Assignment Nuclear Nude

Sam Durell #27

by Edward S. Aarons, Robert McGinnis (Illustrator)

A painter of nondescript value has painted a good but unremarkable painting named the Nuclear Nude. It was bought for a few hundred dollars by an extremely wealthy American industrialist who had many more important works in his collection. And of all the paintings he had, the Nude was the one stolen.

Genres: Espionage

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

AKA Paul Ayres, Edward Ronns.

Edward Sidney Aarons (September 11, 1916 - June 16, 1975) was an American writer, author of more than 80 novels from 1936 until 1962. One of these was under the pseudonym "Paul Ayres" (Dead Heat), and 30 were written using the name "Edward Ronns". He also wrote numerous articles for detective magazines such as Detective Story Magazine and Scarab.

Aarons was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and earned a degree in Literature and History from Columbia University. He worked at various jobs to put himself through college, including jobs as a newspaper reporter and fisherman. In 1933, he won a short story contest as a student. In World War II he was in the United States Coast Guard, joining after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. He finished his duty in 1945, having obtained the rank of Chief Petty Officer.

Reviews

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another lurid book cover and title for an Aarons novel that once you read it completely disarms its prurient appeal. For this is a pretty good story. Set first in Key West, Florida, the action quickly takes CIA agent Sam Durell to Singapore and Malaysia (although published in 1968, the story describes events as if Singapore was still part of Malaysia, a situation that only lasted from 1963 to 1965, when Malaysia expelled Singapore from the union). The plot revolves around several contending factions, the US government, corporate billionaires, and Communist Chinese agents, trying to recover a scientific formula that will provide a new, powerful energy source. Forget that--and you almost will--because the interest is in how many levels of deceit and distrust can be built so quickly and even among close family kinships. Eventually, things end up in the mountains of Malaysia, where the climax has Durell facing down an old enemy, Madame Hung, from the prior two Sam Durell novels, Black Viking and Moon Girl. Both of those titles, perhaps not coincidentally, sound a bit James Bondish. So are their plots. Nuclear Nude continues that trend with the title, but the story is a return to form, a much more earthy and morally centered tale within the confines of Cold War hostility and fear of China.

Atmosphere also once again predominates in a Sam Durell novel. Aarons is at his best, I think, when he describes tropical scenes and settings. And he is especially good at depicting Southeast Asia. He has a feel for it. Here, he takes you to a Singapore in the 1960s that seems so much more interesting than the super elite, overly sterile city-state that exists today. The New World Amusement Park is the center for much of his story. Too bad I never saw it; it seems like fun. (Plenty of interesting photographs are available online.) It's Interesting that Aarons didn't opt to include Tiger Balm Gardens Singapore (renamed Haw Par Villa in 1988) in the plot. Nobody goes there nowadays. But I still like it, and intend to return when I next get back to Singapore. Coincidentally, in an American TV series, I Spy, starring Bill Cosby and Robert Culp as CIA agents, Tiger Balm Gardens Hong Kong did figure in one of the first season stories. Too bad they never met up with Sam Durell, there.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun romp of a spy thriller.

[Velvet Vaughn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This fun little spy romp was a nice companion for.a few days during quarantine. I paid $2.50 for a yellowed old copy in a used book store and I feel I got my money's worth. This was my first encounter with Edward S. Aaron's and his international super spy, Sam Durrell.

Durrell is a discount James Bond. He's called Cajun, being a Cajun (shocker). I can't comment on the other novels in the series, but in this book this one character trait that could add some uniqueness to this James Bond clone is never developed. Aarons even writes that he's lost his accent, so we don't even get any fun quirks in his dialogue.

The plot is definitely contrived. The four daughters of the four richest men in the world are friends. Oh and they're all "flower children." Yeah. Really.

Anyway, Durrell is hired by one of the rich daddies to help him get back a painting that he's lost. The CIA must be hard up for money, because they whore out Durrell like it's nothing and all but threaten to kill him if he doesn't take the job.

Next thing you know, Durrell is fired without explanation. But he's still got to solve this mystery dammit!

Now the parts of this book that I enjoyed the most were as follows:

-Sam Durrell talks about hippies like your angry grandpa who still worships Ronald Reagan. Sam couldn't be more square of he were a Kraft Single

-Sam's spidey sense tingling about Madame Hung and his internal monologues about how depraved and twisted she is. I know Madame Hung is a female character, but I have a mental image of her laughing and twirling her moustache thinking about all the evil she's about to do

-All the unforeshadowed shit that's cobbled together at the end as Aarons realizes he has to hit his target word count


I mean all of this lovingly. I'm the kind of gal who finds the "bad writing" in old pulps charming- like a security blanket or teddy bear of cheesiness. If you're the same way and you see this in the bargain bin at a used book store, give it a read. You could do much worse.

[Umair Khalid]

i want to out this book

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

Best Sam Durell so far. Madam Hung a force to be reckoned with. Don't mess with the Madam.

[John Peel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sam Durell's latest mission is to recover a stolen painting worth just a couple of hundred dollars. He doesn't want to do it, but the owner is one of the world's wealthiest men, and his boss orders him to take the job. And then the man fires Durell. What's going on? And when three more of the world's richest get involved, it starts looking like a proper task for Sam. And when the four daughters of these four men step in to fight their fathers, things really start to get dangerous...

Another top-notch adventure, with Durell on one of his craziest missions - and one of his deadliest.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

The cover is much better than what's inside. Fair James Bond-type adventure, but it gets quite muddled toward the end.