for the novelist. It was the most realistic novel of terrorism in its day; and in many ways still is.

At the time of publication, it was certainly head-and-shoulders above anything else anyone had ever done. Comparable technical detail was found only in one other work, Frederick Forsyth's 'The Day of the Jackal'. And that was it. Just these two titles. They held kingly court at the top of the hierarchy of 1970s thriller fiction...and that situation lasted for years. You used to see them in paperback carrels--distinctive from all other books--their tattered covers and well-thumbed pages indicating just how effective they were. 'Black Sunday' in particular, has one of the all-time best paperback artwork. Just look at it! Its as memorable as the cover for 'Jaws'.

Happily, both Harris' and Forsyth's tales were both turned into incredible, taut, tight, well-formed movie adaptations --both blessed with quality productions by two top directors--thankfully, reflecting the caliber of the books.

'Black Sunday' is disturbing then and disturbing now. It was prescient to the state-of-affairs we tolerate today (when every morning we awake, could find us confronted with yet another bloodbath in the headlines). The book is archetypical; containing a plot so singular and vivid, that no one else can ever copy it; and yet universal. We know that sooner or later something like this --stemming from the same raw elements--could always occur on our shores.

Its not simply a 'product of its time' --as so many thrillers are. The topicality in this thriller never goes away. It still makes people nervous and insecure. It raises questions and doubts in reader's minds: is the United States really *at fault* in our relations with other cultures? (Yes, we are). The motives of the books' villains can't be brushed aside; Harris' vision faithfully reflects what's out there in the real world. This novel is just one scenario of something which could conceivably occur at any time.

So: 'Black Sunday' is simply unique. Fiction which constantly straddles the junction between entertaining yarn and fearsome actuality. Its an important work; affording provincial Americans just the tiniest, briefest, glimpse of the international perspective. The contrast between our placid homefront-- and that of the political struggle of distant peoples--is vivid and sharp.

Sure, the action-rich plot is a nail-biter but there's this extraordinary extra dimension which underpins everything the entertainment. Its hard-hitting/visceral entertainment and thought-provoking political science, both. As I asserted at the start of this review: this cogency makes it far more formidable than Harris' other thriller about a lone, wacko, cannibal. It puts it in a class shoulder-to-shoulder with ...well, perhaps only Forsyth's Jackal.

Best moment in the book? When the Israeli agent asks the FBI chief, "What exactly is this..' Super-bowl'?"
...more

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