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The Amateur
Charlie Heller is an ace cryptographer for the CIA, a quiet man in a quiet back-office job. When his fiancée, Sarah Diamond, is murdered by terrorists at the American Embassy in West Germany and the Company refuses to pursue her killers, Heller takes matters into his own hands. Tracking down Sarah’s killers behind the Iron Curtain in Czechoslovakia, Heller becomes both the hunter and the hunted—an amateur facing off against the world’s deadliest assassins and spies. But nothing will stop him from getting revenge.
256 pages, Paperback
First published May 15, 1981
205 people are currently reading
6,739 people want to read
About the author
Robert Littell
44books374followersAn American author residing in France. He specializes in spy novels that often concern the CIA and the Soviet Union. He became a journalist and worked many years for Newsweek during the Cold War. He's also an amateur mountain climber and is the father of award-winning novelist Jonathan Littell.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 124 reviews
Want to read
April 11, 2025Just watched the movie, I had no idea this was a book, otherwise I would've read it beforehand, I'll read it at some point though.
December 3, 2013
Just about a five star. 4.5 for sure.
I found this book as a recommendation either from the Library web site or here at Good Reads, not sure which. I had never even heard of Robert Littell. Apparently he has written some good and popular books; this being one of them.
In a quick summary, a cipher geek (this was 1971, so todays equivalent of a computer nerd) falls into a situation where some bad people do something bad to someone he loves. Mr Computer/Cipher geek decides that even though he's an amateur, he's going to do his best impression as a professional assasin and hunt down those who are responsible.
Not a unique idea for sure, but Mr. Littell does a fine job of telling this story. He also does well with character development, and has some nice plot twistys at the end. Bravo.
I found this book as a recommendation either from the Library web site or here at Good Reads, not sure which. I had never even heard of Robert Littell. Apparently he has written some good and popular books; this being one of them.
In a quick summary, a cipher geek (this was 1971, so todays equivalent of a computer nerd) falls into a situation where some bad people do something bad to someone he loves. Mr Computer/Cipher geek decides that even though he's an amateur, he's going to do his best impression as a professional assasin and hunt down those who are responsible.
Not a unique idea for sure, but Mr. Littell does a fine job of telling this story. He also does well with character development, and has some nice plot twistys at the end. Bravo.
April 11, 2025
I picked up The Amateur as part of my “read it before I watch it� experiment, and while the concept pulled me in, the execution didn’t quite deliver the punch I was hoping for.
The setup is classic spy-thriller gold: Charles Heller, a quiet CIA codebreaker, loses his fiancée in a terrorist attack and demands justice. When the agency refuses to act, he blackmails his way into fieldwork, determined to kill the killers himself. That transformation - from analyst to assassin - should be the heart of the book. But weirdly, it’s the part that feels the most rushed.
There are strong moments. Littell clearly understands CIA culture and Cold War dynamics. The bureaucratic resistance Heller faces in the first third feels chillingly real. And the early tension - the grief, the obsessive planning, the idea that a man trained only to analyze would dare to execute - is compelling.
But then it falters. Once Heller is in Europe, the tone shifts, and his emotional arc mostly flatlines. His kills come too easily. He receives improbable help from an East German agent (Elisabeth) whose motivations are murky at best. Their relationship veers toward something romantic, but there’s no real development� and by the time she’s taken hostage and dies in a cold, abrupt moment, it feels more like plot clearance than emotional weight.
The final twist: that Heller was manipulated by his own agency into carrying out hits they couldn’t sanction - should hit hard. But because Heller never truly feels like an amateur, and the book rarely pauses to explore his psychology, the twist reads more clever than tragic.
I’ll still watch the movie for comparison, but this was one of those reads where the idea was better than the experience. Smart premise, solid bones, but a bit emotionally hollow!
The setup is classic spy-thriller gold: Charles Heller, a quiet CIA codebreaker, loses his fiancée in a terrorist attack and demands justice. When the agency refuses to act, he blackmails his way into fieldwork, determined to kill the killers himself. That transformation - from analyst to assassin - should be the heart of the book. But weirdly, it’s the part that feels the most rushed.
There are strong moments. Littell clearly understands CIA culture and Cold War dynamics. The bureaucratic resistance Heller faces in the first third feels chillingly real. And the early tension - the grief, the obsessive planning, the idea that a man trained only to analyze would dare to execute - is compelling.
But then it falters. Once Heller is in Europe, the tone shifts, and his emotional arc mostly flatlines. His kills come too easily. He receives improbable help from an East German agent (Elisabeth) whose motivations are murky at best. Their relationship veers toward something romantic, but there’s no real development� and by the time she’s taken hostage and dies in a cold, abrupt moment, it feels more like plot clearance than emotional weight.
The final twist: that Heller was manipulated by his own agency into carrying out hits they couldn’t sanction - should hit hard. But because Heller never truly feels like an amateur, and the book rarely pauses to explore his psychology, the twist reads more clever than tragic.
I’ll still watch the movie for comparison, but this was one of those reads where the idea was better than the experience. Smart premise, solid bones, but a bit emotionally hollow!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 2, 2013
Charlie Heller, the protagonist of The Amateur, is a cryptographer for the CIA. He is a quiet man with top-secret clearance who spends his days happily mucking around with math and loving his fiance, Sarah. This all changes when Sarah is taken hostage in a terrorist attack and publicly executed. First, he grieves. Then, he seeks revenge.
Heller’s not a field agent � he’s an egghead at a desk. The CIA will have to mount an operation to pursue, and Heller won’t be involved. Unfortunately, the CIA is not on board. The terrorists have retreated to Czechoslovakia. Legally, they can’t be touched. They’ll watch and wait, they tell Heller. Beyond that, their hands are tied.
Heller won’t take no for an answer. Because of his position as the the Company’s best cryptographer, he has access to hundreds � thousands � of the most sensitive communications ever to come through the CIA. He picks off a couple dozen of the worst of the worst and blackmails his employer. If they train him to go after the terrorists himself, he says, he’ll kill the terrorists who killed his fiance and deny that the CIA’s involved. If not, he’ll reveal the damaging messages to the public.
