Death of a Citizen

The first thing that struck me about this book was how skillful the author was. He places you in the middle of a cocktail party at the start of the book and in several short chapters gives you much of Matt Helm's background, or at least the essential details. There is a great atmosphere of charged violence in this. It reads very convincingly, and has a brutal sensuality to it that pulls the reader along. This strikes me as more realistic than Bond, and certainly recommended for people who want a very readable, tough piece of spy fiction.

Here's the first Matt Helm. He's an assassin, a professional killer. It's a lot better than you'd think if you've placed the Matt Helm books in the "cheap pulp" bin or based your opinion on the Dean Martin movies (awful). The books are VERY good, and this is the best place to start. You'll want to read the others when you've finished this-- the "death of a citizen" is an ironic title, as you'll see. So you've read the Ian Flemings (James Bonds) and the John D. MacDonalds (Travis McGees) and wonder if there are any more good 60s spy/thriller series characters out there: here's Matt. He's tough and nasty, and the prose is spare and gritty. Enjoy!

This is the first of the Matt Helm novels. It gives a lot of background on Helm, and shows how he was forced out of retirement after 15 years to return to work for the nameless secret organization for whom he killed Nazis in WWII. Although this is in the espionage genre, the writing owes more to the hardboiled school of Dashiell Hammett. If you saw any of the sixties films with Dean Martin, you have no idea what the books are like. There is no spoofing here, and the prose is lean and crisp. This is the place to start if you want to begin a new series from the sixties, or just read one of the Helm books. Many people believe that one of Ian Fleming's strengths was as a travel writer. Similarly, Hamilton is strong as an outdoors writer. Warning: Hamilton is as sexist as Fleming, but less racist and fascist.

Death of a Citizen is the first of a 27 novel series about Matt Helm...and a threatened #28 The Dominators (hopefully he will finish it.) For a full list of the series (each book has its own report) and other books written by Donald Hamilton (Line of Fire is my fav). Drop by htp://members.aol.com/MacBorden/ "Matt Helm: The Unofficial Homepage"... In DOAC, Matt cain't escape from his past, so he does what he does best..tackle it head on! Mild Mannered photographer hasn't forgotten a bit of his skills that saw him through many missions behind enemy lines in WWII...just a little trouble figureing out who his friends are...

This is a first in a series of must read spy novels. He pulls no punches. He has good common sense. He gives many good lessons on what to watch for when you are in a dangerous business. Does anyone know if he is still around.