Wed 21 Dec 2022
An Archived Spy Adventure Review: DONALD HAMILTON – The Retaliators.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[10] Comments
DONALD HAMILTON – The Retaliators. Matt Helm #17. Fawcett Gold Medal, paperback original, 1976.
I suppose I could blame it on the movies. This is the latest Matt Helm adventure and the first I’ve ever read. The first impression is favorable, and I really did know Dean Martin wasn’t really right for the part. Helm is a tough government operative, with a philosophy of life nearly as well defined as Travis McGee’s, They do have different bosses, different loyalties, but they share a common disdain for plastic America.
This mission begins as Helm finds an extra $20,000 in his bank account, a worn-out idea that still brings the Bureau of Internal Security down on his neck. And the BIS boys continue to hang around his neck as he heads for Mexico to stop a hit-man named Ernemann from his appointed rounds.
I have the feeling that if Helm had asked himself or some other right person the right question at the right time, the detailed plot would have collapsed long before the final chapter, but then again his loyalties do not always involve asking questions. Smooth writing with a bit of action never more than a couple of pages away, more than enough keep the eyeballs tracking.
Rating: B minus.
December 21st, 2022 at 10:07 pm
One of the better later Helm novels. A bit too laid back in terms of plot, and I admit I found some of the action a bit tired if not predictable, but Helm and Hamilton seemed more interested in it than usual and less in some of the interminable rants about women in pants and American cars (McGee is equally opinionated but has a much wider choice of peeves).
B Minus seems a fair rank for it, not bad, but not outstanding.
For the closest thing to Helm on screen you are likely to see check out the Swedish HAMILTON spy films with a Naval hero turned secret agent, descendant of an old noble family, and possessed of his own quirky sense of honor and how things should be. The character, played by various actors over several series (Stellan Skarsgard, Peter Stormare among others), has a very Matt Helm feel.
December 22nd, 2022 at 10:16 am
LOVE these retro-reviews!
You’ve captured — or re-captured — the sense of discovery in this buried treasure.
December 22nd, 2022 at 12:16 pm
Who dreamed — some 25 years ago — that anyone would care a farthing for any of these old reviews! Besides me, that is, and I’m not so sure about me.
December 22nd, 2022 at 10:43 am
The first dozen or so Helm books were s were the best. AS they got longer they got, well, let’s just say Hamilton digressed on his personal hobbyhorses more and more as he went on. THe early ones were short, very tight, and exciting. I still have a number of them on the shelf that I haven’t read yet, so maybe I will take the next one down and read it real soon now. It’s been too long.
December 22nd, 2022 at 12:22 pm
I started reading one of the Helm books about a month ago, and was enjoying it — as you say, it was one of early ones, lean and mean — but I lost track of it and never finished it. I know exactly where it is, though. Thanks for the reminder. I’ll find it and get cracking on it again tonight.
December 22nd, 2022 at 1:27 pm
Steve,
Hate to tell you–but this review was 25 years old 25 years ago!
December 22nd, 2022 at 1:43 pm
Oops! Arithmetic was never my thing. (And now you’re making me feel really old.)
December 22nd, 2022 at 11:24 pm
Question: What’s the upside of being a government operative or government assassin, if you still have to suffer hassles from the IRS? Talk about no respect!
December 23rd, 2022 at 5:31 pm
Not the IRS, Lazy, but some version of Internal Affairs. At this late date, though, I can’t tell you why.
January 12th, 2023 at 1:53 pm
Fun stuff, Steve. Eons ago, I did this page-to-screen comparison for Cinema Retro of the Martin films, and it was quite an eye-opener when I took a look at the books (only the first six of which I have read so far). For the record, Hamilton published 10 more before his death in 2006, with one more, The Dominators, reportedly still unpublished.
https://cinemaretro.com/index.php?/archives/164-MR.-HELM-GOES-TO-HOLLYWOOD.html