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Matt Helm #20
The Annihilators (The Matt Helm Series)
Matt Helm has got a good thing going with Elly. So a terrorist outfit really have picked the wrong woman when they kidnap her in order to leverage Matt into carrying out an assassination. Now, Helm finds himself in Costa Verde with one thing on his mind: revenge ...
1 pages, Audio CD
First published June 12, 1983
36 people are currently reading
125 people want to read
About the author
Donald Hamilton
101 books107 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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July 13, 2021
From the mid sixties on Donald Hamilton’s Matt Helm series was often promoted as a realistic alternative to James Bond. This statement came with loads of irony, starting with the fact that they were attempting to contrast the novels against the successful series of movies more than the literary work of Ian Flemming (which admittedly did have some fantastic elements). In the end, though, apples to oranges. The worst elements of Moonraker and A View to a Kill mashed up would still view like Casablanca when compared to any of the Dean Martin Matt Helm movies of the sixties; they were essentially spoofs, and Matt Helm--the real Matt Helm--was anything but funny. The truth, though, no matter the medium, is that Matt Helm was no more realistic than James Bond. The stories were merely built around more realistic elements.
These were meant to be adventure novels, and they turned out to be a significant step in the evolution of such. You can draw a line from Mickey Spillaine in the 50s through Hamilton in the 60s straight to the men’s adventure novels of the 70s. You could probably extend the line farther in both directions but I feel I’m not qualified to expound on that. I can state with reasonable certainty that all of the above--to varying degrees--rather than being realistic, just made use of the trappings of realism. Not all fantasy novels involve wizards and dragons.
Nor are all adventure novels cover-to-cover action. There is plenty of action, often innovatively presented, but it’s not Hamilton’s main ingredient. Intrigue is what makes these novels go. It’s all move and countermove. It’s establishing the parameters of the assignment and then debunking the false assumptions. It’s seeing through deceptions while selling your own. It’s withstanding the betrayals and then maneuvering the betrayer into revealing what is really at stake. And there is not a scene in a Donald Hamilton book that doesn’t contribute to at least one of the above in some way.
Matt Helm’s job description, on those rare occasions when one was needed--the government agency for which he worked did not even have a name--was counter assassination. His specialty was handling the ruthlessly lethal agents created and deployed by nations without the scruples of clean-cut America. During the period in which these adventures began, it seemed somewhat plausible that the publicly-known government agencies would be incapable of dealing with this level of opponent. As the perception of our government slowly changed over the four decades the series ran, as it became more credible to believe that our legitimate, real life agencies already had people in place accomplished enough to answer these type of threats, it became more a matter of those other agencies choosing to sacrifice Helm and his colleagues rather than their own people. Which was absolutely fine with Helm. As long his assignment--his real assignment, what his boss wanted accomplished--was completed, the motives and needs of others were irrelevant.
Matt Helm may well be one of the most unique characters ever created, and not because he was a government assassin. That had become fairly commonplace well before his era closed. It was his personality. He has a very distinct set of likes and dislikes, including: a love of dogs; deference for firearms; a healthy appetite for sex, with or without emotional resonance; respect for fellow professionals, no matter which side they served; disdain for sentimentality, the single greatest enemy of professionalism; impatience with anyone who sticks their nose into the espionage game and then objects violence and killing; scorn for any amateur who similarly inserts themselves into his business; and a willingness to sacrifice anything, including himself, to complete his mission. Whether conveyed within the narrative or by interacting with other characters, these traits were delivered in such a smooth, fast-paced, engaging manner that the reader could not help becoming involved, even if they do not remotely agree with any of Helm’s philosophy.
The Annihilators falls in the second half of the Helm series. Few series can be divided as easily or have their watershed moment identified as succinctly. Five years passed between The Terrorizers in 1977 and The Revengers in 1982. Hamilton was not dormant during this time. He produced a sprawling, multi-character piece called The Mona Intercept. He must have learned something he liked in the process because when he returned to Helm, the books had doubled in the size and Hamilton had entered what I refer to as the Adult Phase.
