Edward S. Aarons (1916–1975)

A pretty fun little spy novel from the early 1970s that surprisingly wasn't as sexist or racist as you might expect it to be given the time period and the title. Sam Durell, aka The Cajun, is a CIA officer on assignment to Bangkok to bring in a hard partying and irresponsible American businessman who was sent out on a reconnaissance mission to check on Chinese insurgents in the north. He very quickly is ambushed, escapes, and joins forces with the businessman's very unfeminine and extremely show more responsible sister, Benji, along with a Buddhist monk / sleeper agent who Sam helped out years earlier when the future monk was a college student studying in the states. This is pretty action packed, and Sam has a very eventful 72 hours in Bangkok. I'm not an expert on Thailand, but the author seems to be writing from personal experience and there is a fond familiarity in his description of the people, customs, buildings, and countryside. When Sam realizes that the severe Benji is actually pretty cute and sleeps with her in a river, apparently taking her virginity, no less than four characters comment about a dozen times how her personality has suddenly changed. That is a little odd, but if you can roll with it, this is a pretty entertaining and well written piece of pulpy fiction. Fun fact: I bought my copy at an open air book market in Ghent, Belgium. show less

There are some exciting scenes here, but Aarons can't inject a lick of believability into this wild tale of Sam Durell venturing into Hungary in the aftermath of the failed revolution against the Soviets to rescue a scientist. The outline of the plot is good enough, but it is in the details where Aarons stumbles. And at the center of it all, Sam Durell, comes across as a bit of a cypher. Unlike the way Donald Hamilton is able to flesh out the personality of Matt Helm--a coldblooded killer show more when he needs to be--Durell ends up being more defined by his actions. In fact, the female characters in this book are the strongest, most memorable ones, especially Ilona, a Hungarian secret police agent who aids Sam in his quest. It's acceptable entertainment, but I'm not sure after this that I'm looking forward to wading through the rest of my Sam Durell collection.

And who knew Durell spoke Hungarian!? show less

Dated as this may be, I really enjoyed falling into it for a brief escape from reality. It's got all you'd expect from a piece of 1950s fiction focused around small-town corruption, gang activity, and a hero who's a small-town boy made good via business and military, fighting for his livelihood and the girl next door who he loves. Just from the description, you know it's dated... but it's also a nice escape. I'll certainly pick up more of Aarons' work to save for the right mood if I can come show more across it. show less

One of the things I hate about the Assignment series is Sam Durell's girlfriend, Deirdre. Her mission in life is to nag Sam to quit his job as a CIA agent so he can pay more attention to her. He is always worried about endangering her and proves it by endangering her multiple times. In this adventure, Deirdre has left Sam for good (again) because he refuses (again) to quit his job. In an amazingly fast rebound, she finds an astronaut and is almost immediately engaged to be married.
Another show more flaw in the series is how coincidence-driven the stories are. Many of the books are peopled by folks he's known in the past who become enmeshed in the world of international espionage. Old playmates from Louisiana, college roommates, army buddies-all come into play in various Assignment: capers. So it's no surprise when America's first man into space happens to be Deirdre's fiancé and definitely not a surprise when he crash lands behind the Iron Curtain. Not being able to help in any way, she immediately heads to Europe with one of Sam's fellow agents to "help" in the rescue attempt.
Naturally, Sam feels the need to ignore orders and head out to rescue the rescuers.
Meanwhile, in another amazing coincidence, the astronaut finds the woman of his dreams in the person of a peasant girl who helps hide him from Communist officials. People in this book fall in and out of love at the drop of a hat.
It's all a bit much and at the end of the story, you're asking yourself what the purpose of the whole exercise was. There are definitely better stories in this series, it's just that none of them involve Deirdre. show less