Title: The Wrecking Crew
Series: Matt Helm #2
Author: Donald Hamilton
Rating: 1.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Action/Adventure
Pages: 272
Format: Digital Edition
Series: Matt Helm #2
Author: Donald Hamilton
Rating: 1.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Action/Adventure
Pages: 272
Format: Digital Edition
Synopsis:
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Matt Helm is back
working as part of the Wrecking Crew, that shadowy blacker than black
government organization that carries out assassinations against
targets around the world who are enemies of the United States.
Helm's wife served
him separation papers after finding out about his secret past during
World War II and with nothing else to occupy him, Matt returns to the
only thing he really knows. This time he is sent after a shadowing
agent working for Russia that took out a valuable double agent for
the United States. Hooking up with the dead man's wife, Helm uses her
to find his way to the Mastermind. With lots of twists and turns (who
is working for who, are the good guys actually the good guys?), Helm
bulls through it all in Norway. Using women like sanitizer soap, Helm
eventually gets his man.
The book ends with
his wife sending him signed divorce papers and a note that she and
the boys are now with another man, a “good” man.
My
Thoughts:
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I liked the story. The twisty turny Cold War aspect was great. It was
fun, it was thrilling and it kept the suspense up right until the end
when Matt shoots the Mastermind.
Sadly, that just wasn't enough. Helm's sleeping with multiple women
while still married is not something that I want to give countenance
too. Someone as controlled as Helm CAN control himself in the area of
sex. He simply chooses not to and I consider that a fatal flaw in a
book character.
Throw in that he's pretty “Awww, whatever” about his wife leaving
him and the fate of his 3 children and he just sickened me. When he
found out they were all with another man they liked, he was like “Oh
good, now I don't have to worry”.
Very disappointed with how this turned out. Matt Helm is no hero and
characters like him, with an empty moral framework, do more to
destroy this country than any hardline communist ever could. So I'm
done with this series and will be moving on.
★☆☆☆½