Run, Spy, Run

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First edition

Run, Spy, Run is the first novel in the long-running Nick Carter-Killmaster series.

Publishing history

The book was first published in February 1964 (Number A101F) by Award Books part of the Beacon-Signal division of Universal Publishing and Distributing Corporation (New York, USA), part of the Conde Nast Publications Inc. Authorship has been attributed jointly to Michael Avallone and Valerie Moolman, although Moolman alone is credited in the Library of Congress records. Copyright was registered in the US on 21 April 1964.

Plot summary

The story takes place in early September 1963. After relaxing following a successful mission in Jamaica, secret agent Nick Carter receives an anonymous letter asking that he return to New York via a specific flight where the writer will contact him on the plane. On the flight Carter is contacted by stewardess Rita Jameson, who believes Carter to be a private investigator. Carter is asked to help solve the mystery surrounding a plane crash that killed Rita Jameson's pilot fiance and for which he has been named responsible. Also on board is a minor diplomat with an artificial hand. Upon disembarking in New York, the diplomat is killed by a bomb that appears to have been contained within his own artificial hand. Carter learns that "the man with the steel hand" is the fourth anti-Communist politician/diplomat to have been killed by explosions linked to planes in recent months. Their successors are all pro-Communist sympathizers. Rita Jameson is murdered and attempts are made on Carter's life indicating that the crash that killed Jameson's fiance and the murder of "the man with the steel hand" at least are connected. Government agencies around the world suspect that all 4 crashes are indeed linked and cover up the fact (prompting Jameson's independent investigation). Carter and Julia Baron are assigned to protect US Ambassador to the United Nations, Lyle Harcourt - a staunch anti-Communist - as he travels to London. On board, Carter and Baron foil a plot by a suicide bomber to set off a bomb. The would-be bomber commits suicide by poison before he can be interrogated. In London, Carter and Baron contact the US Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Henry Judson. However,they become suspicious of him when he probes the meaning of coded messages sent to Carter from AXE via the embassy. As they leave the embassy, Carter and Baron are knocked out and transported to the London hideout of Mr. Judas - an international terrorist who hires out his services to the highest bidder. He is currently employed by China to destabilise anti-Communist sentiment among world leaders. As they are about to be tortured and murdered by Mr. Judas and his sexually sadisdic henchman, Braille, they manage to escape, killing Braille and wounding Mr. Judas in the process. In revenge and to prevent Carter and Baron identifying him in future, Mr. Judas arranges to have Harcourt kidnapped, thereby forcing Carter and Baron to attend a potentially fatal meeting. Carter and Baron meet Mr. Judas to arrange Harcourt's release. Mr. Judas attempts to bribe Carter into planting a bomb on the US President's plane. After a struggle Mr. Judas is thwarted and Harcourt rescued. Mr. Judas escapes into the London fog.

Main characters

• Nick Carter (agent N-3, AXE, undercover using the assumed name Peter Cane)
• Mr Hawk (Carter’s boss, head of AXE)
• Julia Baron (US agent)
• Mr. Judas (international terrorist, Carter's foe)
• Braille (Mr. Judas’ henchman)
• Henry Judson (US Ambassador to UK)
• Lyle Harcourt (US Ambassador to the United Nations)
• Rita Jameson

Physical characteristics

In this first novel of the series, Carter is described as tall, lean and handsome with a classic profile and magnificently muscled body. He has wide-set steel gray eyes that are icy, cruel and dangerous. He is hard-faced, with a firm straight mouth, laugh-lines around the eyes, and a firm cleft chin. His hair is thick and dark. He has a small tattoo of a blue axe on the inside right lower arm near the elbow, a knife scar on the shoulder, a shrapnel scar on the right thigh. He has a sixth sense for danger. He practices yoga.

Publicity

Promotional material was quoted on the cover of the first US edition as follows:

• A new young Nick Carter is here...a suave, ruthless super-secret intelligence agent who is "the American answer to Ian Fleming's James Bond" - The Third Degree Magazine.
• What colleagues of mine from the Corps Diplomatique or Intelligence, I wonder, is the real author using the pen-name Nick Carter? These Nick Carter novels may be straight from the diaries of an American intelligence agent … or they may be the creations of some best-selling novelist’s imagination. In any case, they have the touch, and they make grand reading. Welcome to the club, Nick Carter!” Ladislas Farago, Chief, Desk X, Radio Free Europe

Trivia

• AXE is described as comprising 24 agents, including Carter (N-3). Agents A-24 and K-7 are also referred to.
• The novel is "Dedicated to The Men of the Secret Services of the United States of America."
• The novel is set in early September 1963 and involves a failed plot to assassinate the President of the United States (at the time John F. Kennedy), by planting a bomb in a plane on which he is due to travel. By the time the novel had been published in February 1964, Kennedy had indeed been murdered. The plot ringleader, Mr. Judas, escapes at the end of the novel, perhaps allowing him to fulfill his promise to Carter, "If it [the bomb plot] fails, I shall try other means."
• The initiation of the Killmaster series of novels appears to be closely linked with the cinematic success of the first James Bond movie, Dr. No. The movie premiered in the UK in October 1962 and in the US in May 1963. The cover of the first edition boasts the caption "the American answer to Ian Fleming's James Bond". The similarities to Dr. No continue. At the beginning of Run, Spy, Run - Carter is found relaxing after a successful mission in Jamaica. In Dr. No, James Bond is first sent to Jamaica to investigate the missing Strangways. In the movie, Dr. No has a pair of powerful artificial hands. In Run, Spy, Run - the villain, Mr. Judas, also has an artificial hand.
• Carter's age is not mentioned. However, it is stated that he fought in World War II and served in OSS, indicating that he must be at least 40 years of age at the time the novel is set.
• Mr. Judas reappears in several other novels in the series Fraulein Spy, Web of Spies, Danger Key, Weapon of Night, Judas Spy, Rhodesia, Sea Trap, The Human Time Bomb, Vatican Vendetta.
• Julia Baron reappears in the novels The China Doll, Fraulein Spy, Danger Key, Weapon of Night, and Time Clock of Death.

Plot errors

In Chapter 1 it is stated that Carter spent 5 years in OSS (Office of Strategic Services). The OSS existed only for 3 years (13 June 1942 to 20 September 1945) before being superseded by the CIA.