Adult? How could books about an assassin become more adult? As one might expect, it wasn’t the violence. Nor was it sex. As was the norm when Hamilton started writing, when events became amorous, he would he would merely skip three lines and pick up some time after the encounter. That never changed. No, it was the language that had evolved. We saw a little of it in The Terrorizers, some harsher words now in use; but it was kept to the bad guys. With the Adult Phase, it had seeped into both the hero and his narrative. Not superficially, however; not relegated to dialogue or when conveying moments of anger. It had permeated the feel and texture of each novel. It jarred the first time I read it. A couple of paragraph later I recognized Matt Helm and we were off.
The Annihilators has always been my favorite of Donald Hamilton’s novels, perhaps a surprising choice because it lacks the plot twists that were inherent in his work. There are still surprising reveals along the way but it remains the most straight ahead, “Point A to Point Z” novel in the series. It also highlights everything Hamilton did exceptionally well.
Upon arrival in Chicago Helm finds three young revolutionaries attempting to coerce him into using his skills to remove the dictator of their small Central American country. The immediate standoff is quickly concluded but there must be retaliation. This is not matter of pride, nor is Helm being petty. It’s a matter of policy. It has always been acceptable if an agent dies in the line of duty--it comes with the job. But Mac, the ruthless leader of Helm’s organization, has always made it clear to those in the know: intentionally involve his people in situations outside of their professional purview, particularly if they die in the process--and you die too. Immediately or five years from now, you die. No excuses, no pardons.
Two of the revolutionaries are the offspring of Hector Jimenez, who once assisted Helm in an operation in that same country, Costa Verde--and is currently its deposed ruler. He did not approve the attempt at Helm’s involuntary recruitment but as leader he takes responsibility for it. This is where Helm’s disdain for sentimentality comes into play. It has always been a lurking aspect of his character, submerged but not completely suppressed. Helm continually denies its existence, claiming circumstances keep conspiring to make it appear as if sentimentality sometimes guided his actions. The reader is often made aware of its presence and how it affects Helm, even if he can’t see it himself. This time Helm is fully aware. Because of the opening events Helm feels that since he has the leeway as to whether Jimenez should be included in the retribution, he should find out how important he is to his country’s welfare.
Helm goes about this by slipping into Costa Verde via an archaeological expedition that is open to the public. He promptly gets involved with revolutionaries, bandits and a dictatorial government. It exposes the reader to another of Hamilton’s considerable strengths: character interaction. As Helm works his way through a world unfamiliar to most, Hamilton gets to delve into a wide variety of people and their situations. The exploration of the relatively unknown is another tenet of the adventure tale. It allows Hamilton to feed the intrigue and drama without slowing the story.
His judicial use of action sequences also elevates The Annihilators. It is easy to become enamored with a skill when you are particularly good at it. There is a great gun battle around the two-thirds mark. But restraint serves Hamilton too. There comes a point when Helm is forced to work with a small group of men. The planning and discussion of the operation that gives the book its name is crucial, both for character development and pacing. Once you dissect your characters' intentions in great detail, unless it goes horribly wrong there is no longer a need for the reader to actually see it. Hamilton wisely jumps ahead and just supplies us with the aftermath when relaying the event to another character.
Not that Hamilton was without fault. There is the frequent assertion that all his books are essentially the same, and upon close examination there is some validity to the claim. They usually begin with a mission that has two objectives--one of which Helm has to discover on his own--and they end with him letting himself be captured so that he can complete his assignment from within. In between, in order to provide the necessary twists and turns, one or more of the people Helm meets has to have a different objective than both of Helm’s, or they have to represent a third party hoping to scoop the prize out from under everybody. The repetition is obvious if you dig deep down to the bones of it. But we all have essentially the same skeleton. It’s the flesh and blood that defines uniqueness.
There is also the claim that all his female characters are clichés. Again, little argument. These began as male fantasies and each female character is created to fulfill a certain role. At least one has to go to bed with Helm to allay his suspicions. Another has to end up with him at the conclusion, to provide the obligatory happy ending--adventure-novel style. Any other extraneous women are usually there to be outraged by his callousness. That’s another reason The Annihilators stands out. The female lead, Frances Dillman, has some complicated and legitimate motives for the various actions she takes. Her dialogue; that’s another matter. But Hamilton had always hit both ends of the scale when it came to dialogue. When normal people were having a normal, stress-free conversations, or even when full-out monologues had to be delivered; there were few better. But if he was trying to affect a dialect, or if a character--particularly a female character--lapsed into any kind of self-pity; those were cringe-worthy moments.