The CIA gives in to his blackmail and puts him through training. He prepares to go to Czechoslovakia in pursuit of the terrorists. But now that the plot is set in motion, it’s not just the terrorists who want him to fail. It’s the CIA, too.
This is an engaging, enjoyable read. The plot moves along at a sprightly clip and the not-very-surprising main developments get some color from unexpected details, like an art deco building shaped like a concrete nest and a subplot about analyzing Shakespeare for Baconian codes.
Unfortunately, I have one major nitpick. The description of Heller’s cryptographic work is totally misguided. Littell repeatedly describes how Heller cracks coded CIA messages in loving pseudo-technical detail, yet seems to think that all codes are essentially substitution ciphers. Which, nope. This would not be a problem except that these sections are obviously intended to establish Heller as a brilliant genius and to give the book as a whole some authority as a realistic portrayal of tradecraft, so getting it this glaringly wrong is pretty � glaring.
Ignore those bits and you’ll have a fun read.
Heller’s not a field agent � he’s an egghead at a desk. The CIA will have to mount an operation to pursue, and Heller won’t be involved. Unfortunately, the CIA is not on board. The terrorists have retreated to Czechoslovakia. Legally, they can’t be touched. They’ll watch and wait, they tell Heller. Beyond that, their hands are tied.
Heller won’t take no for an answer. Because of his position as the the Company’s best cryptographer, he has access to hundreds � thousands � of the most sensitive communications ever to come through the CIA. He picks off a couple dozen of the worst of the worst and blackmails his employer. If they train him to go after the terrorists himself, he says, he’ll kill the terrorists who killed his fiance and deny that the CIA’s involved. If not, he’ll reveal the damaging messages to the public.
The CIA gives in to his blackmail and puts him through training. He prepares to go to Czechoslovakia in pursuit of the terrorists. But now that the plot is set in motion, it’s not just the terrorists who want him to fail. It’s the CIA, too.
This is an engaging, enjoyable read. The plot moves along at a sprightly clip and the not-very-surprising main developments get some color from unexpected details, like an art deco building shaped like a concrete nest and a subplot about analyzing Shakespeare for Baconian codes.
Unfortunately, I have one major nitpick. The description of Heller’s cryptographic work is totally misguided. Littell repeatedly describes how Heller cracks coded CIA messages in loving pseudo-technical detail, yet seems to think that all codes are essentially substitution ciphers. Which, nope. This would not be a problem except that these sections are obviously intended to establish Heller as a brilliant genius and to give the book as a whole some authority as a realistic portrayal of tradecraft, so getting it this glaringly wrong is pretty � glaring.
Ignore those bits and you’ll have a fun read.
April 4, 2016
Velice nadšeně jsem hltala stránky, které mě uvedly do socialistické Prahy a války KGB s CIA a československou kontrarozvědkou.
Nechyběl humor, sex a láska. Především ale kniha obsahuje šokující detailní postupy CIA, informace o zbraních a systému tak spletitého a podlého, že do něj pouhý smrtelník nemůže vidět.
Celá recenze na
Nechyběl humor, sex a láska. Především ale kniha obsahuje šokující detailní postupy CIA, informace o zbraních a systému tak spletitého a podlého, že do něj pouhý smrtelník nemůže vidět.
Celá recenze na
February 26, 2023
Amateur extends to the writing of the book as well as the title. Mixing metaphors with cliches produces lines like these:
- “Plowing toward retirement like an icebreaker, the lady Consul General half raised her right hand and asked in a voice ideally suited to recorded announcements, ‘Do you swear or affirm that you have told the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?’�
- “And the terrorists� They appeared out of the smoke and swirling dust like a medieval apparition, masked genies summoned up for the denouement of a passion play, Heironymus Bosch’s nightmarish vision of the guardians of hell.�
- “in the chancellery in Bonn the storm raged. Footsteps resounded through the long marble corridors of power…�
If that doesn’t make you appreciate the high art of spy fiction from le Carré and Furst, nothing will.
- “Plowing toward retirement like an icebreaker, the lady Consul General half raised her right hand and asked in a voice ideally suited to recorded announcements, ‘Do you swear or affirm that you have told the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?’�
- “And the terrorists� They appeared out of the smoke and swirling dust like a medieval apparition, masked genies summoned up for the denouement of a passion play, Heironymus Bosch’s nightmarish vision of the guardians of hell.�
- “in the chancellery in Bonn the storm raged. Footsteps resounded through the long marble corridors of power…�
If that doesn’t make you appreciate the high art of spy fiction from le Carré and Furst, nothing will.
September 3, 2018
Got over two thirds of the book completed and lost interest.
A major disappointment as there was no sense of a developing story-line or characters.
I rarely leave a book unfinished, but in this case I had to pull the pin.
A major disappointment as there was no sense of a developing story-line or characters.
I rarely leave a book unfinished, but in this case I had to pull the pin.
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December 13, 2018
Review to follow
Want to read
March 7, 2019Synopsis: Charlie Heller is a CIA cryptographer. Then his fiancée is murdered by terrorists and the Agency decides not to pursue them. He does.
April 21, 2025
I recently had the opportunity to see the movie "The Amateur", starring Remi Malek, which came to theatres on 11 April 2025. I noticed in the credits that it was inspired by a novel by Robert Littell that had been released in May 1981. So I thought that I would take the opportunity to read the source material.
The Amateur (1981) was the first novel by prominent espionage thriller author Robert Littell. The major difference that I noticed between the movie and the novel, other than the fact that the movie was released forty-four years after the novel, is that the original story takes place in the early 1970s (during the years of Richard Nixon) when the major antagonist was the USSR and the countries of the Warsaw Pact. The movie loosely follows the same plot, with the major differences that I noticed being that the antagonist is a group of terrorists (not backed by the KGB) and at least one of the means of death for the antagonists.
It follows a mild-mannered CIA cryptographer in the early 1970s who takes matters into his own hands when the Agency refuses to track down the terrorists who killed his fiancée. Relying on his need for revenge, the skills he hastily cobbled together in a CIA boot camp, and his love of patterns and codes, the cryptographer turns his amateur status into an asset.
