Customer Reviews

The Removers (Matt Helm. No 3)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

America's answer to James Bond finds himself on a mission with a personal side. When his ex-wife calls on him to protect his family, he finds himself involved with drug-smuggling mobsters and a Russian agent on the outs with the KGB. Hamilton weaves an engrossing tale, contrasting the former Beth Helm with the mobster's young daughter. Irony abounds when Helm finds that Beth left him because of his violent past and ended up marrying a former mob enforcer. Get it, read it, cherish it. They don't write them like this any more.

Matt Helm receives an urgent call for help from his ex-wife, Beth. Matt goes to the rescue of Beth and his kids only to find that wiley old Mac is once again up to his tricks. Matt soon finds himself involved with a gangster, his sexy daughter, and a Russian agent named, "Martell." But the bad guys are no match for Matt as the action gets tough and fast-paced. This is one great Donald Hamilton book!

This is the second Matt Helm book I've read. In comparison to James Bond, Helm is gritty and down-to-earth bordering on the pessimistic and depressing. While Bond is romantic fantasy, Helm is hard-nosed reality.

In this book, Helm is called by his ex-wife to help protect his kids from the machinations of a local hoodlum. It seems Beth Helm wasted no time between the divorce and remarrying and in a time of crisis turns to the man, she abandoned, for succour. I couldn't help feeling that everything that happened to Beth, she deserved. Donald Hamilton is an exceptional writer who displays the psychological irony that Beth happens to find herself in.

Despite all this, it is still a spy book and Helm is there, first and foremost, as a spycatcher. Working for the gangster, unbeknownst to him, is a Soviet KGB agent and Helm needs to find out what the "Red" is doing there, playing gangster.

Then there is the gangster's daughter who is quite happy to help Helm in any way, even in the bedroom, just to stick it to her dad. Was the Cold War really like this?

The book only took me two days to read and I thoroughly enjoyed the yarn.

I am a big fan of the Matt Helm books and this is one of my favorites. The writing is very good and the pacing is tight. Even though this is the third novel in the series it is an excellent entry point for the new reader. Pick this one up if you have the chance. You will not be disappointed.