After Helm’s fact-finding odyssey through Costa Verde he returns to Chicago to close the book on the Jimenez contingent, who are imbedded in Park Lake house. While trained in all forms of personal combat, Helm’s specialty is as a long-range sniper, and that’s his part in the final operation. It highlights the differences between the thrillers of today and the adventure novels of yesterday. Yes, in the days of yore you still have to take out the bad guy, but it didn’t have to build to a crescendo. If intrigue is the driving force, the reader wants the final answers as much as a final confrontation.
I can’t say that they don’t make them like this anymore; no one ever made them quite like Donald Hamilton. He had the ability to keep the pace brisk, to keep the reader engaged with maneuvering that was as much theory as movement, and he could produce deductions from clues that are as open and fair as you are likely to find in a traditional mystery. Faults and all, Hamilton had carved out a unique place within the sub-genre of the secret agent novel. The Annihilators highlights the best of his skills while he was at the top of his game.
These were meant to be adventure novels, and they turned out to be a significant step in the evolution of such. You can draw a line from Mickey Spillaine in the 50s through Hamilton in the 60s straight to the men’s adventure novels of the 70s. You could probably extend the line farther in both directions but I feel I’m not qualified to expound on that. I can state with reasonable certainty that all of the above--to varying degrees--rather than being realistic, just made use of the trappings of realism. Not all fantasy novels involve wizards and dragons.
Nor are all adventure novels cover-to-cover action. There is plenty of action, often innovatively presented, but it’s not Hamilton’s main ingredient. Intrigue is what makes these novels go. It’s all move and countermove. It’s establishing the parameters of the assignment and then debunking the false assumptions. It’s seeing through deceptions while selling your own. It’s withstanding the betrayals and then maneuvering the betrayer into revealing what is really at stake. And there is not a scene in a Donald Hamilton book that doesn’t contribute to at least one of the above in some way.
Matt Helm’s job description, on those rare occasions when one was needed--the government agency for which he worked did not even have a name--was counter assassination. His specialty was handling the ruthlessly lethal agents created and deployed by nations without the scruples of clean-cut America. During the period in which these adventures began, it seemed somewhat plausible that the publicly-known government agencies would be incapable of dealing with this level of opponent. As the perception of our government slowly changed over the four decades the series ran, as it became more credible to believe that our legitimate, real life agencies already had people in place accomplished enough to answer these type of threats, it became more a matter of those other agencies choosing to sacrifice Helm and his colleagues rather than their own people. Which was absolutely fine with Helm. As long his assignment--his real assignment, what his boss wanted accomplished--was completed, the motives and needs of others were irrelevant.
Matt Helm may well be one of the most unique characters ever created, and not because he was a government assassin. That had become fairly commonplace well before his era closed. It was his personality. He has a very distinct set of likes and dislikes, including: a love of dogs; deference for firearms; a healthy appetite for sex, with or without emotional resonance; respect for fellow professionals, no matter which side they served; disdain for sentimentality, the single greatest enemy of professionalism; impatience with anyone who sticks their nose into the espionage game and then objects violence and killing; scorn for any amateur who similarly inserts themselves into his business; and a willingness to sacrifice anything, including himself, to complete his mission. Whether conveyed within the narrative or by interacting with other characters, these traits were delivered in such a smooth, fast-paced, engaging manner that the reader could not help becoming involved, even if they do not remotely agree with any of Helm’s philosophy.
The Annihilators falls in the second half of the Helm series. Few series can be divided as easily or have their watershed moment identified as succinctly. Five years passed between The Terrorizers in 1977 and The Revengers in 1982. Hamilton was not dormant during this time. He produced a sprawling, multi-character piece called The Mona Intercept. He must have learned something he liked in the process because when he returned to Helm, the books had doubled in the size and Hamilton had entered what I refer to as the Adult Phase.
