BULLETS, BROADS, BLACKMAIL & BOMBS >> Trio of Testosterone

Nothing but manly men in this column – no wine-drinking, Yanni-listening pansies. In other words, this one could be filled with tons of characters that pepper my bookshelves, but I choose three who have been too idle for too long here, starting off with the Mr. Warmth of the bunch.

THE DEVASTATORS by Donald Hamilton – Ah, one of my favorite spies: Matt Helm, the man who could make Patton cry like a girl. In this 1965 novel, Helm is called up for a mission in London since the last agent who went turned up dead with what looks like the bubonic plague.

Mac explains to Helm that his job is to track down a rogue scientist named Archibald McRow, who has developed a way to increase the potency of any type of virus to deadly effect, where even things like the chicken pox will be able to kill. As Helm readies for his mission, Mac brings up his cover: that of a newlywed husband with his bride being played by a fellow agent named Claire. Helm is also going as himself instead of under a fake identity to convince the British that he is really just on a honeymoon.

As soon as they land in England playing the happy couple, the British agents make their presence known right away. But they are not the only ones who know Helm is in town. After an attempt on his life, he comes face to face with a woman he has dealt with before: a Russian agent named Vadya, from THE AMBUSHERS. Come to find out, someone has kidnapped Helm’s new blushing bride.

DEVASTATORS follows as Helm has to team up with his enemy, since finding McRow – who’s teamed up with the Chinese – is on everyone’s hit parade. There are plenty of passages showing how cold of a killer Helm is, and in my opinion, this is what separates him from all others. Hamilton knows how to tell a story, plain and simple, and there’s a reason the early Helm books are looked upon as a golden age in spy fiction. To beat a dead horse, someone please pick up the rights and reissue these.

THE EXECUTIONER #15: PANIC IN PHILLY by Don Pendleton – One of the few aggressor characters still published like clockwork is Mack “The Punisher ripped me off” Bolan. Long before he became a terrorist-killing secret agent for the government, his main objective was as a one-man war against the Mafia.

Now this 1973 novel is a bit of a weird one in that Bolan is never really under pressure. You wait for the hammer to fall at some point to make everything planned go haywire. But it never happens. The story follows Mack as he clears house in Philly, where he has come to “take care of” the Angeletti family. They’re ready for him … or least they think they are, importing a cache load of soldiers from the old country who are being stockpiled in an abandoned whorehouse the family owns.

Well, Mack takes care of that within the first few chapters with a well-timed bomb or two, putting the Angelettis into a massive panic, to the point where the New York families send down some help in the form of Johnny Cavaretta. From here, we watch as Mack plays the crime family for all it’s worth, setting up a war between families.

The book reads so fast, you’ll be done with it in two hours and have a grand old time with it. There is a reason Bolan is still out there being printed: It’s because the stories – no matter how far-fetched – deliver in spades. I’ve got a stack of them that range from the old Mafia war days to the current terrorist-of-the-day fare that comes out now.

WAY OF A WANTON by Richard A. Prather – No column about manliness would be complete without a total ladies’ man. Enter Shell Scott in a terrific, straight-up 1952 mystery with no bizarre plots or far-fetched ideas. At a writer pal’s Hollywood party filled with cast and crew of a Tarzan-like film, the crowd decides to go for a bit of a swim – au naturale only – and one of the girls goes under the fake waterfall and makes the grizzly discovery of a dead woman.

Shell wants to call the police, but gets nothing but trouble from the movie folks who don’t want anything to do with it. Even one of the lunkheaded actors tries to take out Shell – a big mistake on his part.

Then Shell is called upon by the film’s major shareholder, who wants to hire him to discover who killed the girl. As Shell progresses through the case, someone is out there trying to stop him by any means necessary, be it a shooting while in his car, dropping a light at the studio or, better yet, getting two thugs to take him out while they are location-shooting.

The story throws a few red herrings your way, such as the revelation that the dead girl was pregnant. But was the reason she was killed? Plus, the list of suspects all lead to one person, yet it can’t be that simple for him. WANTON is early on in the Shell Scott series, and it’s a great ride into the weird world of moviemaking. Plenty of ladies all want a piece of Shell, and he is more than willing to oblige.

Next time: Fisher-Price or Tonka: Which was your favorite? –Bruce Grossman

Buy it at Amazon.

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF DONALD HAMILTON:
• THE AMBUSHERS by Donald Hamilton
• THE BETRAYERS 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
• MURDERERS’ ROW by Donald Hamilton
• NIGHT WALKER by Donald Hamilton
• TEXAS FEVER by Donald Hamilton
• THE VANISHERS by Donald Hamilton

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF DON PENDLETON:
• ABLE TEAM #1: TOWER OF TERROR by Don Pendleton and Dick Stivers
• THE EXECUTIONER #6: ASSAULT ON SOHO by Don Pendleton
• THE GUNS OF TERRA 10 by Don Pendleton

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF RICHARD S. PRATHER:
• DANCE WITH THE DEAD by Richard S. Prather
• THE PEDDLER by Richard S. Prather
• THE SHELL SCOTT SAMPLER by Richard S. Prather
• THE SWEET RIDE by Richard S. Prather

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