EDWARD S. AARONS – Assignment to Disaster. Gold Medal 491, paperback original; 1st printing, June 1955.

EDWARD S. AARONS Assigment to Disaster

   This is the very first of the Sam Durell adventures, of which there were 42 by Edward S. Aarons through 1976, plus another six by Will B. Aarons which appeared between 1976 and 1983. (For an overview of the series by Doug Bassett, a compete listing of all the books and the complete story behind “Will B. Aarons,” see the primary Mystery*File website, located here.)

   In Assignment to Disaster, Sam’s means of tracking down a missing scientist, the second in command in overseeing an extremely hush-hush project (an orbiting bomb), is through his sister. Of course that means that the baddies are quickly onto her also, and the race is on to see who finds him first.

   I probably don’t need to say that the sister is extremely good-looking, do I? Sam is smitten, which has far reaching consequences for him long after this book is over, and if you’ve dabbled into the series recently, as I have, you’ll know what I mean. (I know, I should read them in order, but they’re not stored that way, and I haven’t.)

   And some of the things I was looking for while I was reading my way through this one, though, were signs that might indicate whether or not it was actually intended to be the first of a series. I’d guess that it was, but that’s all I have, a guess.

   As for any other comments I have, I’ve re-read Doug Bassett’s review of the book (follow the link above), and I think he says everything I was going to, and maybe even better. So why don’t I let him say it?

    “This is the first of Durell’s adventures, and it’s pretty good. It isn’t typical of the series as a whole, though. The action takes place in the States (most installments occur in exotic climes), Durell is seemingly not nearly so well respected in his organization, and most amusingly, Durell is far less of a superhero, taking a terrific amount of abuse and harboring all sorts of doubts and inner turmoil.

    “Still, the basic setup is here: Durell works for a supersecret section of the CIA headed by the pro forma crusty old man (here General McFee). We learn that Durell’s a Cajun, and we eventually meet Durell’s improbable grandfather who improbably lives on a beached riverboat – he was the last of the riverboat gamblers, apparently – and who gets ever more improbably ancient as the series progresses.”