Adult? How could books about an assassin become more adult? As one might expect, it wasn’t the violence. Nor was it sex. As was the norm when Hamilton started writing, when events became amorous, he would he would merely skip three lines and pick up some time after the encounter. That never changed. No, it was the language that had evolved. We saw a little of it in The Terrorizers, some harsher words now in use; but it was kept to the bad guys. With the Adult Phase, it had seeped into both the hero and his narrative. Not superficially, however; not relegated to dialogue or when conveying moments of anger. It had permeated the feel and texture of each novel. It jarred the first time I read it. A couple of paragraph later I recognized Matt Helm and we were off.
The Annihilators has always been my favorite of Donald Hamilton’s novels, perhaps a surprising choice because it lacks the plot twists that were inherent in his work. There are still surprising reveals along the way but it remains the most straight ahead, “Point A to Point Z” novel in the series. It also highlights everything Hamilton did exceptionally well.
Upon arrival in Chicago Helm finds three young revolutionaries attempting to coerce him into using his skills to remove the dictator of their small Central American country. The immediate standoff is quickly concluded but there must be retaliation. This is not matter of pride, nor is Helm being petty. It’s a matter of policy. It has always been acceptable if an agent dies in the line of duty--it comes with the job. But Mac, the ruthless leader of Helm’s organization, has always made it clear to those in the know: intentionally involve his people in situations outside of their professional purview, particularly if they die in the process--and you die too. Immediately or five years from now, you die. No excuses, no pardons.
Two of the revolutionaries are the offspring of Hector Jimenez, who once assisted Helm in an operation in that same country, Costa Verde--and is currently its deposed ruler. He did not approve the attempt at Helm’s involuntary recruitment but as leader he takes responsibility for it. This is where Helm’s disdain for sentimentality comes into play. It has always been a lurking aspect of his character, submerged but not completely suppressed. Helm continually denies its existence, claiming circumstances keep conspiring to make it appear as if sentimentality sometimes guided his actions. The reader is often made aware of its presence and how it affects Helm, even if he can’t see it himself. This time Helm is fully aware. Because of the opening events Helm feels that since he has the leeway as to whether Jimenez should be included in the retribution, he should find out how important he is to his country’s welfare.
Helm goes about this by slipping into Costa Verde via an archaeological expedition that is open to the public. He promptly gets involved with revolutionaries, bandits and a dictatorial government. It exposes the reader to another of Hamilton’s considerable strengths: character interaction. As Helm works his way through a world unfamiliar to most, Hamilton gets to delve into a wide variety of people and their situations. The exploration of the relatively unknown is another tenet of the adventure tale. It allows Hamilton to feed the intrigue and drama without slowing the story.
His judicial use of action sequences also elevates The Annihilators. It is easy to become enamored with a skill when you are particularly good at it. There is a great gun battle around the two-thirds mark. But restraint serves Hamilton too. There comes a point when Helm is forced to work with a small group of men. The planning and discussion of the operation that gives the book its name is crucial, both for character development and pacing. Once you dissect your characters' intentions in great detail, unless it goes horribly wrong there is no longer a need for the reader to actually see it. Hamilton wisely jumps ahead and just supplies us with the aftermath when relaying the event to another character.
Not that Hamilton was without fault. There is the frequent assertion that all his books are essentially the same, and upon close examination there is some validity to the claim. They usually begin with a mission that has two objectives--one of which Helm has to discover on his own--and they end with him letting himself be captured so that he can complete his assignment from within. In between, in order to provide the necessary twists and turns, one or more of the people Helm meets has to have a different objective than both of Helm’s, or they have to represent a third party hoping to scoop the prize out from under everybody. The repetition is obvious if you dig deep down to the bones of it. But we all have essentially the same skeleton. It’s the flesh and blood that defines uniqueness.
There is also the claim that all his female characters are clichés. Again, little argument. These began as male fantasies and each female character is created to fulfill a certain role. At least one has to go to bed with Helm to allay his suspicions. Another has to end up with him at the conclusion, to provide the obligatory happy ending--adventure-novel style. Any other extraneous women are usually there to be outraged by his callousness. That’s another reason The Annihilators stands out. The female lead, Frances Dillman, has some complicated and legitimate motives for the various actions she takes. Her dialogue; that’s another matter. But Hamilton had always hit both ends of the scale when it came to dialogue. When normal people were having a normal, stress-free conversations, or even when full-out monologues had to be delivered; there were few better. But if he was trying to affect a dialect, or if a character--particularly a female character--lapsed into any kind of self-pity; those were cringe-worthy moments.
After Helm’s fact-finding odyssey through Costa Verde he returns to Chicago to close the book on the Jimenez contingent, who are imbedded in Park Lake house. While trained in all forms of personal combat, Helm’s specialty is as a long-range sniper, and that’s his part in the final operation. It highlights the differences between the thrillers of today and the adventure novels of yesterday. Yes, in the days of yore you still have to take out the bad guy, but it didn’t have to build to a crescendo. If intrigue is the driving force, the reader wants the final answers as much as a final confrontation.
I can’t say that they don’t make them like this anymore; no one ever made them quite like Donald Hamilton. He had the ability to keep the pace brisk, to keep the reader engaged with maneuvering that was as much theory as movement, and he could produce deductions from clues that are as open and fair as you are likely to find in a traditional mystery. Faults and all, Hamilton had carved out a unique place within the sub-genre of the secret agent novel. The Annihilators highlights the best of his skills while he was at the top of his game.
May 19, 2017
Annihilators is the twentieth of 27 books in the Matt Helm series that first came out 23 years earlier in 1960 at the height of the Cold War. It is an espionage series that is quite different from the debonair Bond world of secret gadgets and world class mischief. Instead, Hamilton gives us a realistic view of a trained assassin who bleeds and feels. As Helm seems to note over and over again, it's like Nicholson says in A Few Good Men that there are those men and women guarding our civilization and doing things to protect us that maybe we don't want to know about, but they have to be done.
Here, Helm races between Chicago and a war-torn Latin American dictatorship where he demonstrates what it is to be a professional agent who won't give in to blackmail and draws a striking contrast with members of an archeological expedition who are reluctant to stand up to terrorist kidnappers and have to figure out what to do to survive and what they have to sacrifice to do so. Overall, it is another excellent Helm story, although the pacing on this one did seem a bit slow, perhaps because Helm's mission in the Central American jungles was not always perfectly clear.
Here, Helm races between Chicago and a war-torn Latin American dictatorship where he demonstrates what it is to be a professional agent who won't give in to blackmail and draws a striking contrast with members of an archeological expedition who are reluctant to stand up to terrorist kidnappers and have to figure out what to do to survive and what they have to sacrifice to do so. Overall, it is another excellent Helm story, although the pacing on this one did seem a bit slow, perhaps because Helm's mission in the Central American jungles was not always perfectly clear.
October 23, 2014
This book stands out because Hamilton injects some ESP (paranormal) elements into the story. He's touched on the Bermuda Triangle & UFO's in other books. They turned out to be fakes or natural causes, although he left the 'green ball' UFO's open. In this book, he goes a bit further. I'm not sure how much I liked it since it really doesn't play well with Helm's hard logic. In some ways, that actually makes it better - it's a contrast that shakes this world up a bit.
Helm's hallmark is his cold logic, always tempered by just a bit of sentimentality that usually causes him trouble. The basis of this book is Helm's sentimental gesture to a friend. Of course, being Helm, there is plenty of action involved. Without creating a spoiler, I will note that he is becoming quite Machiavellian, almost as bad as his boss, Mac.
On to the next, The Infiltrators!
Helm's hallmark is his cold logic, always tempered by just a bit of sentimentality that usually causes him trouble. The basis of this book is Helm's sentimental gesture to a friend. Of course, being Helm, there is plenty of action involved. Without creating a spoiler, I will note that he is becoming quite Machiavellian, almost as bad as his boss, Mac.
On to the next, The Infiltrators!
September 13, 2012
This is one of my favorite Matt Helm novels, which is surprising since it came so late in the series. I find most of the Matt Helm books from the 80s to be tired, overly long exercises with none of the humor or flair of the earlier stories. However, The Annihilators feels like an old, lost manuscript that Donald Hamilton found in his attic and chose to publish 20 years later. It's a sequel to The Ambushers, so it brings back some of the characters and the setting of that novel. It also introduces a motley crew of innocents whom Helm must rely on if he is to survive. Quite the change from the usual lone wolf format of other Helm books. Along with the usual espionage action and intrigue, Hamilton throws in some pre-Columbian civilization lore for extra spice. All in all, a really fun read from the era when Helm was becoming serious and dreary.
December 9, 2024
Helm is living with Eleanor Brand from the previous outing. He returns from a mission to find Eleanor missing. He receives a phone call from Hector Jiminez, a man he worked with many years ago. He is ordered to go to Costa Verde and kill the new President. He refuses and Eleanor is murdered. Helm promises to kill Hector and his three children.
Helm requests approval from Mac to get his revenge. Mac does not sanction the hit. Helm decides to go to Costa Verde by joining an archaeological expedition to ancient ruins in the country. He visits ruins with the rest of the tourists. He and the tourist director have various ESP experiences. They are kidnapped and help for ransom.
He stages a breakout and returns to the US to witness his revenge.
The side plot of the archaeological tour and rebel capture do not really have anything to do with the story. They just drag it down.
Helm requests approval from Mac to get his revenge. Mac does not sanction the hit. Helm decides to go to Costa Verde by joining an archaeological expedition to ancient ruins in the country. He visits ruins with the rest of the tourists. He and the tourist director have various ESP experiences. They are kidnapped and help for ransom.
He stages a breakout and returns to the US to witness his revenge.
The side plot of the archaeological tour and rebel capture do not really have anything to do with the story. They just drag it down.
February 13, 2019
South of the border again
Once again, Matt proves to be bad luck to women he likes. This leads to quite a list of activities, including revenge, revolutionaries, archeology, and, believe it or not, dream sharing from an old shaman.
Once again, Matt proves to be bad luck to women he likes. This leads to quite a list of activities, including revenge, revolutionaries, archeology, and, believe it or not, dream sharing from an old shaman.
July 14, 2021
Well, I could have done without the swear words but this latest Helm adventure was still a good read. Although, the archaeological history could have been scaled down considerably, especially the dream sequence chapter. I skipped that chapter entirely.
May 4, 2013
If you're in a relationship with Matt Helm you life expectancy is about two books if you are very very lucky. With some men in series literature women come and go. With Matt Helm they show up and its awkward, and then they die, or they wait a book and die. This story starts with that death, and they winds its way thru a couple of countries until that death is avenged. Oh and by the end of it all there is a new girl that probably wont make it thru another book.
Since this is book 20 in the series anyone reading this far knows what to expect. The bad guys are always really bad, and Matt is just good enough to edge them out in the end. If your not familiar with it this is one of the best government agent series every put out. Forget everything you know about the Dean Martin movies,altho they're a lot of fun on there own, this series is gritty and gadget free. Just two men, the good and the bad, hunting each other with the fate of the world in the balance.
Kind of sad that there is only about ten left before the series is over. There is talk about a new author taking over, and also the re-release of the whole series from a new publisher. We'll see, but I am prepared to search them out used if I have to.
Since this is book 20 in the series anyone reading this far knows what to expect. The bad guys are always really bad, and Matt is just good enough to edge them out in the end. If your not familiar with it this is one of the best government agent series every put out. Forget everything you know about the Dean Martin movies,altho they're a lot of fun on there own, this series is gritty and gadget free. Just two men, the good and the bad, hunting each other with the fate of the world in the balance.
Kind of sad that there is only about ten left before the series is over. There is talk about a new author taking over, and also the re-release of the whole series from a new publisher. We'll see, but I am prepared to search them out used if I have to.
July 13, 2017
Another enjoyable take no prisoners Matt Helm story. If you have read this far into the series, you'll enjoy this one as well probably. I did have a couple of issues with it, 1) the section with the old priest and jungle temple seemed pointless as it didn't really seem have any actual bearing on the story and was tacked in for filler and 2) little of the book seemed to have much to do with his actual mission beyond the first couple of chapters and the last couple. The rest seemed like side story or that the "mission" was there to put him into the story that Hamilton really wanted to tell. All in all though an enjoyable read.
October 12, 2014
I guess the younger generations will never know what we see in the old black & white movies, or why we enjoy reading the older pulp novels occasionally. Though this novel was written in the early 80s, Donald Hamilton continued to used the style adopted when he started this series in the 60s. I very much enjoyed the action and adventure, and will continue to look for these older novels, as they always provided a simpler story than their modern successors.
October 17, 2014
Again. Bloated. Compare to early Matt Helms, which are tight and excellent.
Twice in this novel, Matt deliberately walks into a trap.
Mildly amusing other-worldly communication; and the escape from terrorists is not bad.
Twice in this novel, Matt deliberately walks into a trap.
Mildly amusing other-worldly communication; and the escape from terrorists is not bad.
September 21, 2018
Always a pleasure to reread
I read this a few decades back, and picked it up to read again. Donald Hamilton is always enjoyable to read.
I read this a few decades back, and picked it up to read again. Donald Hamilton is always enjoyable to read.
August 24, 2019
Quick,entertaining read.Not like the Dean Martin Matt Helm, more like Bolan ,The Executioner series.
June 8, 2023
The weakest Helm, in my view. It is overlong, sprawling and repetitive, in desperate need of the editor's pen (how many times did Hamilton write the phrase, "drew a long breath"?). Most importantly, it introduces elements of "adventure", ESP etc. that are outside the normal Helm realm, and do not improve on it (though Hamilton slyly has Helm tell us that Rider Haggard was his favourite author when he was a lad). Happily, the novel picks up the pace in the final third. I notice that someone else on here says it's his favourite Helm -- well, that must mean he's not really a Helm fan... Helm works when it's economical, taut, even harsh. Hamilton wrote this one in his mid-sixties, and it kind of shows.
I sometimes feel it's a bit too obvious that Mr and Mrs Hamilton used their holidays to research the next book, and it shows through in Matt's occasionally too bourgeois comments about orange juice and motel furniture. Here, we even have Matt on a package tour, for Christ's sake, and it doesn't matter if the other tourists are retired estate agents or macho ex-Vietnam vets, the idea reeks of Miss Marple... The sex interest feels phoney, too. And there's a whole mass of unwelcome stuff about female marital infidelity.There's also the idiosyncratic personal political mix -- Helm is anti-nuclear, but totally fetishizes private gun ownership...
Of course, there's some classic Hamilton Helm writing along the way; but I would say to anyone who's enjoying the Helm series, leave this one till last -- or better still, avoid it.
I sometimes feel it's a bit too obvious that Mr and Mrs Hamilton used their holidays to research the next book, and it shows through in Matt's occasionally too bourgeois comments about orange juice and motel furniture. Here, we even have Matt on a package tour, for Christ's sake, and it doesn't matter if the other tourists are retired estate agents or macho ex-Vietnam vets, the idea reeks of Miss Marple... The sex interest feels phoney, too. And there's a whole mass of unwelcome stuff about female marital infidelity.There's also the idiosyncratic personal political mix -- Helm is anti-nuclear, but totally fetishizes private gun ownership...
Of course, there's some classic Hamilton Helm writing along the way; but I would say to anyone who's enjoying the Helm series, leave this one till last -- or better still, avoid it.
September 20, 2024
This story is set, in part, amidst an archaeological tourist expedition. The depth of detail and sensitivity is phenomenal. Matt has his usual challenges and some new ones, but everything seems… softer. He’s not such a tough guy as he was, if he ever was. Loved this one, possibly the best of the series so far.
December 13, 2022
The Annihilaters
Good book. Full of action and deceptions. Very enjoyable to read and keep your attention. Anybody that has read any of th Matt Helm books will enjoy this.
Good book. Full of action and deceptions. Very enjoyable to read and keep your attention. Anybody that has read any of th Matt Helm books will enjoy this.
March 16, 2008
the 20th entry in Hamilton's Matt Helm series. Helm's ladyfriend gets killed and helm doesn't like it a bit. Before you know it helm is in Central America and looking for revenge.
Book takes an unexpected twist into the mystical which many Helm fans may find disconcerting.
I liked the book and enjoyed Hamilton's terse style.
Book takes an unexpected twist into the mystical which many Helm fans may find disconcerting.
I liked the book and enjoyed Hamilton's terse style.
February 1, 2017
Most interesting, especially the interlude in the jungle..
October 9, 2017
This was a different type of Matt Helm story with a lot of ancient Mesoamerican history thrown in. I though that was distraction from the overall story.
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