Action/Adventure Aficionados discussion

Have you ever had to make a choice on books? Maybe you know what books you like but only have enough liquid capital on hand to get one and have to choose which of your reading children your going to keep? Maybe your just looking for a book and heard about one?

Post questions about specific books here so those who have read it can give their opinions about it.

Has anyone read The Galactic Mage series? Is it any good?



It looks like Shadow Run two centuries later? I'm jus' curious.

Has anyone else read the Matt Helm books? The first two, Death of a Citizen & The Wrecking Crew, just arrived this week. My originals were printed in 1960! They still have a read or two left in them but are pretty old & brittle.

I hope everyone buys a copy & they do well. If so, we'll FINALLY get to read the last, unpublished Matt Helm novel that Hamilton wrote but couldn't get published. It had been too long since his last book & they didn't want to reissue the series.

Jim wrote: "Has anyone else read the Matt Helm books? The first two, Death of a Citizen & The Wrecking Crew, just arrived this week. My originals were printed in 1960! They still have a read or two left in ..."

Ha! I thought I recognized you from Pulp Fiction. I have not read any to date but I have these first two on my ever growing pile.

They're quick reads & it's an absolutely wonderful series. Some have called him the American James Bond & I suppose that fits to some extent. He's a government assassin, not just licensed to kill in the course of his duties. He's not a spy & hates it when they ask him to perform those duties.

Jim wrote: "Has anyone else read the Matt Helm books? "

I did, years ago, but not recently. I think probably around the same time as the Travis McGee/James Bond series were coming out. I recall them as being entertaining but like quite a few others, not something that stayed on my 'to re-read' shelves.

I've never read the books. I have seen all the movies with Dean Martin, If that's where they got the stories from.

Just bought the first of the Matt Helm series. Let's see how the experience is.

Please don't judge the books by the movies. They were HORRIBLE. They decided they couldn't compete with the James Bond movies - didn't have the budget - so they made them comedies. There's even a bigger difference between them than the Bond books & movies.

Helm books are told in the first person. He's a very practical guy. He thinks he's a bit tougher than he really is, one of the humanizing elements of the story. He really should kill someone or let them die, but he screws up everything because he can't. Then he scrambles to fix the situation.

There aren't a lot of gimmicks. He does have a trick belt buckle, but the bad guys often know about it & take it away. Sometimes it's even caused him a lot of grief. Otherwise he mostly gets by on intelligence & skill. Hamilton was an avid hunter & really knew his guns, so those are done very well. He doesn't dwell on them, but treats them like a tool of the trade & often points out issues with them.

The ladies of Helm's world aren't damsels in distress - well, not all the time. Some are, just like some of the guys. Hopeless in dangerous situations, but others are as tough as Helm is. Tina is in the first novel. She's as tough as a keg of nails. Arguably, Vadia might be tougher & better. She appears in several novels. Very well done in my male opinion. I'd be interested to hear a woman's take on them.

Hope you like Death of a Citizen, Dipanjan. Most of you probably never drove anything with bias ply tires on it, so references like that won't mean much, but it's not terribly dated - at least to me. Just remember that it was written over 50 years ago. Helm didn't become an ageless hero until over a dozen books in - sometime in the 80's, I think. Before that, he was a WWII veteran who did assassinations during the war & tried to become a regular citizen afterward. It's not entirely his fault that it didn't work out...

My review is here:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Jim wrote: "Please don't judge the books by the movies. They were HORRIBLE. They decided they couldn't compete with the James Bond movies - didn't have the budget - so they made them comedies. There's even ..."

Wow! Bias ply tires, there's a blast from the past!

I just finished the book & he mentions how hard it is to hold the old truck (1952, 1/2 ton Chevy) on the road where they have wavy grooves on it. I don't know why that translated in my memory to bias ply, possibly from a later book. My biggest memory of them was if you let the vehicle sit too long when it was cold out. After a few days, they'd flatten on the bottom & you'd have a bumpy ride until they warmed up & rounded back out.

The vehicles & dress styles in the book are old, but otherwise it wasn't dated much at all. It was kind of funny when he mentioned that a new car had the key do the starter, too. It also had a push button transmission & fins. Definitely a blast from the past.

My review is here:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I read the Matt Helm series years ago and liked them, also about the same time I discovered James Bond. It's too bad they didn't pick up the series again.

Joan

I was told Sandra Brown's books are really good. I'm not sure they're really for me, but thought I'd give one a try. She has a lot - 46 listed on my library's site. Which one would you recommend I start with?

Jim wrote: "I was told Sandra Brown's books are really good. I'm not sure they're really for me, but thought I'd give one a try. She has a lot - 46 listed on my library's site. Which one would yo..."

I think I read a few Sandra Brown books years ago...isn't she mainly a romance writer? Not really sure as my memory is a bit foggy these days. Does she write action stuff as well?

I was told her books have it all, but they look like primarily romance to me. That's not my preferred genre, but an occasional one, so long as it isn't too gooey or steamy is OK.

Jim wrote: "I was told her books have it all, but they look like primarily romance to me. That's not my preferred genre, but an occasional one, so long as it isn't too gooey or steamy is OK."

To be honest, I really don't remember...hopefully someone else will chime in!

Thanks, anyway. 2 people have recommended Envy, but one read it a long time ago & didn't remember it well. So far, I haven't seen much enthusiasm, so I'm not in a rush.

Wow, behind the times here. Sorry. I love Helm, haven't read Sandra Brown.

Lots of help now I know, LOL.

Anyway I agree Jim. The Matt Helm books are great and the idiotic, horrible movies probably kept a lot of people from finding how good they are (I put off reading them for years.)