Sadly, that doesn’t have the same ring like that tune Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin sang all those years ago. This column could have easily have been called “Don’t Piss Off These Guys, No Matter What.” All three feature spies from various fictitious organizations, with one of them coming back after a five-year layoff. So let’s kick things off with everyone’s favorite happy-go-lucky Mr. Good Times himself, Matt Helm.
THE REVENGERS by Donald Hamilton — Up until this 1982 adventure, Matt Helm had been dormant in the world of spy fiction. So we could easily refer to the series from this point on as “Matt Helm Mark II,” since the books become much longer, and Helm enters that world of spies who never age. This book is also a clearinghouse for Hamilton to close up a few loose ends from previous ones — namely, killing off anyone off Helm had contact with who might pose a threat.
The story opens at a funeral for a fellow agent who retired, but his past finally caught up with him. Reporter Eleanor Brand stirs up a hornets’ nest of trouble with a series of articles exposing the deep, dark secret of the Helm and his fellow agents. She names names, pretty much putting a bull’s-eye on everyone involved.
Helm has to protect her, since the latest article she is working on deals with sinking ships, even though she is just using it for a front on a much bigger story. The body count in this book is staggering; it seems as though anyone who pops up will die, and most do. But surprisingly, it’s not Helm doing all the killing, even though he is set up for a patsy in a big way by another government operation that is sick of him.
The book bogs itself down with the sheer padding in it. There were stretches where I wished Hamilton would have picked up the pace. Having Helm take a plane from the islands to Florida and back to the Islands just so he can look at a dead body could have been edited.
That’s not to say it’s not good. But it could have been trimmed, especially from someone like Hamilton, whose earlier Helm novels were so streamlined that if you blinked, you’d miss a killing. The story takes its time to the big finish, feeling as though Hamilton was just dipping his foot back into this cold-blooded world he created, just to see if there was still a demand.
REVENGE OF THE GENERALS by Nick Carter — For what has to be one of the worst covers ever for this series, the 1978 story inside kicks major ass. I’ll put it another way: The plot and great plan made more sense than the recent QUANTUM OF SOLACE movie.
It revolves around four retired generals, all from different countries, blackmailing the world into buying their machine. It can screw with airplanes so much as to make them think they are going to crash, even though they are completely fine, thus forcing the pilots to make mistakes to then crash themselves. Ah, the wonders of a Nick Carter novel — sometimes they can be totally kick-ass and believable; other times, they are so far out there, you wonder, “What the hell were the ghostwriters thinking?”
As stated, this is definitely of the kick-ass variety, opening with Nick on a bit of R&R with a lovely young lady too attractive for her own good, causing Nick to flex his muscles in a local bar when the men start making derogatory comments about her. Soon after, Nick is called back to the states to meet with his boss at a Maine airport, where Nick is told about a letter claiming a jet airliner will be crashed as a demonstration. There are no reasons as to why or to whom; it’s not until later Nick finds out that a MIT scientist has come up with some sort of device that can screw with electronic pulses on such a scale to cause havoc on instruments.
Nick meets up with this missing scientist’s sister, a hot-looking astrophysics professor herself. This leads Nick to find out her brother is being held in Spain by some long-retired general. But he is not the only general, all of whom have a major grudge against airplanes, having fallen victim to air attacks in their various histories. I mean, this is like a general in the cavalry being angry at a car. Come on, people — that’s just a little out of control.
But the story is rock-solid, even with the big surprises that come along the way, including Nick taking on a bull. Say what you will, but these books are two-hour reads that leave your mind as soon as you put it down. But those two hours are more packed with fun and action than some of those 400-page techno-thrillers you see all the time.
THE DESTROYER #26: IN ENEMY HANDS by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy — Especially for a DESTROYER book, this 1976 episode is fast-paced and straightforward from the get-go, dealing with a group of American spies who worked in a group called Sunflower. They’re made to give up their weapons after years of training, only to get killed off by their Russian counterparts.
But before we get further into the story, our author twosome pokes a bit of fun at a certain disgraced outgoing president, who is explaining CURE to the incoming, bumbling commander in chief. Nixon explains that he made a call to put a stop to CURE, only to get a very rude awakening from our heroes who explain that not only would he resign, but he could not do a thing about it. Yes, Sapir and Murphy have a blast, even making Betty Ford a CB-loving first lady. Oh, the fads of our past! (At least there were no references to the song “Convoy.”)
So President Ford has to use CURE to take care of these Russians who just wiped away all of the U.S. agents. Remo and Chiun are sent off to France, where they make quick work of the whole Russian network, but this only takes up half the book. So Sapir and Murphy have some fun with Remo, having him fall for a lovely Russian agent whose sole purpose is to destroy these two wrecking machines. Remo falls so head over heels, he takes this agent to Las Vegas to get married.
This book flies by at such a clip, it literally took all of 80 minutes to read — just long enough to do a set of laundry, which is exactly what I did. I’ll be jumping back into the Remo world in another few weeks with the old books, since there are no new ones on the horizon.
