When Szell finds out about this he believes Doc may have told Babe about the plan to rob him. Mortally wounded, Doc makes his way to Babe's apartment and dies in his brother's arms. Suspecting Doc of planning to rob him when he retrieves the diamonds, Szell stabs him and leaves him for dead. When Szell arrives in New York he meets with Doc. Unbeknownst to Babe, his elder brother by ten years (and best friend), Henry David 'Hank' Levy (after Henry David Thoreau), known by Babe as 'Doc', works in The Division under the name 'Scylla' and has been helping to move Szell's diamonds as part of his duties.

Babe's PhD dissertation aims to clear his father's name of alleged Communist affiliations. Levy, who was one of the victims of McCarthyism, when Babe was ten. He is haunted by the suicide of his brilliant academic father, H.V. Meanwhile, at Columbia University, Thomas Babington 'Tom' Levy, known by his brother as 'Babe' (the first and middle names are a reference to Thomas Babington Macaulay, and the nickname is a reference to Babe Ruth) is a postgraduate student in history and an aspiring marathon runner. When his father dies in a car accident, Szell must come to New York himself to retrieve the diamonds, as there is no one else he can trust with them. The sales and transfers of proceeds are facilitated by a secret US agency called 'The Division' for whom Szell has provided information about other escaped Nazis.

The diamonds are kept at a bank in New York by his father. Christian Szell, now residing in Paraguay, has been living on the proceeds of diamonds he extorted from prisoners there. In 1976 it was made into a film of the same name, with a screenplay by Goldman, starring Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, and Roy Scheider and directed by John Schlesinger.Ī former Nazi SS dentist at Auschwitz, Dr. It was Goldman's most successful thriller novel, and his second suspense novel. Marathon Man is a 1974 conspiracy thriller novel by William Goldman.

Marathon man by william goldman