Our protagonist is Charlie Heller, one of the best cryptographers at the CIA. Recruited after he published an essay in the Kenyon Review about patterns in the work of 18th-century diarist Samuel Pepys, Charlie now has Top Secret clearance status and spends his days breaking KGB ciphers and bantering with his coworker, a Russian crate expert. Quiet, scholarly, and not qualified for fieldwork, Charlie is happy in his back-office position. Outside of work, Charlie has two passions: his fiancée, Sarah Diamond, a globetrotting photographer, and his obsessive conviction that somewhere inside Shakespeare’s works is a cryptogram that will reveal their true author.
Sarah is taken hostage during a terrorist attack on a US Embassy in Germany. To secure their victory, the terrorists decide to execute a hostage. To spare the lives of others, Sarah volunteers that she is Jewish, prompting the attackers to murder her.
Charlie’s life is turned upside down with grief and mourning. At the funeral, he has an eye-opening conversation with Sarah’s father, a Holocaust concentration camp survivor who tells him that the only way he managed to overcome at least some of his trauma was through revenge. Killing a Nazi doctor when the camp was liberated, Sarah’s father says, “brought me back from the dead!� The CIA therapist Charlie is sent to see also agrees that vengeance has “therapeutic� properties.
Charlie demands that the CIA mount an operation to find and catch the three terrorists responsible. However, because they have crossed into Czechoslovakia, the killers are behind the Iron Curtain and thus unreachable by the US—legally, the only thing to do is wait for them to emerge.
Frustrated and furious, Charlie formulates a different plan—one where he, and not trained field agents, will be the one to go after the bad guys. Because of his security clearance, Charlie has access to lots of incriminating materials about CIA operations over the years. Choosing 25 or so of the worst ones, he stores them as encrypted files on his computer and uses them to blackmail the Agency. If they train him to find and overcome the terrorists himself, he will attempt to do so and will deny CIA involvement if caught. If they deny him, he will release the damning information he has squirreled away to the public.
The CIA agrees, and Charlie undergoes a rigorous, but sped up training course at “the Farm,� a special spy school. There, he gets to up his banter game with a disapproving but encouraging master spy instructor.
Finally, Charlie embarks on his mission. What he doesn’t know is that the CIA planted the original terrorists—led by a double agent whose covert status is so valuable that the CIA now wants to take Charlie out before he can unmask the whole operation. So, while Charlie makes his way through Czechoslovakia, he is being pursued by a consummate assassin sent by the Agency to take him out.
Aided by plot-breaking amounts of luck and coincidence, Charlie evades the assassin by virtue of being such an amateur at the spy game: He simply doesn’t know enough to follow Agency procedures, thus foiling the assassin’s plots and schemes.
When Charlie gets a lead that one of the terrorists involved, Gretchen, is the lover of a KGB agent, he puts himself into greater danger. Now, not only is the CIA assassin hot on his trail, but so are the KGB (tipped off by the CIA) and Czech authorities (because he doesn’t legally have authority to be there). The only person on Charlie’s side is former CIA agent Elizabeth, whose Czech poet husband was killed by KGB goons and who fills Charlie in on the cultural destruction wrought by Communism. As they work together, they develop romantic feelings for each other.
With Elizabeth’s help, Charlie finds and kills two of the terrorists: Gretchen and Joan Antonio. The climax of the novel is Charlie’s confrontation with the embassy attack’s mastermind Horst, a psychotic killer whose allegiances are extremely complex. He is a CIA agent whose role as a double agent for the KGB makes it unclear which side of the Cold War he is on. Moreover, Horst is the son of a man who used to be an informer for the Gestapo, explaining why the terrorists would target a Jewish hostage first.
The novel ends on a victorious note. Charlie kills Horst, finds love with Elizabeth, and in his downtime has managed to solve the mystery of Shakespeare’s authorship—it turns out it was Francis Bacon all along.
The movie stayed pretty true to the source novel, and as such, I would normally give the book a solid four stars, as I enjoyed the story, but the issue that I had with the copy that I read was that I found that the story bounced between what was going on and the references to one of the cipher "conspiracy theories" that he was pursuing in the first part of the book. As such, my self-determined rating drops to three and a half stars.
As with all my literary (and in the rare case, the movie review) ramblings, this is just my five cents.
The Amateur (1981) was the first novel by prominent espionage thriller author Robert Littell. The major difference that I noticed between the movie and the novel, other than the fact that the movie was released forty-four years after the novel, is that the original story takes place in the early 1970s (during the years of Richard Nixon) when the major antagonist was the USSR and the countries of the Warsaw Pact. The movie loosely follows the same plot, with the major differences that I noticed being that the antagonist is a group of terrorists (not backed by the KGB) and at least one of the means of death for the antagonists.
It follows a mild-mannered CIA cryptographer in the early 1970s who takes matters into his own hands when the Agency refuses to track down the terrorists who killed his fiancée. Relying on his need for revenge, the skills he hastily cobbled together in a CIA boot camp, and his love of patterns and codes, the cryptographer turns his amateur status into an asset.
Our protagonist is Charlie Heller, one of the best cryptographers at the CIA. Recruited after he published an essay in the Kenyon Review about patterns in the work of 18th-century diarist Samuel Pepys, Charlie now has Top Secret clearance status and spends his days breaking KGB ciphers and bantering with his coworker, a Russian crate expert. Quiet, scholarly, and not qualified for fieldwork, Charlie is happy in his back-office position. Outside of work, Charlie has two passions: his fiancée, Sarah Diamond, a globetrotting photographer, and his obsessive conviction that somewhere inside Shakespeare’s works is a cryptogram that will reveal their true author.
Sarah is taken hostage during a terrorist attack on a US Embassy in Germany. To secure their victory, the terrorists decide to execute a hostage. To spare the lives of others, Sarah volunteers that she is Jewish, prompting the attackers to murder her.
Charlie’s life is turned upside down with grief and mourning. At the funeral, he has an eye-opening conversation with Sarah’s father, a Holocaust concentration camp survivor who tells him that the only way he managed to overcome at least some of his trauma was through revenge. Killing a Nazi doctor when the camp was liberated, Sarah’s father says, “brought me back from the dead!� The CIA therapist Charlie is sent to see also agrees that vengeance has “therapeutic� properties.
