John Lange's work would be forgotten though, as it was actually the pen name of Michael Crichton - the multi-million selling author of Jurassic Park, Congo and many other filmic and filmed novels.
For February though, Tyneside Book Club members undertook some literary archaeology to see if we could see the origins of Crichton's success in his earlier incarnation.
Opinion on that was decidedly mixed. Some members did enjoy what was on the whole an undemanding heist romp. They found there was fun to be had in the 1960s hotel setting and the cast of characters.
But others found the novel hard to love. It is unquestionably a product of its time, but its sexual politics fell foul of several members. Some felt the female characters were objectified, while Crichton decided he had to pep up the action on a regular basis with "soft porn-style" sex scenes which detracted rather than added to the plot.
This did lead to some unintentional comedy in the descriptions of the sex, but didn't mark out the book as something worth reviving.
Time had not been kind to the central hook of the plot too - the idea of a heist designed by a computer. From a 21st Century perspective, the computing of the time seemed somewhat quaint.
For some there were signs of why Crichton would go onto greater success - a cinematic, punchy style emerging. But for others this was a novel that was best left in the past - a revival that did its author no favours.
It certainly led to some good discussion though, and we had two new members to welcome to the group.
Next month, to emphasise our eclectic reading pattern, we tackle Jean Cocteau's Les Enfants Terribles.