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Matt Helm #26
Matt Helm - The Threateners
“Don’t worry, we’re not going to shoot you… yet.”
A ruthless South American drug lord has a plan to bring the United States to its knees. A group of renegade American agents has plans to smash the kingpin and his cartel, by any means necessary. Caught in the middle, Matt Helm’s got to do double duty to stop them both, and to protect a woman with information both sides would kill for…
A ruthless South American drug lord has a plan to bring the United States to its knees. A group of renegade American agents has plans to smash the kingpin and his cartel, by any means necessary. Caught in the middle, Matt Helm’s got to do double duty to stop them both, and to protect a woman with information both sides would kill for…
394 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
30 people are currently reading
126 people want to read
About the author
Donald Hamilton
102 books108 followersDonald Hamilton was a U.S. writer of novels, short stories, and non-fiction about the outdoors. His novels consist mostly of paperback originals, principally spy fiction but also crime fiction and Westerns such as The Big Country. He is best known for his long-running Matt Helm series (1960-1993), which chronicles the adventures of an undercover counter-agent/assassin working for a secret American government agency.
Hamilton began his writing career in 1946, fiction magazines like Collier's Weekly and The Saturday Evening Post. His first novel Date With Darkness was published in 1947; over the next forty-six years he published a total of thirty-eight novels. Most of his early novels whether suspense, spy, and western published between 1954 and 1960, were typical paperback originals of the era: fast-moving tales in paperbacks with lurid covers. Several classic western movies, The Big Country and The Violent Men, were adapted from two of his western novels.
The Matt Helm series, published by Gold Medal Books, which began with Death of a Citizen in 1960 and ran for 27 books, ending in 1993 with The Damagers, was more substantial.
Helm, a wartime agent in a secret agency that specialized in the assassination of Nazis, is drawn back into a post-war world of espionage and assassination after fifteen years as a civilian. He narrates his adventures in a brisk, matter-of-fact tone with an occasional undertone of deadpan humor. He describes gunfights, knife fights, torture, and (off-stage) sexual conquests with a carefully maintained professional detachment, like a pathologist dictating an autopsy report or a police officer describing an investigation. Over the course of the series, this detachment comes to define Helm's character. He is a professional doing a job; the job is killing people.
Hamilton was a skilled outdoorsman and hunter who wrote non-fiction articles for outdoor magazines and published a book-length collection of them. For several years he lived on his own yacht, then relocated to Sweden where he resided until his death in 2006.
Hamilton began his writing career in 1946, fiction magazines like Collier's Weekly and The Saturday Evening Post. His first novel Date With Darkness was published in 1947; over the next forty-six years he published a total of thirty-eight novels. Most of his early novels whether suspense, spy, and western published between 1954 and 1960, were typical paperback originals of the era: fast-moving tales in paperbacks with lurid covers. Several classic western movies, The Big Country and The Violent Men, were adapted from two of his western novels.
The Matt Helm series, published by Gold Medal Books, which began with Death of a Citizen in 1960 and ran for 27 books, ending in 1993 with The Damagers, was more substantial.
Helm, a wartime agent in a secret agency that specialized in the assassination of Nazis, is drawn back into a post-war world of espionage and assassination after fifteen years as a civilian. He narrates his adventures in a brisk, matter-of-fact tone with an occasional undertone of deadpan humor. He describes gunfights, knife fights, torture, and (off-stage) sexual conquests with a carefully maintained professional detachment, like a pathologist dictating an autopsy report or a police officer describing an investigation. Over the course of the series, this detachment comes to define Helm's character. He is a professional doing a job; the job is killing people.
Hamilton was a skilled outdoorsman and hunter who wrote non-fiction articles for outdoor magazines and published a book-length collection of them. For several years he lived on his own yacht, then relocated to Sweden where he resided until his death in 2006.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 23, 2014
Leave it to Hamilton t introduce me to a new shooting sport. One of the things I like best about his books is his thorough knowledge of the material. In this case, it is a new-to-me type of target shooting with .22's & a wonderful tour of South America. As usual, the plot is convoluted, but Helm keeps his eye on the ball.
On to the final, published (there's one more that Hamilton wrote just before he died) Matt Helm book, #27, The Damagers
On to the final, published (there's one more that Hamilton wrote just before he died) Matt Helm book, #27, The Damagers
February 27, 2019
Way south of the border
Once again, Matt proves to be hard on female companions. And dogs. Buckle up for a tour of South America, as he again juggles a protection job and a "touch" in his inimitable fashion.
Once again, Matt proves to be hard on female companions. And dogs. Buckle up for a tour of South America, as he again juggles a protection job and a "touch" in his inimitable fashion.
June 10, 2017
When you crack open one of Hamilton's Matthew Helm novels, you can rest assured that you are reading a Hardboiled realistic spy story that puts all the tales of super-agents with fancy gadgets and flying cars to shame. Always well-written and absorbing, these novels are fun to read and always hard to put down once you start.