Next time: All you closet Deadheads, get ready for a chuckle. —Bruce Grossman
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF NICK CARTER:
• CODE NAME: WEREWOLF by Nick Carter
• DEADLY DOUBLES by Nick Carter
• DEATH MESSAGE: OIL 74-2 by Nick Carter
• DEEP SEA DEATH by Nick Carter
• THE GOLDEN BULL by Nick Carter
• HIDE AND GO DIE by Nick Carter
• ICE TRAP TERROR by Nick Carter
• THE KOREAN KILL by Nick Carter
• MACAO by Nick Carter
• THE OMEGA TERROR by Nick Carter
• STRIKE FORCE TERROR by Nick Carter
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THE DESTROYER SERIES:
• THE BEST OF THE DESTROYER by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir
• THE DESTROYER #5: DR. QUAKE by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #6: DEATH THERAPY by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #9: MURDER’S SHIELD by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #10: TERROR SQUAD by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #11: KILL OR CURE by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #13: ACID ROCK by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #14: JUDGMENT DAY by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #15: MURDER WARD by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #17: LAST WAR DANCE by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #18: FUNNY MONEY by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #19: HOLY TERROR by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #22: BRAIN DRAIN by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #23: CHILD’S PLAY by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #24: KING’S CURSE by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #30: MUGGER BLOOD by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #32: KILLER CHROMOSOMES by Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #38: BAY CITY BLAST by Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #39: MISSING LINK by Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #45: SPOILS OF WAR by Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #46: NEXT OF KIN by Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #48: PROFIT MOTIVE by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #49: SKIN DEEP by Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #52: FOOL’S GOLD by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #55: MASTER’S CHALLENGE by Will Murray
• THE DESTROYER #67: LOOK INTO MY EYES by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy
• THE DESTROYER #78: BLUE SMOKE AND MIRRORS by Will Murray
• THE DESTROYER #89: DARK HORSE by Will Murray
• THE DESTROYER #104: ANGRY WHITE MAILMEN by Will Murray
• THE DESTROYER #145: DRAGON BONES by Tim Somheil
• THE NEW DESTROYER: CHOKE HOLD by Warren Murphy and James Mullaney
• THE NEW DESTROYER: DEAD RECKONING by Warren Murphy and James Mullaney
• THE NEW DESTROYER: GUARDIAN ANGEL by Warren Murphy and James Mullaney
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
• ON GUNS AND HUNTING by Donald Hamilton
• THE POISONERS by Donald Hamilton
• THE RAVAGERS by Donald Hamilton
• THE RETALIATORS by Donald Hamilton
• THE SHADOWERS by Donald Hamilton
• THE TERMINATORS by Donald Hamilton
• TEXAS FEVER by Donald Hamilton
• THE VANISHERS by Donald Hamilton
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF WARREN MURPHY:
• GRANDMASTER by Warren Murphy
• TRACE: GETTING UP WITH FLEAS by Warren Murphy
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I agree about The Revengers being a shaky relaunch. But after that I found the rest of the “later” Helm books to be quite good and to move quickly in spite of their greater length. On a side note, I still don’t understand the amount of disdain out in the world for Quantum of Solace, it’s not the greatest Bond ever but it’s a solid film with a tighter plot than it’s credited with. Certainly a stronger film than many a Moore or even Brosnan entry.
My problem with Solace was it was the most un-Bond like film in the whole lot. It felt like they watched all the Bourne films and said let’s do that instead. They just screwed with the formula a bit to much. Still whenever the next one comes out I’ll be there.
With the Bourne films, I feel, despite general opinion that he first one is by far the best. the action is coherent and visceral, the sequels degenerate into shaky cam vertigo-fests greatly diminishing the impact of otherwise top-notch stuntwork. I think QoS straddles the line better between excitement and cohesion in it’s action, that opening car chase is a great example of economical storytelling through editing, whereas the car chases in both Bourne sequels are chaotic fits of rushing headlights and shattering glass. but that’s just me. All that aside, thanks Bruce for this column! I’ve read the Bond, Helm and Nick Carter books for years and could never find a forum where they could be discussed free of condescension. Thanks to you I’ve discovered the Sam Durrel series and look forward to reading them through.
Oh thanks Daniel for the nice comments. Actually I’ve only seen the first Bourne film and bits and pieces of the other two. I too have read countless Nick Carters, all the Bond books, and a good portion of the Helm series before starting this column. As you can see I’ve only ever covered one other late period Helm book. So can’t wait to finish up the series now that I have the complete run. Glad I turned you onto the Durrel series they are really easy to find and there are plenty of them. Just make sure to stick to the Edward S Aarons ones. A writer took over once Aarons passed away writing six more of them under the name Will B Aarons.
Roger that. I have found and purchased the first 11 in order. looking forward to reading them. I’d like to recommend for future coverage the OSS 117 books by Jean Bruce. Only 2 or 3 seem to have been released in the US but 15 were translated and released by Corgi in the UK. I’ve read the first 4 so far and really enjoyed them.
If I find some in my travels I’ll grab them. Thanks for the info.