Musings from Brian J. Noggle: Book Report: <i>The Wrecking Crew</i> by Donald Hamilton (1960)

Musings from Brian J. Noggle

Saturday, March 01, 2008

Book Report: The Wrecking Crew by Donald Hamilton (1960)

Ah, now that's better. This is a nice, serviceable bit of pulp paperback reading. The second book in the Matt Helm series, The Wrecking Crew shares the name of one of the Matt Helm movies starring Dean Martin, but they're not that similar. Whereas the movies are sort of Austin Powers, winking and nudging at the motif, the books are more earnest and straightforward.

Matt returns to service as an assassin, and his first real mission sends him to Sweden under the cover of a freelance photographer. After writing a telling article about a master spy, a writer is apparenty killed in an ambush. The widow has an article of her own and commissions Matt to take photos of northern Sweden. But Matt's real purpose doesn't seem too secret. So why does the superspy leave Helm in place?

The writing's better than things I've read lately; it's not John D. MacDonald, but only John D. MacDonald is. The plot twists a bit, and it tends to take you on a bit of a ride, but it's enough fun for a paperback.

(My first review of a Matt Helm book here.)

Books mentioned in this review:

- posted by Brian J. @ 2:44 PM

Comments:

Hey pallie, Bri, I dare say that Austin got his power from our Dino...never was, never will be anyone as cool as the King of Cool...oh, to return to the days when Dino walked the earth...

# posted by

dino martin peters : Saturday, March 01, 2008 7:38:00 PM

You won't get any argument from me; I've seen the films, and I think that the Austin Powers films are a poor facsimile of the Matt Helm series.

But the books themselves are very earnest; as a matter of fact, they're marketed as sort of an American James Bond.

Given how that movie franchise also varied from the books' earnestness, I'd say they succeeded beyond their imagining.

# posted by

Brian J. : Saturday, March 01, 2008 7:43:00 PM

Hey pallie Bri, dude thanks so much and I can see that you really get Martin...I loves the Matt Helm capers 'cause they are just so Dinoish...our Dino doin' what he does best...playin' his cool, hip, and ever randy Dinoself!!!

# posted by

dino martin peters : Saturday, March 01, 2008 8:06:00 PM

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