There are some exciting scenes here, but Aarons can't inject a lick of believability into this wild tale of Sam Durell venturing into Hungary in the aftermath of the failed revolution against the Soviets to rescue a scientist. The outline of the plot is good enough, but it is in the details where Aarons stumbles. And at the center of it all, Sam Durell, comes across as a bit of a cypher. Unlike the way Donald Hamilton is able to flesh out the personality of Matt Helm--a coldblooded killer when he needs to be--Durell ends up being more defined by his actions. In fact, the female characters in this book are the strongest, most memorable ones, especially Ilona, a Hungarian secret police agent who aids Sam in his quest. It's acceptable entertainment, but I'm not sure after this that I'm looking forward to wading through the rest of my Sam Durell collection.

And who knew Durell spoke Hungarian!? ( )