Author Country United States Series Matt Helm | Cover artist John McDermott Language English Genre Spy novel | |
The Ravagers is a novel by Donald Hamilton that was first published in 1964. It was the eighth novel in his long-running series of adventures featuring secret agent Matt Helm.
Contents
Plot summary
Matt Helm is sent to Canada where his assignment is to stop a scheme to bring a Soviet submarine within striking distance of the United States.
Film adaptation plans
In the 1960s, a series of popular motion pictures based upon the Matt Helm series were produced starring Dean Martin. These films only loosely adapted their source material, choosing to adopt a comedic tone, rather than the serious tone of Hamilton's books. At the end of the fourth film, 1969's The Wrecking Crew, it is announced that Matt Helm's next cinematic adventure would be The Ravagers (presumably based upon this novel). Martin, however, declined to return to the role for a fifth time and the film was never made. Sharon Tate, his co-star in the fourth film was murdered by the Charles Manson "family." She was to have co-starred in "The Ravagers." Martin didn't want to do it without her.