The Devastators cover art

The Devastators

Matt Helm, Book 9

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About this listen

The Devastators is the ninth installment in Donald Hamilton's iconic and thrilling Matt Helm series, which has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.

On a bleak and lonely heath in Northern Scotland, the body of an agent sent to complete a tricky mission is recovered. He had died of bubonic plague. It's up to Matt Helm to take it from there. Somewhere among the desolate Scottish moors is a half-crazed scientific genius who could devastate entire populations with one hideous, raging plague. It is Helm's job to get him...with the help of a beautiful American operative who is supposed to be his wife and a beautiful Russian operative who makes it clear she is his deadly enemy.

©1965, 2014 Donald Hamilton (P)2015 Skyboat Media, Inc. Crime Thrillers Espionage Spies & Politics Suspense Thriller & Suspense Thriller Crime Fiction Exciting
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Not a bad story and makes you think it might have been better if more Helm stories had taken place other than in the USA. What is difficult is the main character, racism, sexism and beliefs. You would find it impossible to publish some of the dialogue now I expect. I think that is the problem he isn't likeable and if he died you wouldn't be over bothered.

Difficult in places

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Other reviews mention how downright unlikeable the protagonist is portrayed here.
No arguments here. But he was developed as the anti-Bond, much as was Le Carre’s Smiley.
You’re not meant to like him much, if at all.
The plot has a new resonance post-COVID, especially when you remember it was written over half a century ago.
The louche narration style suits the book perfectly.

A bit near the knuckle in post-COVID times

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This feels like On Her Majesty's Secret Service -- it is one of the most explicitly Bondish Matt Helms, and one in which the sexism and occasional sadism are less mitigated by the quality of the writing than in the best of the series. It feels a bit formulaic, too, though Hamilton has researched his locales and British automobiles well. Was Hamilton being leaned on by his publishers to fit a mould? I wonder... Still, there are plenty of flashes of Hamilton at his best. And an excellent read, as usual, by the outstandingly competent and committed Stefan Rudnicki.

Matt does Bond

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