Charlie demands that the CIA mount an operation to find and catch the three terrorists responsible. However, because they have crossed into Czechoslovakia, the killers are behind the Iron Curtain and thus unreachable by the US—legally, the only thing to do is wait for them to emerge.
Frustrated and furious, Charlie formulates a different plan—one where he, and not trained field agents, will be the one to go after the bad guys. Because of his security clearance, Charlie has access to lots of incriminating materials about CIA operations over the years. Choosing 25 or so of the worst ones, he stores them as encrypted files on his computer and uses them to blackmail the Agency. If they train him to find and overcome the terrorists himself, he will attempt to do so and will deny CIA involvement if caught. If they deny him, he will release the damning information he has squirreled away to the public.
The CIA agrees, and Charlie undergoes a rigorous, but sped up training course at “the Farm,� a special spy school. There, he gets to up his banter game with a disapproving but encouraging master spy instructor.
Finally, Charlie embarks on his mission. What he doesn’t know is that the CIA planted the original terrorists—led by a double agent whose covert status is so valuable that the CIA now wants to take Charlie out before he can unmask the whole operation. So, while Charlie makes his way through Czechoslovakia, he is being pursued by a consummate assassin sent by the Agency to take him out.
Aided by plot-breaking amounts of luck and coincidence, Charlie evades the assassin by virtue of being such an amateur at the spy game: He simply doesn’t know enough to follow Agency procedures, thus foiling the assassin’s plots and schemes.
When Charlie gets a lead that one of the terrorists involved, Gretchen, is the lover of a KGB agent, he puts himself into greater danger. Now, not only is the CIA assassin hot on his trail, but so are the KGB (tipped off by the CIA) and Czech authorities (because he doesn’t legally have authority to be there). The only person on Charlie’s side is former CIA agent Elizabeth, whose Czech poet husband was killed by KGB goons and who fills Charlie in on the cultural destruction wrought by Communism. As they work together, they develop romantic feelings for each other.
With Elizabeth’s help, Charlie finds and kills two of the terrorists: Gretchen and Joan Antonio. The climax of the novel is Charlie’s confrontation with the embassy attack’s mastermind Horst, a psychotic killer whose allegiances are extremely complex. He is a CIA agent whose role as a double agent for the KGB makes it unclear which side of the Cold War he is on. Moreover, Horst is the son of a man who used to be an informer for the Gestapo, explaining why the terrorists would target a Jewish hostage first.
The novel ends on a victorious note. Charlie kills Horst, finds love with Elizabeth, and in his downtime has managed to solve the mystery of Shakespeare’s authorship—it turns out it was Francis Bacon all along.
The movie stayed pretty true to the source novel, and as such, I would normally give the book a solid four stars, as I enjoyed the story, but the issue that I had with the copy that I read was that I found that the story bounced between what was going on and the references to one of the cipher "conspiracy theories" that he was pursuing in the first part of the book. As such, my self-determined rating drops to three and a half stars.
As with all my literary (and in the rare case, the movie review) ramblings, this is just my five cents.
December 15, 2011
L'Amateur, de Robert Littel est un excellent roman d'espionnage, dans le contexte de la guerre froide. Un cryptographe américain dont la femme a été tuée dans un attentat à Berlin parvient à se faire envoyer en mission à Prague dans le but de liquider les terroristes qui s'y terrent. C'est génialement raconté, avec un humour et une dimension humaine qui font toute la différence entre un roman de gare et un petit bijou distrayant et stimulant.
February 18, 2011
I liked this, in the end. It started to pick up when the main character finally began to get his revenge. Then he began to have a personality: before that he was just a government scribe. I especially liked the Czech intelligence officers, the neat solution to a Shakespeare mystery, and the very cool and satisfying ending. If only all secrets-spilling could be as neat.
May 10, 2021
I loved the intro and general concept for this book. So when the bottom dropped out a third of the way through and it toddled off into oblivion with no conceivable development of any kind, it was a serious disappointment.
Although it was fun to imagine a bunch of dudes in a deep squat pointing guns at each other in their "aim stance".
Although it was fun to imagine a bunch of dudes in a deep squat pointing guns at each other in their "aim stance".
August 24, 2023
Becoming BFFs with Goethe around the tender age of thirty, Friedrich von Schiller embarked on a journey that, much like the legendary gun fighter Doc Holliday, was stopped by tuberculosis nary seventeen years later and brought the revered esteem of future generations, proclaiming him as the numero uno German playwright of his era. Most people, including a slew of Germans, would probably be hard pressed to name one of Schiller's works, even though he often places second after Shakespeare as Europe's major dramatist. Bearing the distinct honor of being the first statue placed in Central Park in 1859, Schiller probably benefits from forever being associated with Beethoven's 9th symphony, having penned the words to the fourth movement's 'Ode to Joy'. A thorough professional and maestro of words, Schiller is called upon in 1981's THE AMATEUR to lend his surname to a German virtuoso of terrorism, tormenting Europe in the aftermath of the Baader-Meinhof era and in the frosty grasp of the ongoing Cold War deep behind the Iron Curtain.
Charlie Heller is one of the handful of men assigned to Division D of the Clandestine Service, in the most security conscious building in America. The CIA. A tiny bit higher than Top Secret unit that made ciphers and broke them and those of other countries, especially one-time ciphers that the NSA can't be trusted (content-wise) with are his jam. Charlie moves through life fast, as he figures that solves most problems. A hunt and peck typist just shy of thirty, he's unremarkable, married, with a Mona Lisa-like smile and constantly slipping eyewear. His workhorse is an IBM 7090, capable of 229,000 additions every second, and he loves to work alone. Even after 8 years with the Company, he still believes in truth, for the CIA is a civilized place as long as you keep the wrappings on. Don't stir up the dogs. But what happens when terrorist mastermind Horst Schiller plays by his own, dirty rules, and in a minute of madness changes Charlie's life forever?
