paul_cornelius's review
2.0
The ending of Assignment Angelina saves things somewhat. Without spoiling anything, I'll say that Aarons anticipates Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove by six years and is contemporaneous with the book that Strangelove is based upon. That said, for the most part, this novel is a disappointment. Many of the things I praised Aarons for in the past, don't quite make it here. For example, he lags in his story and he fails to advance the plot. There is far too much Angelina, and she is annoying. Too, the one part of Aaron's Sam Durell novels I've always been impatient with are those passages where Sam returns to his home in Louisiana and around New Orleans. I just dislike that setting. And, here, it's almost half of the book. It's also a mistake to push Durell into the role of a detective, which is what happens for most of Angelina. Put Sam back in espionage, and don't let him do too much counterespionage.
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