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Matt Helm is a government assassin, working for a super-secret agency first formed during WWII to carry out assassinations in support of the war effort in Europe, and later continued against America's enemies. He is the star of 27 novels written by Donald Hamilton from 1960 through the 1990s. Although a cold-blooded killer, Matt Helm has a superb sense of humor, a sharp opinion on just about everything, and is quite capable of falling in love (or lust) during his missions. This book is about his WWII experiences, from his initial recruitment into the agency, his training, and his missions during the war. Matt Helm fans will know the ending, but it would be a "spoiler" to mention it here.I have been a Donald Hamilton fan since the 1960s and, when he died, decided to write the prequel. Having read the Matt Helm series several times, I researched everything Donald Hamilton wrote about Matt Helm's wartime experiences and his pre-war life. Incorporating direct quotes from the books, and my own imagination, I filled in many of his mission details (including, of course, the one featuring Tina, who shows up in the first Matt Helm novel, Death of a Citizen) and added several of my own, trying to keep the narrative authentic to Donald Hamilton's style.The book was approved by Donald Hamilton's son (who is CEO of the company holding the rights), who told me that I had "captured Don's voice quite successfully" and that it was "All in all, a quite good read!"I hope all you Matt Helm fans will enjoy the book as much as I enjoyed writing it. The series is now being reprinted by Titan Books for both old and new fans.… (más)
If you're a fan of Hamilton's Matt Helm series, then you'll likely enjoy this. In his foreword, Wease says that he's a fan & a writer, so he spent some time making notes of this period by simply reading the series. He tells us that he copied quite a bit of the text & reused it in this novel. I easily recognized entire paragraphs & passages.
For the first half of the book, this was all to the good, but then repetition started & I'm not a fan of that. I think he reused one bit three times. I also wasn't fond of Tina's story. The beginning of it was word-for-word from the book & then he went back in time only to take us back to what he'd already told us & never really showed her or the situation beyond what Hamilton had done.
I'm on a roll, so I might as well get another major fault of this book out of the way now. Helm's pocket knife is used to torture him, much the way Vadaya did with the soldering iron. I think that scene was pretty much cribbed. Nothing wrong with that, but Helm NEVER says anything about the abuse done to his knife. Helm likes knives, especially this one, & knows about tempering - seriously major boo-boo.
So why did I give this book such high marks? Because Wease did a great job keeping Hamilton's tone & said up front that it was a pastiche. It's on the cover, but it's more than that. He's a real fan who did a credible job adding to the series & even let Gordon Hamilton edit it. It was fun meeting so many of the missions & people we only had glimpses of before. I like his take on it, even if I am being nitpicky. Overall, I loved it & will add it to my collection, probably to re-read it some time. I'll recommend it to other Hamilton fans. ( )
Matt Helm is a government assassin, working for a super-secret agency first formed during WWII to carry out assassinations in support of the war effort in Europe, and later continued against America's enemies. He is the star of 27 novels written by Donald Hamilton from 1960 through the 1990s. Although a cold-blooded killer, Matt Helm has a superb sense of humor, a sharp opinion on just about everything, and is quite capable of falling in love (or lust) during his missions. This book is about his WWII experiences, from his initial recruitment into the agency, his training, and his missions during the war. Matt Helm fans will know the ending, but it would be a "spoiler" to mention it here.I have been a Donald Hamilton fan since the 1960s and, when he died, decided to write the prequel. Having read the Matt Helm series several times, I researched everything Donald Hamilton wrote about Matt Helm's wartime experiences and his pre-war life. Incorporating direct quotes from the books, and my own imagination, I filled in many of his mission details (including, of course, the one featuring Tina, who shows up in the first Matt Helm novel, Death of a Citizen) and added several of my own, trying to keep the narrative authentic to Donald Hamilton's style.The book was approved by Donald Hamilton's son (who is CEO of the company holding the rights), who told me that I had "captured Don's voice quite successfully" and that it was "All in all, a quite good read!"I hope all you Matt Helm fans will enjoy the book as much as I enjoyed writing it. The series is now being reprinted by Titan Books for both old and new fans.
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(3.63)
1
For the first half of the book, this was all to the good, but then repetition started & I'm not a fan of that. I think he reused one bit three times. I also wasn't fond of Tina's story. The beginning of it was word-for-word from the book & then he went back in time only to take us back to what he'd already told us & never really showed her or the situation beyond what Hamilton had done.
I'm on a roll, so I might as well get another major fault of this book out of the way now. Helm's pocket knife is used to torture him, much the way Vadaya did with the soldering iron. I think that scene was pretty much cribbed. Nothing wrong with that, but Helm NEVER says anything about the abuse done to his knife. Helm likes knives, especially this one, & knows about tempering - seriously major boo-boo.
So why did I give this book such high marks? Because Wease did a great job keeping Hamilton's tone & said up front that it was a pastiche. It's on the cover, but it's more than that. He's a real fan who did a credible job adding to the series & even let Gordon Hamilton edit it. It was fun meeting so many of the missions & people we only had glimpses of before. I like his take on it, even if I am being nitpicky. Overall, I loved it & will add it to my collection, probably to re-read it some time. I'll recommend it to other Hamilton fans. (