The Wrecking Crew (Matt Helm, #2) in SSG: Spy/Spec-Ops Group

Sep 03, 2021 Pop rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: james-bond-era

Awe, just pure genius espionage. If you like espionage and spy novels I highly recommend Donald Hamilton’s Matt Helm. Read them in order. When I first came across these novels some 50 or so years ago I didn’t have the chance to read them all, especially in order so Im revisiting them and loving them. On to #3 when I can find it. 👏

3 likes · Like · see review

Aug 26, 2015 Mike (the Paladin) rated it really liked it

Shelves: spy-fi, thriller

Have you ever heard of Matt Helm? If so, was it from the old movies? the old TV series? (Frankly I'd forgotten there even was a TV series). Hf you know Helm from there, well you still don't know Matt Helm.

I started with a few strikes against me as well. I was a fan of what is generally called "spy-fi" back in the '60s. Most are familiar with James Bond (007) written by Ian Fleming. There were also other books and movies that leaned heavily on action and sometimes on "gadgets". I liked The Man Fr Have you ever heard of Matt Helm? If so, was it from the old movies? the old TV series? (Frankly I'd forgotten there even was a TV series). Hf you know Helm from there, well you still don't know Matt Helm.

I started with a few strikes against me as well. I was a fan of what is generally called "spy-fi" back in the '60s. Most are familiar with James Bond (007) written by Ian Fleming. There were also other books and movies that leaned heavily on action and sometimes on "gadgets". I liked The Man From U.N.C.L.E., I Spy, Secret Agent (called Danger Man in the UK). I had my walls lined with shelves of paperback books.

But after seeing the movies (at the drive-in with my girl [so I can't guarantee I actually caught the movies every time) I decided that I wasn't interested in Helm.

See in the late '60s and '70s along with a rampant swing left movies and TV series also began to parody anything that might picture the US or Western intelligence community in a positive light. We got Our man Flint and The President's Annalist. Along with these Dean Martin played a campy Matt Helm surrounded by skimpily clad "girls".

Okay so what is Matt Helm (the original or "real" Helm in the books) like. Well many have described him as a more realistic James Bond. Far from being "campy" and humorous Helm is a deadly serious agent. While you have to do a little suspension of disbelief on the time line (he would get a bit too old to perform if he stayed in action as long as the books actually go) the man is a good character. Coming out of WWII he is called back at "times of need" because he's good at what he does.

The Matt Helms books are a bit darker, grittier and in some ways more violent. Helm gets dirty and does his job, even when it's unpleasant.

In the movie Wrecking Crew it's a group of "girls" who are the "Wrecking Crew". Again, forget that. We get some insight into "who" the "Wrecking Crew" are here and where the term comes from. We get to see how people can be manipulated by those who are willing to use them. Personally I think we get a chance to look at our own attitudes.

Up front, Helm is an assassin at least at times. He asks a question in the book that I think needs to be asked. When a woman tells him she "just can't get past what he does" he questions. The pilot who dropped the atomic bomb is a hero but because he directs a single bullet to a single chosen target he's condemned and looked down on.

How's that work?

I've thought of that for years. War can be necessary and I respect our fighting people. That said sometimes you need a scalpel not a sledge hammer. Why do people feel okay about being judgmental toward people who fight one on one on the shadows?

Oh well. Good books, recommended. Enjoy. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review