Stuffed with tradecraft and intel community details, THE AMATEUR also spills the beans about the Farm at Camp Peary, fluttering, and the Langley CIA HQ a mere eight miles from Downtown Washington D.C. Though often found in modern mil-schlock pulp, for a thriller from 1981, this was novel. Fairly new at the killing business and prone to be very nervous, Charlie is the Farm's newest resident. It's one lowly programmer versus the seventh floor at Langley and, incidentally, the terrorists du jour of 1981 Europe. Faced with a man bent on revenge, off the books and NOC, the brass is in a hard place, trapped between Scylla and Charybdis. Thus, a simple cipher clerk, palindrome inventor, impeccably shabby Company man is training his head to accept violence as something not at all out of the ordinary. Fueled with the courage of his ignorance and carrying a grudge worse than Captain Kirk has for Khan, THE AMATEUR moves about in a world that was still divided on those who called it either an icebox or those who called it a refrigerator.
Working the 'perish and publish' angle borrowed and passed on to a gazillion shamus stories out there, if something happens to Heller, papers will be mailed to the papers, THE AMATEUR insists that the line between a dramatic rescue mission and catastrophe is a very fine one. Which one of these will ultimately be Charlie's fate is up for grabs, though where it all goes down is the mysterious city of Prague, for which THE AMATEUR reserves scathing commentary. As misery loves company, Heller naturally ends up with an unwitting foreign sidekick who keeps using the mangled cliches and American phrases like Alfredo Garcia in DEMOLITION MAN. Not surprising at all, THE AMATEUR provides the baseline of countless 80s action/spy movies; if caught, the government will deny any involvement and disavow the rogue agent. The astute reader might spot similarities in subsequent works like DEATH WISH II, Stephen Leather's THE HUNTING, COBRA, TANGO & CASH, and the mirrored maze in ENTER THE DRAGON, which was inspired by THE CIRCUS and THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI. Naturally, in the hectic and bullet rich espionage game, also known as the wilderness of mirrors, it's no surprise that Charlie must watch his every move lest he'd be walking on broken glass.
To fully enjoy this spy thriller, it's advisable to dodge AMAZON blurbs and reviews that detail the plot, as THE AMATEUR is fascinating in not letting the reader in on what the entire book is about. It's a slow unfurling yarn that alleges revenge is very therapeutic, from a medical perspective. All in all, revenge isn't sweet, it's bitter sweet, and AN EYE FOR AN EYE is a reasonable formula for survival. Tacking on a half workable thesis on who really authored the works of Shakespeare, albeit within the confines of the spy story and the field of cryptology, THE AMATEUR is a story about coping, about loss, setting things right, and ultimately about loyalty, vengeance, and love. It's all about freedom, solving ciphers, and endings, as long as they're not happy. At the heart of THE AMATEUR is the premise that we are all accomplices; we all contribute to our own destruction. Thus, when looking for pro advice, remember that terrorism is a sickness. THE AMATEUR is the cure.
August 23, 2014
I normally enjoy Littell's work but I hated the premise of this one: the main character's girlfriend is killed in a terrorist/hostage situation so the whole book is about him seeking eye for an eye vengeance? Please.
January 20, 2016
There are things the CIA does, and things that it knows, that it doesn't want others to know about. A very fine suspense novel under the guise of spy fiction.
October 16, 2017
A cliche novel with bullet holes in the plot and lack lustre narration.
November 14, 2024
O criptógrafo Charlie Heller trabalha tranquilamente na Agência Central de Inteligência em Langley até que terroristas atiram em sua noiva no consulado americano em Munique. Charlie luta contra a desesperança e força inutilmente a CIA a retaliar. Mais tarde, ele próprio penetra atrás da Cortina de Ferro e persegue os assassinos até a Tchecoslováquia. Porém, além da vingança, ele também se ocupa com armadilhas inesperadas do serviço de inteligência e se precipita no perigoso jogo da espionagem internacional.
No mundo profissional, Charlie Heller é amador.
"Um homem está preso no século em que nasceu."
Um estudo fascinante da Checoslováquia socialista e da sua contraespionagem através dos olhos de um autor americano. Devorei avidamente as páginas que me apresentaram à Praga socialista e à guerra da KGB com a CIA e a contraespionagem checoslovaca.
Havia humor, sexo e amor. Mas acima de tudo, o livro contém procedimentos da CIA chocantemente detalhados, informações sobre armas e um sistema tão intrincado e nefasto que um mero mortal não consegue ver. Robert Littell deve ter recursos incríveis. O livro foi publicado em 1990 e não entendo de forma alguma como só agora chegou até nós. Por ser mais antigo, contém até tecnologia informática pré-histórica desatualizada, disfarçada de supercomputadores de última geração, cabines telefónicas sorridentes e, pelo contrário, conveniências como câmaras de segurança, telemóveis com GPS e outros. Talvez por isso o livro tenha um charme inconfundível e eu tenha gostado bastante. Mas ela não me ensinou como fugir da CIA moderna.
"Quanto mais tempo isto durar, melhor os terroristas conhecerão os reféns e menor será a probabilidade de matarem algum deles."
De fato? É assim que os órgãos oficiais pensam em situações de crise? Bem, provavelmente nunca mais colocarei os pés em um banco, porque é onde, segundo os filmes, os assaltos acontecem com mais frequência.
Gostei muito do livro, dos personagens, da história e das surpresas que ele oferece. Se eu tivesse que criticar alguma coisa, seria a tradução. Por um lado, tiro o chapéu para palíndromos e provérbios distorcidos. Por outro lado, não entendo como alguém pôde deixar o coloquial “Anis to nezkusil" (Anis não experimentou) chegar à imprensa. O tcheco coloquial pode ser criado de outras maneiras, e esse palavra me assusta até agora. E também não sei quem inventou as formas do nome Sarah. A cultura tcheca comumente é traduzida como Sařin, possivelmente de Sarah, pertencente a Sarah. A frase: "Saražin otec, k Saražině hrobu, Saražina rakev, sbírka známek a postel." (Pai de Saraza, ao túmulo de Saraza, caixão de Saraza, coleção de selos e cama.) foi um pouco demais para mim. E eu sou um amador.
Recomendo o livro a todos. Ela é incrível e eu gostei muito. Desde a primeira página ela me atraiu para dentro da trama, ela usa sequências muito interessantes de frases curtas como flashes durante situações cheias de adrenalina. Fica comigo por muito tempo. Ao contrário de outros thrillers. Ela é... diferente... tão honesta. Não há muitos deles escritos hoje.
No mundo profissional, Charlie Heller é amador.
