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Assassins Have Starry Eyes by Donald Hamilton
Vintage paperback
176 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1956
1 person is currently reading
47 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
January 15, 2015
This was originally published as "Assignment: Murder". I'm glad they changed the title. This one fits much better. I'm giving it 4 stars with some reservations. Great, twisty plot as usual. Another 'present' day thriller with murder & a tough minded main character, James Gregory, dealing with it. That was the problem, he was a bit too tough, fast on the uptake, & heroic for what he was purported to be - a farm boy turned scientist who went hunting a couple of weeks each year & served in a lab during the war. He was just too comfortable with the violence & murder. I seriously thought about taking a star away for it, but he's very much a precursor to Hamilton's most famous character, Matt Helm.
Much of the story revolves around Gregory's working on atom bombs; not the work itself, but the morality behind pushing ahead when the horrors have been so well demonstrated. Many don't want to, think that all work should cease. This dovetails nicely with the current nonfiction book I'm listening to Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous Weapon & the current flap about GMOs.
Again, I'll highly recommend this, but you'll only find it as an old paperback with brittle pages. That's a shame.
Much of the story revolves around Gregory's working on atom bombs; not the work itself, but the morality behind pushing ahead when the horrors have been so well demonstrated. Many don't want to, think that all work should cease. This dovetails nicely with the current nonfiction book I'm listening to Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous Weapon & the current flap about GMOs.
Again, I'll highly recommend this, but you'll only find it as an old paperback with brittle pages. That's a shame.
October 8, 2022
In what was clearly a precursor to Hamilton’s long-running Matt Helm realist espionage series which began in 1960, Assignment Murder, first published in 1956, before the title was changed ten years later, has the look and feel of an early Matt Helm novel. Set in Los Alamos, New Mexico, the story is set around a nuclear scientist, Dr. James Gregory, who is an egghead but also a no-nonsense outdoorsman. One who stands at a cocktail party filled with egghead scientists when wife to be Natalie waltzes into the picture. Gregory lives a square middle class life except that he likes to go hunting deer in the mountains and, oddly, becomes the target of an overeager hunter (or is it just an accident). Indeed, being as how he is a nuclear scientist working on the latest breakthrough everything is suspicious.
Gregory is a great character from his sparring with wife Natalie, who was on her way to Reno to get a divorce when he got shot to the careful and methodical way he reasons through each situation he’s in. Gregory is also filled with observations about the nature of people and life. Although he can be a bit caustic, he makes a perfect character for this early Hamilton novel.
Overall, it’s a perfect combination of action and intellectualism although perhaps the plotting might lead you to think the stakes are higher than they actually are.
Gregory is a great character from his sparring with wife Natalie, who was on her way to Reno to get a divorce when he got shot to the careful and methodical way he reasons through each situation he’s in. Gregory is also filled with observations about the nature of people and life. Although he can be a bit caustic, he makes a perfect character for this early Hamilton novel.
Overall, it’s a perfect combination of action and intellectualism although perhaps the plotting might lead you to think the stakes are higher than they actually are.
February 25, 2016
"Επιχείρηση φόνος", εκδόσεις ΒΙΠΕΡ.
Εννιά μήνες πέρασαν από την τελευταία φορά που διάβασα βιβλίο του Ντόναλντ Χάμιλτον, συγκεκριμένα την ενδέκατη περιπέτεια του αγαπημένου μου μυστικού πράκτορα Ματ Χελμ. Το βιβλίο που μόλις τελείωσα είναι εντελώς αυτοτελές, δεν ανήκει στην σειρά που έκανε (σχετικά) γνωστό τον συγγραφέα. Όπως τα δεκατέσσερα προηγούμενα βιβλία του που έχω διαβάσει, έτσι και αυτό μου φάνηκε αρκούντως ενδιαφέρον και ψυχαγωγικό.
Πρωταγωνιστής και αφηγητής της ιστορίας είναι ο τριαντατετράχρονος επιστήμονας Τζέιμς Γκρέγκορι, ένας από τους πολλούς που δούλεψαν στο Σχέδιο Μανχάταν του Λος Άλαμος, κατά την διάρκεια του πολέμου. Τώρα συνεχίζει το επιστημονικό του έργο, έχοντας νέες ιδέες. Φαίνεται όμως ότι κάποιοι άνθρωποι (μπορεί Κόκκινοι, μπορεί όχι), ερασιτέχνες αλλά αρκετά επικίνδυνοι, που είναι αντίθετοι με το πυρηνικό πρόγραμμα και την επιστημονική εξέλιξη στον τομέα αυτό, θέλουν να τον βγάλουν από την μέση. Ο ίδιος θα πρέπει να τους αντιμετωπίσει και να καταλάβει τι ρόλο βαράει η νεαρή γυναίκα του...
