It is a well written, tense and exciting novel featuring Thomas Harris' usual insights into his characters and life in general. It is one of only two Thomas Harris novels without Hannibal Lecter. Since then, several editions have been published.

The novel attracted little attention until it was adapted into a 1977 John Frankenheimer movie starring Robert Shaw. Sam Corley and David Kabakov race against time to stop this monstrous plot. Then explode this giant claymore at the Superbowl thereby killing and maiming multiple thousands of people. The plot is to hijack the Aldrich Blimp, the novel's stand in for the Goodyear blimp, and convert it to what would essentially be a giant claymore mine. Published in 1975 after the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre of Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists and long before 9/11, this was a relatively early novel about Palestinian/Islamic terrorists and mass murder in the name of their cause. These are the main protagonists in Thomas Harris' first novel, BLACK SUNDAY. Before FBI agents Will Graham, Clarice Starling and Jack Crawford there was agent Sam Corley and Israeli Mossad agent David Kabakov. So, if you are a Harris fan because of those and are hoping for more – you will not find it in Black Sunday.īefore serial killers Hannibal Lecter and Francis Dolarhyde there was terrorist and mass murderer Dahlia Iyad and madman Michael Lander. There in not even a slight hint of that here. Side note: Harris is better known for his Hannibal Lecter books. I don’t think you can go wrong here if you are a political thriller nut. I recommend this book to fans of James Bond, Tom Clancy, Vince Flynn, Brad Thor, etc.

But, if that is not your thing, the first 75% of the book (or so) might drag. If you like exposition and back story, you should be good to go. This is not necessarily a good thing or a bad thing – it is just a thing. There are many very long chapters to tell the story of the main characters and how they got to be where they are. When it comes to pacing of the book, it is about 90% exposition and 10% action/climax/resolution. Now, I was only a little kid at that time, so most of what I remember of that time is from history class, but it seems like Harris did a pretty good job. I would say that that this story has not necessarily aged well in that a person not familiar with the political climate of the late 70s/early 80s may not get it, but as a representation of the world at that time I think it is a pretty good throwback. Are you nostalgic for post-Vietnam, early Middle East conflict, height of the cold war espionage/terrorist thrillers? Well, then look no further because all of your interests will be satisfied with Black Sunday.

Black Sunday by Thomas Harris