Book Review: Web of Spies by Nick Carter
Nick Carter, aka N3, the agent of AXE known as “Killmaster”, is off to sunny Spain. It seems a brilliant British biochemist has been seduced by a Soviet spy and they’ve run off together. Nick’s assignment, get the scientist back–or kill the scientist before the spy gets the pair behind the Iron Curtain. Nick’s usual tricks might not work though–both the Brit and the Russian are women!
As I’ve mentioned in previous reviews, Nick Carter had three careers as a fictional character, first in dime novels, then in pulp magazines, and finally in men’s adventure paperbacks. In each case, the pen name “Nick Carter” was used for each story. This book is the eleventh in the third incarnation, which was markedly different from the first two. While the dime novel and pulp Nick Carters had been private detectives, this iteration of the character was a “secret” agent for the American government.
Spy fiction of the late 1950s and into the Sixties was heavily influenced by Ian Fleming’s James Bond series, with an emphasis on glamorous locations, exotic gadgetry and sexy women. There weren’t a lot of ethical conundrums; the fate of the Free World was at stake, and a man made the hard decisions and did the morally dubious things he had to do to stop the evil side from winning.
The mission is complicated because there’s a third party involved, Die Spinne, a secretive group that smuggles Nazi war criminals out of Europe. Or at least, that’s their reputation. According to Nick’s contact in Spain, the group was actually anti-fascists who became bandits after Franco’s victory, and lured Nazis to get huge fees for not actually getting them to safety, except for a few let go to spread the word (but betrayed to American intelligence for later pickup.)
This has changed, however, as the younger generation became more concerned with money than politics, and a new leader was able to buy his way into power. Nick’s old enemy, the man named Judas! At first he was content merely to actually smuggle Nazis, but then he discovered that AXE had information on the missing British scientist, and he wants in.
So now it’s a four-way battle between AXE, the Soviets, Judas, and the few remaining loyal Die Spinne anti-fascists.
The good: Lots of exciting action, cool gadgets and the final battle at Judas’ HQ is well-done. Judas is a suitably evil mastermind, and his cyborg henchman Skull is a memorable character.
There’s an amusing gag–at the beginning of the story Nick is undercover as a novel writer, complete with a just-released novel written by a ghostwriter some years before in case it was ever needed. At the end, when we finally find out why everyone was after the scientist, we also learn the novel has become a genuine bestseller, so Nick may need to “write” a sequel.
Not so good: The twelve-year-old in me was amused when I learned that Nick Carter had had sex with a Gay Lord and was about to again. (Yes, that’s seriously her name.) This was rather spoiled by realizing that this was a “bury your Gays” book, in both the literal and figurative senses.
Nick as narrator is quite clear that he thinks lesbianism is unnatural, and imagines that the Soviet spy is only participating in the pairing with the British scientist because she’s been ordered to by her evil Communist masters. Combined with the tradition that women are expendable in this sort of spy story, and well….
Content notes: Torture and a couple of attempted rapes, in addition to the noted homophobia.
For obvious reasons, this volume has aged poorly, but could still be of interest to men’s adventure fans.
