The Wrecking Crew

Mission Two: The Wrecking Crew Matt Helm series Reviews by Ujjwal Dey Well the first one is beaten to grit and grim by this second one in the series. A little longer at 176 pages, still an easy read for my weekend; this one brings Helm into a whole new line of action in espionage business. Now Matt Helm has had his refresher course in the covert groups training - the American Mordgruppe - The Wrecking Crew - an unknown, unspoken elite group of operatives who generally work alone to do what armies and clouts of bureaucrats can't achieve. The man is just right for the job. The trainers believe he is in no shape to be an operative and certainly past his prime. His bad new resume was certain to get him killed on a field mission. Mac agrees - he is just the man for this job. Matt Helm now has to play dumb; to act like a clumsy ancient World War trooper who can't call the shots in this peacetime covert warfare. As a photographer for an American magazine he lands up in Artic Europe to shoot innocent bland photos of mines for a girl who could be a double-agent or simply a fool in this foolish game. The girl in question has survived a bullet meant for her journalist husband who had the gall to write a tale describing a Russian agent - The Man No one Knows. Of course this deadly Russian operative has no sympathy for such breakthrough journalism, and now the supposed widow is carrying out her husband's journalistic inclinations. There is more than meets the eye and pretty women are lethal in more ways than one. Helm's contact in Sweden is shot dead in the face, double-crossed by her evil mysterious agent. Helm has to contend with getting bruised and bashed around to prove himself harmless to a variety of operatives - biding his time to get his orders. Yes, the men in Washington call off lethal action - no Government ordered assassination during peacetime - but that is not a restriction upon Helm's enemies. Matt Helm goes through unraveling intricacies in the players' cards, as a poker player who has to display ignorance of any known card game. As people show up dead around him, things come to light and when the final game is afoot - Matt has the aces up his sleeve to vindicate Mac's faith in him. The violence is as bad if not worse than the first book - which is a good thing in any gritty espionage thriller. The brief reflections on the first book events such as him carving up an old lady friend and his separation from his wife also come up very much accurately into the new plot. His handiness without a gun is seen very well in this story as essentially he has to go out there unarmed to convincingly play the role of an American photographer, even if the cover doesn't fool his targets. The geographical descriptions and accuracy in detail is wonderful and you can imagine yourself tracing his trail across the mountains and into wilderness in the Arctic. He has to "make the touch" - Group M speak for killing the target - similar to what mafia would say

Matt Helm is sent to Sweden to kill a mysterious Soviet agent. The only drawback is that until he finds the master spy, he's ordered not to use lethal methods to defend himself. Hamilton keeps the villain's identity hidden well while throwing several obstacles into his protagonist's path. The 2nd in the series, some of the set pieces that will become Hamilton/Helm trademarks are already in place-the treacherous women, the rival agencies and the outdoors location- are familiar to any devoted Hamilton reader.

Matt Helm's marriage is gone, so he's back to his old line of work, hunting game that can shoot back. He's old, slow, and out of shape -- the perfect condition for what his spy-master boss Mac has in mind. Matt is off to Sweden to find Caselius, an enemy agent worth two armored divisions.