Threateners is one of the later Helm novels and, like some of the other later novels in the series, has a semi-retired Helm back in New Mexico, playing house, working on firing ranges, playing with his dog. But Helm is one of those guys for whom trouble is always around the corner and pretty soon he is in the midst of gunfire, bombings, interagency disputes, secrets, and bodyguard duty. That coalesces with a whirlwind tour of South America, complete with secret rendevouses, drug lords, and other things.
While this novel is quite enjoyable, it just misses the mark with the endless rendevouses and secrets that seem to have no point. The plot builds up but seems to sizzle a bit more than it should. That being said, you won't go wrong in picking up any Helm novel including this one.
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Threateners is one of the later Helm novels and, like some of the other later novels in the series, has a semi-retired Helm back in New Mexico, playing house, working on firing ranges, playing with his dog. But Helm is one of those guys for whom trouble is always around the corner and pretty soon he is in the midst of gunfire, bombings, interagency disputes, secrets, and bodyguard duty. That coalesces with a whirlwind tour of South America, complete with secret rendevouses, drug lords, and other things.
While this novel is quite enjoyable, it just misses the mark with the endless rendevouses and secrets that seem to have no point. The plot builds up but seems to sizzle a bit more than it should. That being said, you won't go wrong in picking up any Helm novel including this one.
Comment|Thank you for your review.
Edit
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November 25, 2019
Excellent
The last—unfortunately—of the Matt Helms. This time he is after a drug lord who put a price on a journalist’s head that was working for the US government. The typical twists and betrayals that are a hallmark of the series are fully present. Another enjoyable work in a great series that brought noir to the spy genre before George Smiley or Alec Leamas.
The last—unfortunately—of the Matt Helms. This time he is after a drug lord who put a price on a journalist’s head that was working for the US government. The typical twists and betrayals that are a hallmark of the series are fully present. Another enjoyable work in a great series that brought noir to the spy genre before George Smiley or Alec Leamas.
July 3, 2021
Helm’s always entertaining
This one is full of surprises that keeps you guessing the final outcome. One of Hamilton’s best plots. Highly recommended.
This one is full of surprises that keeps you guessing the final outcome. One of Hamilton’s best plots. Highly recommended.
November 26, 2021
Same formula
September 22, 2025
Book 26 represents the Matt Helm series grinding to a miserable halt. It is so poor it reads like a piece of really bad fan fiction, like all those flat attempts by other authors to imitate Ian Fleming. Here, Hamilton is sadly imitating himself. Like several of the later Helms, it feels like he and his wife promised themselves a nice holiday somewhere, and their rather pedestrian vacation became the backdrop for some literary thrills. One could really do without all the tedious comments about tourist brochures, waiters, restaurant service, airport queues etc etc. Here, it's even garnished with Matt beating himself up about buying a suburban house, joining a rifle club, possessing roses, the difficulties of parking his goddam car, etc. Utter tedium, and not mitigated by the elderly Hamilton's decision to inject some gratuitous brutality and modish swearing. There are unconvincing "with one leap he was free" moments, and the really bad villain indulging in that kind of mock gentlemanly fastidious politeness that one associates with Goldfinger of the "No, Mr Bond, I expect you to die" variety. If you have read all the other Helms, you will probably want to read this anyway, and it does have a few of the old pleasures, but it's second-rate stuff. If you haven't read Helm before, and you just want to sample the series, this is definitely not the one to try. Luckily, book 27, the last in the series, is far better.
March 2, 2017
Weak plot
Matt Helm has to be in his seventies, so thirty year old women finding him to be sexually appealing seem very farfetched! Plus the whole idea of staking out Madeleine and him doesn't make much sense. Needless to say that running around South America for over a month seems pretty idiotic.
Matt Helm has to be in his seventies, so thirty year old women finding him to be sexually appealing seem very farfetched! Plus the whole idea of staking out Madeleine and him doesn't make much sense. Needless to say that running around South America for over a month seems pretty idiotic.
March 29, 2017
Matt Helm is sort of an American Answer to James Bond. He is different from Bond yet similar.
As a kid I watched Dean Martin play Matt Helm and occasionally read one of my dads books. I picked this up more for nostalgia than anything else. While it was entertaining, it did slow down in some places and the story seemed to get bogged down. As I finished, I could not help but wonder if cutting about 1/3rd of the pages would not have made it better.
I cannot say that I will read any more books in this series, but I can say this: my dad and his baby brother loved this series; while reading this book I had fond memories of them.
As a kid I watched Dean Martin play Matt Helm and occasionally read one of my dads books. I picked this up more for nostalgia than anything else. While it was entertaining, it did slow down in some places and the story seemed to get bogged down. As I finished, I could not help but wonder if cutting about 1/3rd of the pages would not have made it better.
I cannot say that I will read any more books in this series, but I can say this: my dad and his baby brother loved this series; while reading this book I had fond memories of them.
April 10, 2017
I Love all the Matt Helm books...
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews