Five deranged CIA killers break out from a secret insane asylum for retired agents...
James Grady revolutionized thrillers with his first novel 'Six Days of the Condor'. Now Grady breaks out of all genre limitations with 'Mad Dogs', a stunning novel launched from a totally original creation: the CIA's secret insane asylum for retired agents.
Five deranged CIA killers, all of them dependent on their meds, and deep in the woods of Maine, are forced to break out when someone murders their psychiatrist.
Like the central character of 'Motherless Brooklyn', they operate under somewhat skewed perceptions of the real world. Their training, however, has prepared them to survive in an unfriendly world - even if that world is the Boston to Washington corridor as they chase down the real killer.
'a stunning thriller, compassionate but unsentimental, brutal and disquieting. In a mad world, who is really in charge of the lunatics?'
- Susanna Yager, Sunday Telegraph [read the full review]
'Mental is not the word for this book, brilliant is.'
- Mark Timlin, Independent on Sunday [read the full review]
Remember the novel Six Days of the Condor by James Grady? Or the film Three Days of the Condor starring Robert Redford as a reluctant secret agent, based upon it? I do. the book was miles better. Now Grady returns with this stunning story of five crazy CIA assassins locked up in a mental facility in Maine, who go on the run after their psychiatrist is murdered. Their unofficial mission: to catch the killer, and pure mayhem occurs when these deranged killers get loose. The Condor even makes a guest appearance. Mental is not the word for this book, brilliant is.
Mark Timlin, Independent on Sunday
'Mad Dogs is the literary equivalent of a supercharged Hemi, a rock-and-roll road novel that roars out of the gate and never slows pace. James Grady, the king of the modern espionage thriller, is back with a vengeance'
- George Pelecanos
'Totally original'
- Myles McWeeney, Irish Independent [read the full review]
James Grady, the author of one of the greatest conspiracy thrillers of all time, Six Days of the Condor, again breaks new ground with this nail-biting story.
Five deranged but still lethal CIA killers, all of them dependent on their medication to keep a tenuous grip on reality, break out of the company's secret insane asylum for retired agents when their psychiatrist is murdered.
Fearing they've been targeted too – being paranoid is their normality – they decide to track the killer before they are killed.
Grady brilliantly evokes the five madmen's distorted perception of the real world after years of incarceration, building fascinating back stories for each, and convincingly details how they stumble, with increasing assurance, from the backwoods of Maine to Washington DC and a showdown with the traitor who is determined to kill them. Totally original.
Myles McWeeney, Irish Independent
'What a pleasure to be in the hands of a master storyteller. James Grady's Mad Dogs starts off with one of the best first sentences I've read in a long time and goes full-throttle, pedal-to-the-floor right up until the final page. A great, great read'
- Dennis Lehane, author of Mystic River