Thu 16 Feb 2017
DONALD HAMILTON – The Poisoners. Matt Helm #13. Fawcett Gold Medal M2764, paperback original; 1st printing, March 1971.
This was the first Matt Helm to be publishers in the 1970s, and the one in which some fans have said the series began to lose its initial innate hardboiled essence. While I have not made a point of reading them in order, I would tend to agree. This one clocks in at an acceptably compact 224 pages, but for most of the book the plot doesn’t build up any momentum, and Helm’s digressions upon whatever he feels the need to digress upon do little to help.
This one begins with Helm being asked to cut short his r&r leave in New Mexico and head to Los Angeles where a female agent he had personally recruited for his undercover US agency has just been killed. His assignment, find out who and why and do something about it.
And of course the case expands dramatically from there. The title has two meanings, the first of which I can tell you about: the rumored illegal import of cocaine from Mexico. The second is the one the story is really about, and since its secret is essential to the tale, I won’t tell you much about it, but I will say that I didn’t buy into it any further than I can throw myself from here to there.
There are a number of women in the story, all attractive of course, not all of them are on our side. Question: which are which? There also a notorious criminal assassin involved, but all that is known about him (or her!) is his code name. All this intrigue keeps a man sharp, though, and Matt Helm is still the man to do it — no doubt about it!
February 16th, 2017 at 8:11 am
The early Helm books were the best ones, but I read and enjoyed every single one of them.
February 16th, 2017 at 3:45 pm
Here’s my review of THE MENACERS, number 11 in the series. Except for thinking the story sagged a bit in the middle, I liked it:
https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=24834
and my review of THE INTERLOPERS, number 12. I had some misgivings about this one:
https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=32192
but I noted that “… I don’t believe that it’s one of the better ones, but a less-than-average Donald Hamilton book is still far above the average other spy or espionage thriller of the day.”
That thought still holds true for THE POISONERS.
February 16th, 2017 at 10:16 pm
The flab was beginning to show, and Helm more an old lady than ever here. What is missing from here on is any sense the Helm novels are about anything.
Helm is still Helm and Hamilton still writes well, but from here on he doesn’t seem to believe it.
February 17th, 2017 at 7:03 am
I’ve been slowly working my way through the series in order, and I’m reluctant to move on as I’m up to the point where the books get really long and padded.
The early ones were definitely the best.
February 17th, 2017 at 8:53 am
TITAN BOOKS is reprinting the MATT HELM series and rumor swirl that they’re going to publish “new” Matt Helm adventures. I’m with Bill Crider: the best Matt Helm novels are the early ones. As the series grew so did the size of the books–to their determent.