A pretty good murder mystery story published in 1954, so it used the Commie Spy & McCarthy era paranoia as the main plot of the story. Some coincidence is used, but more sparingly than I thought at first. The ending was good, too. It's a believable yarn with no super heroes, just ordinary people. I could really identify with the main character & understood the few others well, too. All motivations were quite believable. Well worth the read, although not as good as his Matt Helm books. ( )

A navy lieutenant on the way to report is given a lift, and ends up in a car accident.

When he wakes up in hospital, he has the facial bandages, and the identification of another men.

Or, what the hell is going on here is of course what he is wondering.

A bit of unraveling to do, but too much focus on the chat between him and the dodgy or not dodgy women involved in the piece, I think, to keep any tension in the mystery/conspiracy.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2008/09... ( )