• The Wrecking Crew

  • The Matt Helm Series, Book 2
  • By: Donald Hamilton
  • Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
  • Length: 6 hrs and 2 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (709 ratings)

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The Wrecking Crew  By  cover art

The Wrecking Crew

By: Donald Hamilton
Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
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Publisher's summary

The second installment in the legendary Matt Helm thrillers.

Matt Helm, code name Eric, has been recently reactivated as an operative for a secret American government organization after 15 years as a sedentary photographer and family man in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In his first assignment after returning to the service, he is sent to Sweden to eliminate Caselius, a long-time enemy agent. In order to do so, he must leave a trail of bodies in his wake.

Originally released in the era of the James Bond novels, the Matt Helm novels were considered grittier and more realistic than Bond, garnering them critical praise and an ardent audience.

©1960, 2013 Donald Hamilton (P)2014 Skyboat Media, Inc.

What listeners say about The Wrecking Crew

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Incredible

What made the experience of listening to The Wrecking Crew the most enjoyable?

A combination of the Narrator and how well the character Matt Helm is written.

What did you like best about this story?

How clever, cold and pragmatic Matt is while still being a human believable character. He doesn't have any obligatory humanizing traits yet never feels like a superhero.

Have you listened to any of Stefan Rudnicki’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Other Matt Helm novels. Just as amazing.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. It started off a little spread out. Then it was a litttttleee hard to follow. However when it all started coming together, near the last third, I just couldn't stop listening.

Any additional comments?

Matt is truly a professional and a joy to ride along with. The well illustrated tension makes his skill much more respectable. As a Clancy fan, Matt Helm is not quite as technical as I like BUT it makes up for it with soul and interesting yet believable characters.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Not like the movies at all

Not a huge surprise. This is something I discovered at a younger age when I read my first Ian Fleming book. Over all the story is still pretty good. A rather soft read that doesn’t tax the mind too much. Ran rather smoothly as stories go. Does sort of give you a glimpse into the world as it was in the sixties. Surprising how much things have changed. Even standards of how people dealt with each other. Half the stuff Matt Helm does in the book would have put him into jail today.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

greatest spy novels ever written great actor

If you could sum up The Wrecking Crew in three words, what would they be?

great characters/plot

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

constant surprise yet always convincing

Have you listened to any of Stefan Rudnicki’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

his Helms series is always superb

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes and no. I wanted it to last forever.

Any additional comments?

I hope that Rudnicki will get round to Hamilon's The Interlopers, one of the greatest of all spy thrillers.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great series.

I absolutely love these stories. Much better then 007 in my opinion, more authentic and personal.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Tough as nails, a bit of Bond, a bit of Reacher

This is not the Matt Helm you may have seen portrayed by Dean Martin in several goofy spy-spoofs. This Matt Helm is the original - and he's the polar opposite of the film-Helm, the original is tough as nails - easily on par with the early James Bond. Hamilton tells his stories in the first-person narrative - and I very much enjoyed being along for the ride in Matt Helm's mind. He has a sharp mind, he's acerbic, he fights (and fights well) when he has to, he knows his weapons, likes his women - but none of it feels cheap - he's a character and yes, let's remember that he's a character written in 1960. So he's not exactly politically correct - and there are more than a few moments when what he says and does makes you smile.

In this second of Hamilton's Matt Helm novels - Helm's firmly back in business - and he's sent to Sweden to track down and kill a baddie. Naturally, there are women and thugs and fights and guns and more than a few deaths. Good story, a few twists - but overall it's just fun to go along with Helm - he delivers. Very much enjoyed the book. And I'll be the first to admit that I always loved the very goofy Dean Martin Matt Helm spoofs! There really is no connection - they bought the rights, kept the protagonist's name and took the titles of some of the novels - and the similarities end there.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Stefan Rudnicki

I tried to listen to this book despite the narrator,Stefan Rudnicki . I listened to a couple of chapters & the story didn't grab me. I know that some books take a minute to pull the reader/listener. but I'm not a fan of the narrator,so I stopped wasting my time. Done. Notvimpressed.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Words have changed meaning

Really enjoy the series, but the word rape have changed a lot in meaning since then, any way it can be replaced with something suitable to our time, like ravage?

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Failed fashionista

The book seems to be mainly a vehicle for the author to comment at length about the types of women's bodies, and women's fashions that he likes and loathes. Mostly loathes. He's more like a failed fashion writer than a successful suspense writer. Boring.

The reader is terrific. But he's wasted on this boring material.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic - On par with Bond

Entertaining as hell.

Cold war spy adventures in the vein of James Bond without the gimmicks. lI's been called a grittier and more realistic James Bond, but with all espionage ,action, fun, pretty girls, and sexy women that characterized the pulp fiction including the Bond novels or the time.

The protagonist is a down to earth and more human than the Bond character, and makes him much more accessible.

It is refreshing! Pure fun and storytelling without the subtext and overt lectures that infect contemporary literature and media.

Though written quite a while ago, it reads as if it could have been written yesterday.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

I am wrecked! I’m listening to any of my favorite music!

I listen to this book on a whim and couldn’t stop listening to it. Some of it was really “old school“ because it was written a while back LOL but I enjoyed the characters and the narration was OK but I will definitely continue reading the series I had to research the order of all the books. I didn’t realize how many books there were. But I’m downloading them to my library

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