Death of a Citizen

A powerful first entry in the Matt Helm series as Helm, after 15 years as a peace-loving husband, father of three, and writer of Westerns, finds himself lured back into his old wartime business of killing by a girl he thought he would never see again. As we watch his dark side take over, it is both frightening and believable. Hamilton's prose is precise, chilling when it needs to be, and with that touch of ironic black humor that threads its way through the series. Believe me, you have no excuse for not reading this one.

‘Death of a Citizen’ is the first of the Matt Helm novels, of which there were 27 between 1960 and the early 1990s. Helm is sometimes considered to be the American equivalent of Fleming’s James Bond. He’s witty, quite happy to slip between the sheets with whatever women are available, and able to spring in to action whenever required.
What makes his first outing work as well as it does is the setup. Rather than being a super spy, Helm starts the book as a rather boring, middle class, middle aged man. He’s a writer (of westerns), a loving husband and a devoted father to three children. He’s also, it turns out, a former agent who tore things up in wartime Europe fifteen plus years before. When he bumps into a female agent he show more worked with during the war at a suburban party, his settled life is turned upside down and he finds himself wrapped up in a world of intrigue and violence again. It feels a bit like the Geena Davis movie ‘The Long Kiss Goodnight’, only with a (slightly) more realistic take on things and a nice 60s vibe.
Helm is a really entertaining hero and narrator. Somewhat in the hard boiled mode, but less misanthropic. Hamilton manages to make him fun to read without being ridiculous; and believable without being to dry and dull. He’s more Travis McGee than Jason Bourne and all the better for it in my opinion.
This is more a tale of intrigue and double crosses than it is violence, but when it kicks into action it does so with a bang. There’s plenty of sex too, and while there isn’t any danger of the book passing the Bechdel test, the main female character is just as confident as Helm and gives as good as she gets.
‘Death of a Citizen’ was an entertaining introduction to Helm and sets things up well for the rest of the series. Good thing too as I just bought them all…. show less

The spy genre, or ex-spy/detective genre is not one i frequent too often but i've read a few and while not as detailed as a Le Carre or Deighton and still a bit politically incorrect, this is a heck of a lot better than say a Bond story.
A little bit pulpy it ain't shakespeare but its quick and too the point, compelling and well thought out.

The author does a great job establishing his main characters with some flashbacks, although this almost becomes a problem. So many flashbacks interrupt the early stages that in real time the 1st third of the book covers only a couple of hours, so it might feel like you havn't accomplished much when reading those parts :P . But its a minor quibble.

While the main character might feel a bit dated thats show more rather the point, and he's counterbalanced somewhat towards the end with some more modern less brutal characters. Its remarkable how modern and fresh the story feels for something written in 1960.

If i was grading on a curve against all literature it would be a lower score but in terms of the pulpy exciting spy/detective story that its trying to be its essentially flawless. show less

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Title: Death of a Citizen
Series: Matt Helm #1
Author: Donald Hamilton
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Action/Adventure
Pages: 240
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Matt Helm is now an author, married to the woman he loves with 2 children. What he used to be in World War II was a special forces assassin who took out ancillary targets to weaken the Axis war machine. But that is in the past.

Until the woman he used to love comes back into his life and gives him show more the signal that he's been reactivated. The target? Communists who are targeting our own scientists so as to destroy the United State's technological edge.

Things don't quite add up though and part way through, it is revealed that Slinky Seductress turned long ago and has been using Matt against the United States. Now, with his baby daughter kidnapped, Matt must save a nuclear scientist's life, rescue his daughter, prove he's not a communist to his old Section Chief and capture or kill all those who put him in this situation.

When there is nothing but guts and guns, there is no time for glory. And when you are Matt Helm, there is no time for weeping, sobbing, nancypants, mommas baby's angst.

My Thoughts:

I thoroughly enjoyed this with just a few caveats, so let's get them out of the way.

This was written in the 1960's about the 1960's. So the attitudes and cultural norms are going to be quite different from 2020 (yeah, yeah, I know it's 2019, but close enough). That didn't bother me but I suspect it will for the kind of reader that infests devilreads these days. So don't be surprised.

Second, and what did bother me, was how casually Matt Helm treated his wedding vows. He's on the run with Slinky Seductress (henceforth known as Slinky) and within a day has slept with her. I think the author writes something like:
“and since I knew I was going to sleep with her, I figured I'd better get it over with so I could deal with the guilt so it wouldn't affect me later”.
And then his attitude is that his wife will take him back anyway because she loves him. Ugh. And that is why I knocked off 2 stars.

On to the good stuff.

Matt Helm is a man's man and whether it is with gun, car or fists, he's good. Not necessarily the best, but pretty close even after 15 years of retirement. He's pragmatic to the point of dishonor but he just doesn't care. He's a throwing knife that once thrown, goes straight to the target.

As much as I'm an introspective kind of guy, it is refreshing to read about a man who just does what needs to be done, period. At one point he kidnaps the man who had kidnapped his baby daughter. The kidnapper thinks he has the power since he knows where the girl is and Matt doesn't. Does Matt agonize and moan and beg? No, he shoots the bastard in the gut and stands over him while he takes hours to die, agonizingly. Now THAT is justice for a kidnapper of babies.

I like how this book's title really gives away the ending. Matt Helm can't remain just a citizen after what happens. But how does he reconcile that with his family life? We don't get that answer in this book. Probably in the next one or two. But we do know that Matt Helm, author, is dead and that Matt Helm, special forces assassin, is back. I am looking forward to more of his adventures and to how the author will deal with the twin dynamics of Country and Family.

★★★☆☆ show less

It is the beginning of one of the best espionage series out there and it is easy to see how more recent spy novels are in some sense derivative of the Helm books.

Helm's books take place in a world where men are men and women are women. The men are tough no-nonsense types and the women seductive temptresses in dresses and heels.

The writing is superb and Hamilton somehow can make even a dull cocktail party seem interesting.
Helm was originally a special agent in the European theater with the assigned task of executing Nazis. The story takes him back and forth between his reminiscing about his training and his wartime romance with another agent and his present day (around 1960) suburban life as a western writer in Santa Fe with a wife and show more kids and the whole ball of wax. Sucked back into the world of espionage that he didn't know still existed, Helm is called upon to utilize his skills and training to survive attacks by the enemies.

This is well-written and compelling. It's especially fun as Hrlm reasons his way through one situation after another. show less

I needed a comfort book & chose this one. Quick read & wonderful. The ruthless common sense displayed by Helm is such a nice change of pace from most of the current heroes or even many of the old ones. He's an American James Bond without the tricky gadgets. He has no sense of fair play or sentiment - usually. He'll shoot a man in the back & wonder why anyone considers the direction he was facing to be of concern. The object was to make him dead, right? Of course, he's not quite as cold & callous as he'd like to be. His sloppy sentimentalism causes him occasional problems, but just enough to keep it interesting.

The first book sets the stage for the rest of the series very well. Apparently, it was originally a standalone, but Hamilton's show more editor talked him into a few changes foreseeing a possible series. Good man. Great series.

The books portray a pretty ordinary, if smart & ruthless guy who is a government assassin. In this book, we find that he had quit the business after the war (WWII) & is sucked back in after 15 years of being a normal citizen, hence the title. Very well done.

For more on Hamilton, including some of his other stories & nonfiction articles, free for the download, go here:
http://homepage.mac.com/mmtz/dh/books.html
This is an amazing site & collection. Very well done.

Several books (4?) in the series were horribly done in the movies, Helm played by Dean Martin. Rather than go head to head with the popular Bond movies, they decided a spoof was better, unfortunately. Like Fleming's Bond series, the books bear little to no relationship to most of the movies save the title & some character names. show less

Hardboiled spy pulp. Matt Helm is the kind of character that makes you realise what a wimp James Bond really is. This is the first book in the series and possibly the best, with a protagonist who is as ruthless as anyone in the genre—without being a sociopath. Hamilton has an eye for detail, and the spare, gritty descriptions of action sequences keep the pace rolling.