Night of the Condor

Killmaster #231

by Nick Carter

High in the Peruvian Andes, an earthquake uncovers the wreckage of a plane that crashed twenty years before. Amid the rubble are the remains of a legendary superspy. The evidence makes it murder, and the job for Nick Carter "Killmaster." The trail out of the past is still hot. it begins with a ripe and willing Brazilian show-girl with mob connections, then leads through an ever increasing body count to a left-wing death squad and straight into the U.S. Embassy.

200 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published November 1, 1987

About the author

Nick Carter is a house pseudonym used by Award, Ace, and later Jove, publishing for the series Nick Carter who later graduated to a special agent for the Killmaster novels, a series of 261+ spy adventures published from 1964 until late 1990s.

A great number of writers have written under the pen-name over the years, beginning in September 1886 when Nick Carter first appeared in the 'New York Weekly' in a 13-week serial, entitled 'The Old Detective's Pupil; or, The Mysterious Crime of Madison Square'.

The Nick Carter character was originally conceived by Ormond G. Smith, the son of one of the founders of Street & Smith, and realized by John R. Coryell.

Reviews

[Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

A typical slice of pulp action from the 1980s, starring that incredibly long-running American spy Nick Carter. This one begins with a plane crash in Peru before moving into the usual territory as our hero turns up in a disguise and false name and soon finds himself working his way through a minefield of sadistic villains, femme fatales and corruption at the highest levels. There's no time for character in this slim volume, but the plentiful action is brisk and efficient and the villains particularly ruthless; the way they handle people in their way in the early scenes is quite shocking. The pace dips a little in the mid section but picks up again for a fun climax.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't regularly read the Nick Carter series. I only picked this one up because it was written by Gardner Fox, whose work I often do enjoy. This was originally published in 187 and Kurt Brugel and Douglas Vaughan transcribed it for Kindle in 2019. Nick Carter is sort of America's answer to James Bond. The adventures here are quite Bondish. Carter is sent to South America to investigate an intelligence agent who has been missing for 20 years. There are a couple of sex scenes and lots of shoot outs. It held my interest but is nothing outstanding.