Το βιβλίο γράφτηκε πριν από εξήντα χρόνια, τότε που ο κίνδυνος για ένα πυρηνικό ολοκαύτωμα ήταν μεγάλος, με τους απλούς Αμερικανούς να φοβούνται και τον ίσκιο τους. Προσφέρει αρκετή δράση, μυστήριο και μπόλικες εκπλήξεις στην πλοκή, η γραφή είναι στα γνωστά επίπεδα ποιότητας που μας έχει συνηθίσει ο Χάμιλτον -ρεαλιστικές περιγραφές τοπίων και σκηνών δράσης, κοινωνικοπολιτικοί προβληματισμοί και λίγο σαρκαστικό χιούμορ-, ενώ και η ατμόσφαιρα είναι πολύ ωραία. Σίγουρα υπάρχουν κάποιες υπερβολές και ίσως μη ρεαλιστικές στιγμές, όμως γενικά πρόκειται για μια άκρως ψυχαγωγική περιπέτεια.
Εννιά μήνες πέρασαν από την τελευταία φορά που διάβασα βιβλίο του Ντόναλντ Χάμιλτον, συγκεκριμένα την ενδέκατη περιπέτεια του αγαπημένου μου μυστικού πράκτορα Ματ Χελμ. Το βιβλίο που μόλις τελείωσα είναι εντελώς αυτοτελές, δεν ανήκει στην σειρά που έκανε (σχετικά) γνωστό τον συγγραφέα. Όπως τα δεκατέσσερα προηγούμενα βιβλία του που έχω διαβάσει, έτσι και αυτό μου φάνηκε αρκούντως ενδιαφέρον και ψυχαγωγικό.
Πρωταγωνιστής και αφηγητής της ιστορίας είναι ο τριαντατετράχρονος επιστήμονας Τζέιμς Γκρέγκορι, ένας από τους πολλούς που δούλεψαν στο Σχέδιο Μανχάταν του Λος Άλαμος, κατά την διάρκεια του πολέμου. Τώρα συνεχίζει το επιστημονικό του έργο, έχοντας νέες ιδέες. Φαίνεται όμως ότι κάποιοι άνθρωποι (μπορεί Κόκκινοι, μπορεί όχι), ερασιτέχνες αλλά αρκετά επικίνδυνοι, που είναι αντίθετοι με το πυρηνικό πρόγραμμα και την επιστημονική εξέλιξη στον τομέα αυτό, θέλουν να τον βγάλουν από την μέση. Ο ίδιος θα πρέπει να τους αντιμετωπίσει και να καταλάβει τι ρόλο βαράει η νεαρή γυναίκα του...
Το βιβλίο γράφτηκε πριν από εξήντα χρόνια, τότε που ο κίνδυνος για ένα πυρηνικό ολοκαύτωμα ήταν μεγάλος, με τους απλούς Αμερικανούς να φοβούνται και τον ίσκιο τους. Προσφέρει αρκετή δράση, μυστήριο και μπόλικες εκπλήξεις στην πλοκή, η γραφή είναι στα γνωστά επίπεδα ποιότητας που μας έχει συνηθίσει ο Χάμιλτον -ρεαλιστικές περιγραφές τοπίων και σκηνών δράσης, κοινωνικοπολιτικοί προβληματισμοί και λίγο σαρκαστικό χιούμορ-, ενώ και η ατμόσφαιρα είναι πολύ ωραία. Σίγουρα υπάρχουν κάποιες υπερβολές και ίσως μη ρεαλιστικές στιγμές, όμως γενικά πρόκειται για μια άκρως ψυχαγωγική περιπέτεια.
April 14, 2021
This is not literature, it is a shlocky, pulp fictiony, anti-weapons of mass destruction story from 1956, written when the idea that mankind had enough nukes to end human beings as a species had just reached the public consciousness. For that reason alone it was fun and a little goofy.
The story is terrible, unbelievable, the protagonist is supposed to be a scientist but comes across tough, like Matt Helm, the assassin in Hamilton's most successful long running series of the same name. The rest of the characters are stereotypes of one thing or another and the ending was not the best, contrived and shallow. But hey, it was kinda fun.