"Um homem está preso no século em que nasceu."
Um estudo fascinante da Checoslováquia socialista e da sua contraespionagem através dos olhos de um autor americano. Devorei avidamente as páginas que me apresentaram à Praga socialista e à guerra da KGB com a CIA e a contraespionagem checoslovaca.
Havia humor, sexo e amor. Mas acima de tudo, o livro contém procedimentos da CIA chocantemente detalhados, informações sobre armas e um sistema tão intrincado e nefasto que um mero mortal não consegue ver. Robert Littell deve ter recursos incríveis. O livro foi publicado em 1990 e não entendo de forma alguma como só agora chegou até nós. Por ser mais antigo, contém até tecnologia informática pré-histórica desatualizada, disfarçada de supercomputadores de última geração, cabines telefónicas sorridentes e, pelo contrário, conveniências como câmaras de segurança, telemóveis com GPS e outros. Talvez por isso o livro tenha um charme inconfundível e eu tenha gostado bastante. Mas ela não me ensinou como fugir da CIA moderna.
"Quanto mais tempo isto durar, melhor os terroristas conhecerão os reféns e menor será a probabilidade de matarem algum deles."
De fato? É assim que os órgãos oficiais pensam em situações de crise? Bem, provavelmente nunca mais colocarei os pés em um banco, porque é onde, segundo os filmes, os assaltos acontecem com mais frequência.
Gostei muito do livro, dos personagens, da história e das surpresas que ele oferece. Se eu tivesse que criticar alguma coisa, seria a tradução. Por um lado, tiro o chapéu para palíndromos e provérbios distorcidos. Por outro lado, não entendo como alguém pôde deixar o coloquial “Anis to nezkusil" (Anis não experimentou) chegar à imprensa. O tcheco coloquial pode ser criado de outras maneiras, e esse palavra me assusta até agora. E também não sei quem inventou as formas do nome Sarah. A cultura tcheca comumente é traduzida como Sařin, possivelmente de Sarah, pertencente a Sarah. A frase: "Saražin otec, k Saražině hrobu, Saražina rakev, sbírka známek a postel." (Pai de Saraza, ao túmulo de Saraza, caixão de Saraza, coleção de selos e cama.) foi um pouco demais para mim. E eu sou um amador.
Recomendo o livro a todos. Ela é incrível e eu gostei muito. Desde a primeira página ela me atraiu para dentro da trama, ela usa sequências muito interessantes de frases curtas como flashes durante situações cheias de adrenalina. Fica comigo por muito tempo. Ao contrário de outros thrillers. Ela é... diferente... tão honesta. Não há muitos deles escritos hoje.
April 21, 2025
This is one hard book to hate, but there is no liking it either.
At root it is your usual cop/detective/spy gone rogue genre novel, another of those law enforcement figures taking justice into their own hands, ostensibly following a higher moral code. My issue is that the motives for these rampages are always entirely selfish and this complicates things. Why are these the only people who can get away with this kind of revenge fantasy? Why do they get a pass? Why do we cheer them on in their path of destruction when these are the exactly the people upon whom we rely to prevent extra-judicial murder, to maintain the peace, to ensure justice. By definition it is outlaws who enforce their version of justice, not the police.
This is where The Amateur stands out just a little from the others in this tired cliche-ridden trope. The protagonist is only incidentally on the side of justice. Charlie Heller's job as a cryptographer is narrowly focused on a necessary task of espionage, but his role is as a conduit outside of the action. Charlie is obviously is aware that crimes are committed and questionable decisions made in the name of protecting America, but that is outside his purview and so he can ignore the rule breaking. Until he can't.
Using his knowledge of what really goes in at the CIA, Charlie forces the Company to train him for an assassination mission that they clearly want to prevent. Now this is an interesting point. At this point the Company faced with it's own amorality and lawbreaking becomes the champion of law and the proper international order. Of course this ends up being utterly insincere, but it's a remarkable position for the administrators who are aware of how much Charlie knows about their respect for international order. His response ends up being more in line with the lawless traditions of the CIA than the Company's own, and that's a neat twist.
The rest of the book is utterly predictable, right down to the lovely but lonely chick living in a literal love nest that he can insult until she loves him. Sigh. The ending pretends to wrap stuff up, but really resolves nothing. Charlie still has the CIA gunning for him when he is tossed across the border and back into the 'free-world' again and he has dragged the woman he loves into the same trap with him. Removing the people with a personal animus against him isn't going to prevent the institution from erasing him and his former agent girlfriend as a security risk.
It's a competent novel, but not distinguished in any meaningful way from the rest so I lean toward a two star - but then I recall that twist on the setup and I lean more to a three. Why not be generous?
At root it is your usual cop/detective/spy gone rogue genre novel, another of those law enforcement figures taking justice into their own hands, ostensibly following a higher moral code. My issue is that the motives for these rampages are always entirely selfish and this complicates things. Why are these the only people who can get away with this kind of revenge fantasy? Why do they get a pass? Why do we cheer them on in their path of destruction when these are the exactly the people upon whom we rely to prevent extra-judicial murder, to maintain the peace, to ensure justice. By definition it is outlaws who enforce their version of justice, not the police.
This is where The Amateur stands out just a little from the others in this tired cliche-ridden trope. The protagonist is only incidentally on the side of justice. Charlie Heller's job as a cryptographer is narrowly focused on a necessary task of espionage, but his role is as a conduit outside of the action. Charlie is obviously is aware that crimes are committed and questionable decisions made in the name of protecting America, but that is outside his purview and so he can ignore the rule breaking. Until he can't.
Using his knowledge of what really goes in at the CIA, Charlie forces the Company to train him for an assassination mission that they clearly want to prevent. Now this is an interesting point. At this point the Company faced with it's own amorality and lawbreaking becomes the champion of law and the proper international order. Of course this ends up being utterly insincere, but it's a remarkable position for the administrators who are aware of how much Charlie knows about their respect for international order. His response ends up being more in line with the lawless traditions of the CIA than the Company's own, and that's a neat twist.
