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Killmaster #7
A Bullet For Fidel
The doomsday weapon in Cuban hands threatens to explode World War III
AXE agent, David Trainor posing as a returning refugee, is killed after attempting to sail from Florida to Cuba. As he was dying, he managed to daub the word 'star' on the floor in his own blood. Nick Carter is sent to investigate.
AXE agent, David Trainor posing as a returning refugee, is killed after attempting to sail from Florida to Cuba. As he was dying, he managed to daub the word 'star' on the floor in his own blood. Nick Carter is sent to investigate.
Paperback
First published January 1, 1965
90 people want to read
About the author
Nick Carter
1,056 books45 followersNick Carter is a house pseudonym used by Award, Ace, and later Jove, publishing for the series Nick Carter who later graduated to a special agent for the Killmaster novels, a series of 261+ spy adventures published from 1964 until late 1990s.
A great number of writers have written under the pen-name over the years, beginning in September 1886 when Nick Carter first appeared in the 'New York Weekly' in a 13-week serial, entitled 'The Old Detective's Pupil; or, The Mysterious Crime of Madison Square'.
The Nick Carter character was originally conceived by Ormond G. Smith, the son of one of the founders of Street & Smith, and realized by John R. Coryell.
A great number of writers have written under the pen-name over the years, beginning in September 1886 when Nick Carter first appeared in the 'New York Weekly' in a 13-week serial, entitled 'The Old Detective's Pupil; or, The Mysterious Crime of Madison Square'.
The Nick Carter character was originally conceived by Ormond G. Smith, the son of one of the founders of Street & Smith, and realized by John R. Coryell.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 15, 2025
Nick Carter - the author - is a house pseudonym at Award Books publishing and this seventh episode of the Killmaster series was ghost-written by Valerie Moolman in 1965. Nick Carter - the protagonist - is kind of an American James Bond, in this episode working to investigate the brutal killing of another American spy and its connection to a written clue "Star" next to the body. Carter meets a beautiful lady on the plane who happens to be a skilled burglar and then the two of them engage in a pretty standard love/distrust lurid spy action caper in the hotels, casinos, mountains, and secret military installations of mid-60's Cuba.
As a potential warning against taking my review here too seriously, some context for illustration; I saw a good fifty or so of these "Nick Carter" books in a big one-dollar-rack at HPB and just grabbed a bunch of them at random. The series has 261 books (!) so while Jeff the Completist is a bit disappointed that I've not secured the first episodes to read in order, Jeff the Rationalist is saying there's no way I'm buying all 261 of these in exact order. No way. Jeff the Smart Aleck would respond to both with a snarky, "well, why would you even buy this one, moron" before Jeff the Impressionable would simply point to the spy action hero holding a handgun next to the scantily clad woman on the cover .
Verdict: A kind of short, lazy, easy summer adult spy movie of a book, I can't really recommend "A Bullet for Fidel" because it is pretty badly dated, the plot isn't well-paced, the characters are tropey and predictable, and the action and intrigue are small parts compared to the badly-written soap opera love scenes.
Jeff's Rating: 2 / 5 (Okay)
movie rating if made into a movie: R
As a potential warning against taking my review here too seriously, some context for illustration; I saw a good fifty or so of these "Nick Carter" books in a big one-dollar-rack at HPB and just grabbed a bunch of them at random. The series has 261 books (!) so while Jeff the Completist is a bit disappointed that I've not secured the first episodes to read in order, Jeff the Rationalist is saying there's no way I'm buying all 261 of these in exact order. No way. Jeff the Smart Aleck would respond to both with a snarky, "well, why would you even buy this one, moron" before Jeff the Impressionable would simply point to the spy action hero holding a handgun next to the scantily clad woman on the cover .
Verdict: A kind of short, lazy, easy summer adult spy movie of a book, I can't really recommend "A Bullet for Fidel" because it is pretty badly dated, the plot isn't well-paced, the characters are tropey and predictable, and the action and intrigue are small parts compared to the badly-written soap opera love scenes.
Jeff's Rating: 2 / 5 (Okay)
movie rating if made into a movie: R
December 25, 2020
A very reluctant 2.5/5, based solely on the strength of its action and espionage sections. The rest of it is fumbling comedy, maligning of foreign peoples for their being non-American (especially the Chinese, yikes), and objectification of the few female characters.
It's little more than a pulp spy thriller, laden with cliches to the point where I would have been more surprised had the big bad guy NOT revealed his whole plan for no reason less than five pages from the end of the book.
The writing style itself is pretty solid, at least, and there's occasional scatterings of above-average work even in the worse parts, but there's not much that can be done to save those.
I don't dislike this genre, nor the era that this book is from; I think it can be very fun, and A Bullet for Fidel gets fun at several points. But its merits don't make up for the attitudes throughout the rest of it that make for droll reading. I'm quite okay not touching another entry into this series, nor more work by this author.
It's little more than a pulp spy thriller, laden with cliches to the point where I would have been more surprised had the big bad guy NOT revealed his whole plan for no reason less than five pages from the end of the book.
The writing style itself is pretty solid, at least, and there's occasional scatterings of above-average work even in the worse parts, but there's not much that can be done to save those.
I don't dislike this genre, nor the era that this book is from; I think it can be very fun, and A Bullet for Fidel gets fun at several points. But its merits don't make up for the attitudes throughout the rest of it that make for droll reading. I'm quite okay not touching another entry into this series, nor more work by this author.
May 1, 2022
Nick "Killmaster" Carter investigates a mysterious death by heading to Havana and shooting many suspicious criminals, while pausing only to have sex with every female character. Trashy and with what seems like several errors (casinos in post revolution Cuba in the 60s?). Short and to the point though.
December 15, 2014
Read this ages ago, clearly each Killmaster is written by a ghostwriter. However, many of them are extremely enjoyable. and seem to be based on much cold war research. I wouldn't mind reading this again to refresh my memory.
February 8, 2016
A nice rewrite of an old Pulp character. Recast more in the James Bond spy mode. Good quick men's adventure read. If you are looking for some fast paced action and adventure then this is a recommended read.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews