Today is the last on Helm books, so here goes (semi spoiler
at end of
paragraph). Helm grew on me a lot as I progressed. I started
with Silencers
and nearly didn't continue. I then went to Death of a
Citizen--probably the
best of the ones, I read--then Wrecking Crew, then Murderers'
Row. I like the
stark southwest settings the best. I kept thinking that the
Sweden of
Wrecking Crew should seem more exotic. Helm is a compelling
fantasy; we all
have a secret agent inside us who might be our real self.
Helm's down-to-
earthness makes this possible (as compared to the movie Bond,
who, for
instance, "took two firsts in Oriental languages at
Cambridge"); on the other
hand, Helm's colloquial stance occasionally interrupts the
novels. For
instance, in several books, he reaches for a description,
then says "or
whatever it's called" (in reference to clothing or physics);
in these moments,
Hamilton's quick composition seems to call intrusive
attention to itself.
Another point: for cold war novels, there seems to be little
politics. The
bad guys we get close to are motivated by revenge, Swedish
nationalism, and so
forth--no talk about the working class. I found myself
attracted to Helm's
unsentimental brutality (as dictated by the job)--thus he
kills when it's
easier than restraining, shoots the injured and unarmed,
tortures to death,
and so forth. However, if Helm were hard-boiled to the core,
he would've
killed the Dr. and his daughter (in Murderers' Row) without
hesitation--that
would've been some book, but then maybe readers wouldn't've
come back for
number 6.
I also just read Fredric Brown's His Name was Death. Clever,
but a little
unsatisfying in the end. Readers often note that books have
gotten padded and
they should be short. This short Brown novel from the 1950s
reads like it
should've been a long short story. Long descriptions help
build tension, but
they often seem nearly tedious.
I caught the James Ellroy show, which came to town Friday
night. He read from
Crime Wave. He was all I expected--no more or less, based on
what others have
reported on this list. What was interesting was how much of
what he had to
say was verbatim to what was reported here--he is very
energetic, but "on
message," and not too spontaneous. For instance, of blurbs,
he said to the
word what was said here, that he owes a lot of editors
favors, and his blurbs
should be taken with a grain of salt. It was interesting to
hear him savage
Clinton (think of Clinton as a character on Buzz Meeks'
radar). As things
veered into politics, and because of Ellroy's large,
moustached presence, I
couldn't help thinking of Minnesota's new governor.
Thunder comes. I'm off.
Doug
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