The rest of the book is utterly predictable, right down to the lovely but lonely chick living in a literal love nest that he can insult until she loves him. Sigh. The ending pretends to wrap stuff up, but really resolves nothing. Charlie still has the CIA gunning for him when he is tossed across the border and back into the 'free-world' again and he has dragged the woman he loves into the same trap with him. Removing the people with a personal animus against him isn't going to prevent the institution from erasing him and his former agent girlfriend as a security risk.
It's a competent novel, but not distinguished in any meaningful way from the rest so I lean toward a two star - but then I recall that twist on the setup and I lean more to a three. Why not be generous?
March 19, 2025
I'll admit that I was introduced to this book through the trailer for the upcoming movie based on it in April. While the character backgrounds and overarching theme of revenge is the same, there are some differences given the geopolitical climate and backdrop of the Cold War.
Nevertheless, it's the same premise. Charles Heller is a cryptographer for the CIA with access to highly top secret intelligence. His fiancee, Sarah Diamond, is killed by KGB-sponsored terrorists when they take over the American consulate in Munich. Upset at the CIA's refusal to pursue the terrorists hiding in Czechoslovakia, he uses the knowledge of his position to blackmail the agency into giving him training and a mission where he kill the terrorists himself.
The book was quite enjoyable, and I finished it within three days. Other than a couple of lulls and an ending that's a bit confusing yet satisfactory, it's a fairly easy read that you can glide through. There are quite a few humorous quips that might yield a chuckle instead of an outright laugh. It's a great read if you like a loner protagonist on a mission. Compared to other spy novels, it doesn't focus too much on the agency's politics, and there's no grand geopolitical crisis, conspiracy, or patriotic messaging. It's just about a man wishing to enact justice for his murdered fiancee and is willing to break the rules to do just that.
Regarding the overall theme of revenge, it doesn't take the moral high ground on it. It illustrates the gritty reality of revenge and the somewhat therapeutic aspects, which is something not portrayed in today's superhero movies. Overall, a great book for someone wanting a more serious plot with a satisfying ending.
Nevertheless, it's the same premise. Charles Heller is a cryptographer for the CIA with access to highly top secret intelligence. His fiancee, Sarah Diamond, is killed by KGB-sponsored terrorists when they take over the American consulate in Munich. Upset at the CIA's refusal to pursue the terrorists hiding in Czechoslovakia, he uses the knowledge of his position to blackmail the agency into giving him training and a mission where he kill the terrorists himself.
The book was quite enjoyable, and I finished it within three days. Other than a couple of lulls and an ending that's a bit confusing yet satisfactory, it's a fairly easy read that you can glide through. There are quite a few humorous quips that might yield a chuckle instead of an outright laugh. It's a great read if you like a loner protagonist on a mission. Compared to other spy novels, it doesn't focus too much on the agency's politics, and there's no grand geopolitical crisis, conspiracy, or patriotic messaging. It's just about a man wishing to enact justice for his murdered fiancee and is willing to break the rules to do just that.
Regarding the overall theme of revenge, it doesn't take the moral high ground on it. It illustrates the gritty reality of revenge and the somewhat therapeutic aspects, which is something not portrayed in today's superhero movies. Overall, a great book for someone wanting a more serious plot with a satisfying ending.
March 10, 2025
This was likely cutting edge when it was published in 1981 but is now woefully dated. I chose it because I liked the trailer for the upcoming movie. Aside from there being a CIA cryptologist wanting revenge after his wife is murdered by terrorists, the two stories appear to have nothing in common. This is a story about the Cold War at a time when computers were fairly rare and mysterious. The parts about cryptology were the most interesting.
The author’s attitudes about women are in keeping with his time. They serve to advance the plot or to be a romantic interest but aren’t integral to the story otherwise. The sex scenes are laughable. It’s preposterous that two grieving people would fall in love in a manner of days and that their lives would be so intertwined that the fate of the woman was the most important part of the man’s plan.
There was so much repetition to the point where there was no novelty left. The man asking for cigarettes, the woman mixing up her idioms - about half as many references would have been too much.
There’s a good chance I might have enjoyed this had I read it forty years ago. As it is, the movie looks like it’ll be the far better choice.
The author’s attitudes about women are in keeping with his time. They serve to advance the plot or to be a romantic interest but aren’t integral to the story otherwise. The sex scenes are laughable. It’s preposterous that two grieving people would fall in love in a manner of days and that their lives would be so intertwined that the fate of the woman was the most important part of the man’s plan.
There was so much repetition to the point where there was no novelty left. The man asking for cigarettes, the woman mixing up her idioms - about half as many references would have been too much.
There’s a good chance I might have enjoyed this had I read it forty years ago. As it is, the movie looks like it’ll be the far better choice.
April 15, 2025
I had previously never read any of Robert Littell's spy thrillers but after seeing an enticing movie trailer of the same name, I picked up a second hand copy.
I was not disappointed. Littell writes with an authenticity surrounding the spy genre with particular focus on the CIA or as the central character, Charlie Heller, refers to it as the 'Byzantium'.
Beginning with a terrorist attack on a foreign consulate resulting in the assassination of a young American woman who just happens to be the fiancée of Heller.
Despite the 'Company' knowing who the three terrorist involved in the shooting are, Charlie, soon realises there is no movement towards tracking them down as they are now situated behind the 'Iron Curtain' in the former Czechoslovakia (the novel was first released in 1981).
Heller blackmails the CIA through his day job as a cryptographer with the result of receiving expert training as a spy leading to an incursion behind the curtain and in pursuit of the three terrorist involved in the murder of his fiancée. Fast-paced with many twists and turns this novel reaches an exciting climax as Charlie seeks revenge in order to truly live again.
I was not disappointed. Littell writes with an authenticity surrounding the spy genre with particular focus on the CIA or as the central character, Charlie Heller, refers to it as the 'Byzantium'.
Beginning with a terrorist attack on a foreign consulate resulting in the assassination of a young American woman who just happens to be the fiancée of Heller.
Despite the 'Company' knowing who the three terrorist involved in the shooting are, Charlie, soon realises there is no movement towards tracking them down as they are now situated behind the 'Iron Curtain' in the former Czechoslovakia (the novel was first released in 1981).
