Matt Helm finds himself once again facing Herbert Leonard and his plans to rule America's undercover agencies. As 'help', Helm has Mac's daughter tagging along. In the series after number 10 or so, Hamilton seems to concentrate more on domestic internal threats to the US. This is one of the better ones in this series of threats to Helm's agency. ( )

An assassination attempt on Matt Helm, a government assassin, starts off this wonderful thriller while he's vacationing down in Mexico. After that, the plot twists & turns. We learn more about Mac, the man that runs the unnamed government agency that Helm works for. A character introduced in an earlier book makes an appearance & a couple of new characters are introduced that figure prominently in a couple of the later ones. Definitely Hamilton at his best.

On to the next book, [b:The Intimidators|2078941|The Intimidators (Matt Helm, #15)|Donald Hamilton|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1263264181s/2078941.jpg|2084213] ( )

This is the 14th Helm book, and Hamilton seems to have run out of plots. So rather than send fiction's coolest cold-blooded assassin to some exotic place to duel with evil foreign interests, he has Helm battling an old nemesis from Washington, DC who has maneuvered Congress into authorizing the consolidation of America's intelligence agencies--and putting himself in charge. If that wasn't bad enough, he has an especial dislike for Helm's agency and for its boss, Mac. So much dislike, that he is willing to kill a few people to put the agency, Mac, and Matt Helm out of business. To prevent this, Mac enlists Helm's help by sending his (Mac's) own daughter to Mexico with a message. However, because he can't even trust his own daughter, he sends the message in such a way that it alerts Helm to be wary of anything she says. And he is--ad nauseum--throughout the entire book. That part really gets old, let me tell you.

Helm must also enlist the help of Lorna, a fierce female agent, and Carl, another agent who happens to have just gone on a cop-killing spree after his daughter was killed by a stray bullet in a Kent State-style shooting (this book was published in 1973, after all.)

Bringing the whole story to its conclusion requires an unbelievable and convoluted series of double-crosses as well as Helm's innate ability to know just when he should do the opposite of what he is supposed to do. And of course, he has to get himself captured on purpose again. This seems to happen in just about every book. It is his favorite tactic.

Nevertheless, putting the implausible plot aside, there are some good scenes here, and Hamilton does succeed in building a pretty good crescendo as the book heads to its climax in a Florida swamp. Not a waste of time, and a quick read, but I wonder if the series is all downhill from here. ( )