The Damagers

Matt Helm, Book 27

By: Donald Hamilton

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki

“Some people are never ready to kill…”

Take a gorgeous companion for a leisurely sail on a beautiful yacht. Sounds like easy duty for Matt Helm—except that the last three captains of the yacht died under mysterious circumstances. Matt will tangle with a crew of dangerous women, a terrorist squad, and an elite organization of death-dealing specialists. He had better be ready—if he wants to stay alive.

©1993, 2017 Donald Hamilton (P)2025 Blackstone Publishing

Not the Best for Last

Having read and listened to all of the Matt Helm books, I would have to say this is probably the weakest of the lot. Donald Hamilton's writing career spanned many decades, and his Matt Helm books featured villains from whomever was the current adversary of the United States. This one features the Middle East which doesn't, inherently, make it poor, but it lacks the punch of the typical Cold War villains.

But what makes this book a poor Matt Helm book is that the entire thing (literally) takes place on a boat with enough jargon to choke a horse. I read somewhere that Hamilton was a boating aficionado and that clearly comes through in this one. To be sure, boating and its jargon appears in other Helm stories, but not anywhere to the degree as this one.

Read or listen to this one if you aim to be a completionist, but otherwise I'd recommend skipping it.

The narration is good as always, although the Middle Eastern accents are not nearly as convincing as Stefan Rudnicki's European or even Asian ones to my untrained ears.

At any rate, it's too bad we don't get a definitive "final" Matt Helm adventure, but maybe that's a good thing since we can revisit him anytime in the previous 20-odd novels.

Worst Matt Helm Book

This was definately the worst Matt Helm book I have listened to. it meandered here and there sonselessly, with no idea where it was going. it seemed like bad improvisation.