Heller blackmails the CIA through his day job as a cryptographer with the result of receiving expert training as a spy leading to an incursion behind the curtain and in pursuit of the three terrorist involved in the murder of his fiancée. Fast-paced with many twists and turns this novel reaches an exciting climax as Charlie seeks revenge in order to truly live again.
November 16, 2024
When the wife of a CIA cryptanalyst is murdered in a terrorist attack and his superiors rule out going after the culprits, he decides to blackmail them into training him and sending him across the Czech border so he can do it himself. No sooner is he across than he finds himself being hunted by the Russians and the CIA. It's a very eighties cynical-about-the-Cold-War thriller, though some of his others are a LOT darker. Still, there are the usual twists and turns and betrayals, though I can't decide if it was clever or climsy for a character to remark, reeling off various methods of assasination, that you could scare someone to death with an x-ray machine, which our protagonist later proceeds to do. The protagonist himself is oddly unlikeable, even in his grief, and I'm almost certain it's intentional. There's a new film adaptation coming, and I'm curious as to how they'll update it.
April 12, 2025
This was a good, easy read. It was first published in 1981 so there are a few things that could have been edited out for this 2025 re-release. Mostly the fat shaming and the phrase “making love� 🤮 when in fact they were having sex or fucking. This guy sure does have a lot of sex for someone who lost their fiancee tragically and is trying to get her revenge.
It was nice to read about his job. Solving puzzles. And just the one task. I wouldn’t know since I graduated into the recession but how nice it must have been to be hired for a job and only have one task. Not have your job and oh also you have to do pitches for the marketing team and sub in at accounting, for example. But I digress.
This was mostly enjoyable and I didn’t guess the twist. I love Rami Malek so I’m excited to see the movie.
It was nice to read about his job. Solving puzzles. And just the one task. I wouldn’t know since I graduated into the recession but how nice it must have been to be hired for a job and only have one task. Not have your job and oh also you have to do pitches for the marketing team and sub in at accounting, for example. But I digress.
This was mostly enjoyable and I didn’t guess the twist. I love Rami Malek so I’m excited to see the movie.
October 31, 2018
An excellent book about an office worker for the CIA who's girlfriend is murdered by terrorists.
The officer worker (an amateur) blackmails the CIA into sending him behind communist lines to assassinate the 3 terrorists.
A book about the healing power of revenge (or not), about redemption, anger, and the enduring power of love, and new love.
There are some comedic dialogues, and some really good intelligent smart writing.
My first Littell book, selected just at random, and I was exceptionally impressed, so much so, that I am saving the book in my home library for future reference.
Highly recommended.
Four and a half stars.
The officer worker (an amateur) blackmails the CIA into sending him behind communist lines to assassinate the 3 terrorists.
A book about the healing power of revenge (or not), about redemption, anger, and the enduring power of love, and new love.
There are some comedic dialogues, and some really good intelligent smart writing.
My first Littell book, selected just at random, and I was exceptionally impressed, so much so, that I am saving the book in my home library for future reference.
Highly recommended.
Four and a half stars.
April 14, 2025
I grabbed this book from the library after seeing an ad for the movie. Books are personal so I rarely write reviews, but this book was good all the way through. Characters well developed, plot twists well done and ending excellent. Then I googled any difference between the book & the movie. They changed so many main points!! Example - Henderson in the book is a CIA trainer with an agenda that is a huge plot point. In the movie he is the main character's boss??? Boss had huge separate part in the book. Found out another movie was made in 1981 - Canadian - that really followed the book. It was unfortunate that the main character in that movie wasn't that great of an actor. My recommendation - read the book 1st - it was great.
April 23, 2025
Cold War era spy stuff, cryptography, terrorism, and Shakespeare. Very enjoyable read. Going back to the days of phone booths and Pintos [the vehicle] was fun.
p. 75: That's the sort of thing we do. We pool the information we collect and codify it and then pore over it for months in the absolutely religious conviction that if you look at something long enough a pattern will emerge and the pieces will fall into place.
p. 263: An amateur is someone who suspects that enough isn't really as good as a feast. ... It's someone who thinks that if something is worth doing, it may be worth doing badly.
p. 75: That's the sort of thing we do. We pool the information we collect and codify it and then pore over it for months in the absolutely religious conviction that if you look at something long enough a pattern will emerge and the pieces will fall into place.
p. 263: An amateur is someone who suspects that enough isn't really as good as a feast. ... It's someone who thinks that if something is worth doing, it may be worth doing badly.
November 14, 2024
I like suspending disbelief when reading like cliffhangers and such. But a lone CIA cryptographer blackmailing his own agency to train him to go after terrorists who killed his girl? Okay, I suppose back in 1981 when this was written was slightly more plausible than today with today’s surveillance and tech. I’d give it another notch to 3.5 for it being entertaining for what it is, a stepping stone to better things from Robert Littell.
Being reprinted to coincide with the movie release in 2025 with Rami Malek as Heller.
Being reprinted to coincide with the movie release in 2025 with Rami Malek as Heller.
February 10, 2025
In anticipation of the movie that's coming out, I wanted to read the original first. Audiobook was very mediocre. Had hard time listening to the accents and sometimes I just vibed instead of understanding what was actually happening. It was hard to connect with the main character as well as deal with his Mona Lisa smile. I think that description was repeated at least 20 times. Also I didn't get the whole mystery behind who actually wrote Shakespeare. Overall, not a bad story. Maybe I'll read it once the book comes out (or is it just a new edition?). I hope the movie is more fun.
February 21, 2025
Saw the trailer for the movie coming out in April 2025 and was intrigued. Upon research found the movie is based on the 1981 book so decided to read the book 1st.
The book is quirky, as is the main character, and a bit plodding at times, but still enjoyable. I think it helped that I kept seeing Rami Malek (the actor who plays the main character in the movie) in my head as I read. I actually think the movie will be even better than the book because the action can be sped up and modernized.
Booklist Queen 2025 Reading Challenge Category: Book Becoming Movie in 2025
The book is quirky, as is the main character, and a bit plodding at times, but still enjoyable. I think it helped that I kept seeing Rami Malek (the actor who plays the main character in the movie) in my head as I read. I actually think the movie will be even better than the book because the action can be sped up and modernized.
Booklist Queen 2025 Reading Challenge Category: Book Becoming Movie in 2025
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