markmtz's review against another edition
5.0
I just listened to the audiobook version from Skyboat Media, read by Stefan Rudnicki. A very good adaptation of one of my favorite books. Rudnicki's voice and presentation are a good fit for Matt Helm. This is a terrific way to reread a classic spy novel.
pussreboots's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
jpmrrtx's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book. Yes, I grew up watching the Matt Helm movies and enjoyed them, yet the book couldn't be more different from them. Matt Helm has completely changed his life from what he did during the war. And he thought that was all in the past as he moved forward with his life with his wife and three children. But the past comes calling and leaves him with no choice but to go back to the man he used to be.
yoteach's review against another edition
3.0
A fun, quick story that features double-crossing, tails, fakes, frauds, hits, guns, kidnapping, and kill shots. Not terribly detailed, but when you have 20+ in a series, there is no need to be. I'd be willing to read more in the Matt Helm series.
speesh's review against another edition
3.0
As you can see from the release date 1960, this is something of a period piece. Reviewing it, I maybe should take into account an idea of how it might have been received at the time of publishing. It may well have been in at the start of the modern flash-bang, go-get 'em action hero type genre. That's possible. I think it has been well-liked since publication - certainly judging by the re-printing of the whole series and a snippet about Steven Spielberg being in pre-production of a Matt Helm film. That film, should it get going any time before you and I (or SS) are dead, would highlight the problem with reading this book now. Now, we're comparing it with the Bournes, the Rapps, the Harvaths, etc, and it comes off a good second best.
There seems to be far to much mentioning past, war-time exploits, as possible reasons for current events, but then there aren't that many current events. It's big on talk and hints, without delivering.
As I say, at the time, it may well have been required reading and there are enough entertaining elements in it to make it just over the middle into worth your while territory. The 'competition' may well be James Bond. The first Bond book, Casino Royale, came out in 1953. My exposure to James Bond has, maybe unfortunately, been solely through the films. The early ones especially, are unbelievably dull, cliched, Sean Connery is ridiculously poor and they have not aged well at all. Even the 'new' ones, Daniel Craig and 'his' Casino Royale aside, really don't stand up so well to second viewing. This book, is better than the early James Bond films fortunately. It featured on a list of the best spy books I found somewhere, which is why I read it, but the best and the worst I can say about it is, it was "meh!"
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There seems to be far to much mentioning past, war-time exploits, as possible reasons for current events, but then there aren't that many current events. It's big on talk and hints, without delivering.
As I say, at the time, it may well have been required reading and there are enough entertaining elements in it to make it just over the middle into worth your while territory. The 'competition' may well be James Bond. The first Bond book, Casino Royale, came out in 1953. My exposure to James Bond has, maybe unfortunately, been solely through the films. The early ones especially, are unbelievably dull, cliched, Sean Connery is ridiculously poor and they have not aged well at all. Even the 'new' ones, Daniel Craig and 'his' Casino Royale aside, really don't stand up so well to second viewing. This book, is better than the early James Bond films fortunately. It featured on a list of the best spy books I found somewhere, which is why I read it, but the best and the worst I can say about it is, it was "meh!"
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quirkycynic's review against another edition
2.0
Sometimes I read these old pulp books and am genuinely impressed and think they're amazingly vibrant pieces of fiction that happen to be buried beneath the disreputably of their genre -- and then other times I think they're kind of just masculine dude-bro fantasy wish-fulfillments. This book is the latter. Donald Hamilton's Matt Helm honestly reminds me a lot of John D. Macdonald's Travis McGee in that both of them are obsessed with constantly telling us what big, strong alpha dudes they are who are good at absolutely everything, which even as short as these books are makes for a pretty damn claustrophobic reading experience. There is a trade-off, though: Macdonald is a better writer even though he is a lot grosser in his misogyny, while Hamilton thankfully leaves a lot of his opinions of women at the door but is also a lot more pedestrian in his prose.
The plot is a big meh -- I liked the opening and the ending, but the entire mid-section was a confusing slog based kind of entirely around how childishly gleeful Helm is at the prospect of being able to leave his mundane family life behind to go back to being a less-stylish James Bond. I did like the rough and hardboiled tone; all the people who say the Matt Helm series is one of the more cynical of the 60s espionage craze are probably right, and I might read another in the series at some point if I'm assured that the protagonist won't go on another tangent about how well he can hunt bears.
The plot is a big meh -- I liked the opening and the ending, but the entire mid-section was a confusing slog based kind of entirely around how childishly gleeful Helm is at the prospect of being able to leave his mundane family life behind to go back to being a less-stylish James Bond. I did like the rough and hardboiled tone; all the people who say the Matt Helm series is one of the more cynical of the 60s espionage craze are probably right, and I might read another in the series at some point if I'm assured that the protagonist won't go on another tangent about how well he can hunt bears.
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