Assignment Silver Scorpion (Sam Durell #35) by Edward S. Aarons

Sam Durell, agent of K-Section of the CIA is used to working alone. He’s a mission-oriented, no-nonsense, experienced top-notch agent. So when he finds himself on a case with a young, inexperienced female agent, he’s not exactly thrilled. They have been sent to the newly unified African country of Boganda where it appears over $300,000 of American and International aid has been diverted into the pockets of…somebody. Perhaps it’s Mokutu, the new country’s president, or perhaps it’s their military leader. Or perhaps it’s one or both of their wives who happen to be sisters and have every appearance of being professional pirates. The money, in the form of international credits, was intended for economic, social, and educational needs. But over the past six months, the credits have been converted, little by little, into hard cash for projects that were never completed, or never even begun. It was an international swindle of the first magnitude. Durell and his rookie partner must find out where the money’s gone.

Once again Edward S. Aarons (also known by the pseudonyms Paul Ayres and Edward Ronns) has provided an exciting adventure thriller in the lengthy “Assignment” series featuring agent Sam Durell. I think these later books in the series have a bit more TV-style adventure than the early ones, more action, more double-crosses, more peril in general. Durell ends up in a jail cell at least three times (maybe four) in this single novel. But it’s a fun ride all the way through. The author, as he has many times before, provides a realistic exotic setting for his characters to romp around in. While the country of Boganda is fictional, it seems much like many an African nation in the early 1970s when this was published. 

I must say that the character of Sam Durell doesn’t come off well over the first half of the novel. The way he treats his female co-agent is abominable. I get that he is used to working alone, but the author seems to press this point too far in my opinion. Yes, I’m aware that this was written in the early 1970s, but he is arrogant, condescending, patronizing, and flat out rude to her in every interaction they have. He demands information from her but never stoops to answering her questions. He even physically slaps her twice (and another character once). I worry that if this book were a reader’s first introduction to the series, they would be so turned off as to quit half-way through and never want to read another one. Happily, I can report that this relationship changes significantly as the pages fly by. When two people face the kind of dangerous situations that these two face, they tend to gravitate towards each other. In fact, this becomes one of the major rewards of persevering through the book.

Looking forward to my next "Assignment" read.