I started reading Ian Fleming's James Bond after my father
took me to see Thunderball (with the REAL James Bond, Sean
Connery), my first
"grown up" movie. I got on a spy kick -- Bond, The Men and
Girl from UNCLE, Maxwell Smart, even Robert Goulet in the TV
show Blue Light. Although I loved James Coburn's two Flint
movies (wanted to be Flint even more than I wanted to be
Bond), which worked as both spy films and spoofs of the same,
I thought the one Dean Martin/Matt Helm film I saw was
ridiculous (Ambushers? whichever was the first). I couldn't
believe it was really popular enough to merit a sequel.
Anyway, that movie led to a strong aversion to Matt Helm
which carried ove to the books, which I never even considered
picking up. Damn, Dean Martin! This list got me to pick up
Death of a Citizen. Thank you. Since then, I've read a few
Helms, plus Line of Fire (great assassin book) and now, for
Southwest month, Assassins Have Starry Eyes. Richard Moore
has recently written very well about this book and I have
little to add to his recommendation, but here are a few
thoughts:
First of all, I agree with Richard that it's a horrible
retitling (not that the original, Assignment: Murder, was
much better).
One thing that really struck me was how much plot there is in
these relatively thin old Gold Medals. The plots of most 300+
page books of today can be summed up in one or two sentences,
reduced to the pitch for the movie adaptation. So much
happens in this book that it would be hard to boil it down
any more than the 176 pages it is.
Finally, Donald Hamilton gives a great sense of place in this
book. He does a great job of showing you the southwest
through the eyes of a transplanted easterner. He makes a
particular point of having his narrator point out the things
that surprised him when he moved out there, like snow on
cactus. However, even this description serves a purpose,
since so much of this book takes place outside the city and
the elements play a large role (not to mention embodying the
debate in the book over nature and scientists playing with
it).
I have yet to go wrong with a Hamilton book I've read. Thanks
for turning me on to him. And, again, damn Dean Martin!
Mark
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