Quite a change of pace from my regular literary fiction with about as much content as a Louie Lamour story. I got it as a gag almost at the Goodwill for a buck along with a Vonnegut and a McEwan. Sometimes a short, silly little book hits the spot. It really isn't that good but it did hold my interest for part of an evening.
The story is terrible, unbelievable, the protagonist is supposed to be a scientist but comes across tough, like Matt Helm, the assassin in Hamilton's most successful long running series of the same name. The rest of the characters are stereotypes of one thing or another and the ending was not the best, contrived and shallow. But hey, it was kinda fun.
Quite a change of pace from my regular literary fiction with about as much content as a Louie Lamour story. I got it as a gag almost at the Goodwill for a buck along with a Vonnegut and a McEwan. Sometimes a short, silly little book hits the spot. It really isn't that good but it did hold my interest for part of an evening.
January 28, 2020
What a treat to read some real, vintage pulp fiction.
August 27, 2023
Mild spoilers abound in the review but won't spoil the ending. Beware!
Very sharp and tightly written. This tale by Donald Hamilton is set at the height of the Cold War. Weaved into an assassination plot is the fear of nuclear annihilation that permeated the 50s. The concern, along with a few Red spies thrown in, helped drive the attempts on the main character's life.
James Gregory is a Midwestern boy with a gift for mathematics. Thanks to a sharper than average public-school teacher, he winds up in the physics department of a good university where he is quickly spotted and recruited by the U.S. Government for nuclear weapons research. He is surrounded by a group of fellow eggheads (his words), spouses, and a paranoid security chief who turns out to not be paranoid enough.
The first attempt takes place on page nine, so Donald Hamilton got right to the action. Afterwards, the author makes the recovery period and return of an almost ex-wife just as interesting. In the middle of it comes the second attempt on Jim's life. It's thwarted in a typically Hollywood fashion, but the author makes it work far better than most films.
For the rest of the book (and more attempts) Hamilton hands the reader a real adventure story that keeps you turning the pages while having to stop every few chapters to take a break and fully absorb it. It's a rare combination of dense writing that flows as quick as river rapids, taking everyone along like a kayak and not a paddle in sight. The ending is solid and ends like it should, with the good guys winning and the bad guys assuming room temperature.
Highly recommended for lovers of pulp, noir, cold war era novels, Donald Hamilton or just a good murder mystery in general.
FIND IT! BUY IT! READ IT!
Very sharp and tightly written. This tale by Donald Hamilton is set at the height of the Cold War. Weaved into an assassination plot is the fear of nuclear annihilation that permeated the 50s. The concern, along with a few Red spies thrown in, helped drive the attempts on the main character's life.
James Gregory is a Midwestern boy with a gift for mathematics. Thanks to a sharper than average public-school teacher, he winds up in the physics department of a good university where he is quickly spotted and recruited by the U.S. Government for nuclear weapons research. He is surrounded by a group of fellow eggheads (his words), spouses, and a paranoid security chief who turns out to not be paranoid enough.
The first attempt takes place on page nine, so Donald Hamilton got right to the action. Afterwards, the author makes the recovery period and return of an almost ex-wife just as interesting. In the middle of it comes the second attempt on Jim's life. It's thwarted in a typically Hollywood fashion, but the author makes it work far better than most films.
For the rest of the book (and more attempts) Hamilton hands the reader a real adventure story that keeps you turning the pages while having to stop every few chapters to take a break and fully absorb it. It's a rare combination of dense writing that flows as quick as river rapids, taking everyone along like a kayak and not a paddle in sight. The ending is solid and ends like it should, with the good guys winning and the bad guys assuming room temperature.
Highly recommended for lovers of pulp, noir, cold war era novels, Donald Hamilton or just a good murder mystery in general.
FIND IT! BUY IT! READ IT!
May 7, 2013
Nuclear-era science/spy pulp thriller with a barely contained "hidden" message about peace being ensured only after science pushes weaponry to the point of clear mutual destruction. The set-up is much stronger than the increasingly outlandish finale.
Nice little line thrown in the story:
Nice little line thrown in the story:
There were lots of things to be said against the girl, but in her favor was the fact that she could and did read.
December 14, 2014
Interesting book about scientists in New Mexico. Since I've spent some time in New Mexico this year it was fun to read Donald Hamiltons descriptions of the placeses in and around Santa Fe and Los Alamos. Good book thriller and not a Matt Helm.
January 18, 2017
Another well written book by Donald Hamilton. The story line kept you in suspense up until the end, where the ending ran out of steam. Hope to see all of Hamilton's books via digital media.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews