BULLETS, BROADS, BLACKMAIL & BOMBS >> Mr. Warmth

It’s everyone’s favorite cold-blooded thug of a spy — the man who could make James Bond wet his pants: Matt Helm. This week, we’re plugging in a few holes in the early Helm adventures that have not been covered here before. Sure, their covers may not be that great, but it’s really what’s inside that counts.

THE SHADOWERS by Donald Hamilton — This is book number seven in the wonderful world of Matt Helm. Hamilton sure knows how to tie up loose ends like no other, starting this 1964 book off with the death of the Helm’s girlfriend Gail Hendricks. Needing something to take his mind off this, Helm is told he has to rush off to New Orleans to join an operation already in progress.

Russian genius Emil Taussig has come up with a terrific plot: shadowing all of our scientists and leaders with the idea that once Russia is about to invade, all his operatives will kill them. Helm is told that his job is to protect scientist Olivia Mariassy, with his cover being that of her new husband. As soon as he makes contact with her, trouble starts in a big way. We’re not talking incompatibility between the two — oh, no, how about a former Nazi thug named Karl Kroch?

Kroch seems to be one step ahead of Helm’s every move, with disastrous results for our hero (and even innocent bystanders). This novel is a perfect example of how the Helm series is vastly different from other spies: The whole story takes place in very few settings, and never goes off the rails with some bizarre subplot. It just focuses on the story at hand with a little carryover from earlier adventure, mostly between characters.

Hamilton does an amazing job of keeping all the secrets hidden, right to the very end. He just winds up the story and lets the action go. The best way to describe THE SHADOWERS is that of Helm facing someone his equal, with some unexpected surprises along the way which I’m not going to ruin.

THE RAVAGERS by Donald Hamilton — Come right off the escapades of the previous book, Helm is back in action in this 1964 effort, called upon to find out what happened to a missing agent in Canada, only to find out the agent is dead via a face full of acid.

Helm has to pick up the slack of this agent’s job: tailing scientist’s wife Jenny Drilling, who has run off with her daughter and a cache of stolen secret documents. She’s being used as a pawn to draw out the Russians — specifically, a Russian sub that the Americans plan to sink.

The bulk of the book has Helm using a cover of a shady private eye to get in good with Jenny and her daughter Naomi — only there are others out there who seem to have their own ideas for them, including a fellow U.S. agent and a Russian spy who Helm’s boss wants alive. Take a wild guess if the Russian agent makes it.

There’s a big secret ahead — one I definitely did not see coming, even with clues abound. These early books in the series are just lean and mean reads. You know here will be a body count, and of course, Helm is as cruel as ever. On a side note, this was going to be one of those Matt Helm flicks. I can only imagine how they were going to change this one, since a water pistol filled with acid is not something Dino would have liked.

THE POISONERS by Donald Hamilton — This 1971 novel marks the midway point in the Helm series after a two-year layoff. The major problem with this 13th outing is that it carries a red herring of a plot for the bulk of the story.

Helm is sent to California, since the newest agent — one he recruited — has been killed shortly after arriving in the state. As soon as Helm makes contact with his boss, the giant red herring begins: a mob boss named Warfel who tries to placate Helm by offering up the real killer, just so they can get rid of Helm with no other problems.

The reason for this is that the bulk of this book deals with a heroin smuggling plot. But this was not the mission Helm was sent on; he is there purely to find the real killer (just like O.J.) and getting an assist from a DEA agent who will cross Helm in a second if he screws up her drug bust. This whole plot goes on way too long to only lead to the true enemy: the returning Mr. Soo, a Chinese agent who Helm has met twice before.

Helm is played for a fool — or at least everyone thinks he is — through the bulk of the story, until the last 50 pages, where it’s discovered who killed the agent and Helm taking out another who has appeared before. If you’ve stuck with the Helm books and this might be one of the ones missing in your collection, don’t worry if you skip it. It’s only mediocre at best, especially since most people have seen the drug plot done before in various books or movies. There was nothing new to keep my interest until that final 50 finally kicked in. Then it’s prime Hamilton putting the pedal to the metal, but wow, did it feel like it was in neutral before that.

Next time: A question from one of the truly great modern thinkers of my youth. —Bruce Grossman

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OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF DONALD HAMILTON:
• THE AMBUSHERS by Donald Hamilton
• THE BETRAYERS by Donald Hamilton
• THE DEVASTATORS by Donald Hamilton
• THE INTERLOPERS by Donald Hamilton
• THE INTIMIDATORS by Donald Hamilton
• IRON MEN AND SILVER STARS edited by Donald Hamilton
• LINE OF FIRE by Donald Hamilton
• THE MENACERS by Donald Hamilton
• THE MONA INTERCEPT by Donald Hamilton
• MURDERERS’ ROW by Donald Hamilton
• NIGHT WALKER by Donald Hamilton
• TEXAS FEVER by Donald Hamilton
• THE VANISHERS by Donald Hamilton

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