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Killmaster #49
Operation Che Guevara
A dead guerrilla leader kept strangely alive. Two treacherous and beautiful ladies sharing a deadly secret. And Nick Carter on his most macabre mission!
Che Guevara: The legendary hero of Latin America's terrorist guerrillas. A killer, a sadist, a madman or a hero, a saint, or savior... depending on your point of view. The world believes Che Guevara is dead. But Nick Carter Killmaster has reason to believe that the Cuban revolutionary is still alive.
Che Guevara: The legendary hero of Latin America's terrorist guerrillas. A killer, a sadist, a madman or a hero, a saint, or savior... depending on your point of view. The world believes Che Guevara is dead. But Nick Carter Killmaster has reason to believe that the Cuban revolutionary is still alive.
154 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1969
About the author
Nick Carter
1,086 books48 followersNick Carter is a house pseudonym used by Award, Ace, and later Jove, publishing for the series Nick Carter who later graduated to a special agent for the Killmaster novels, a series of 261+ spy adventures published from 1964 until late 1990s.
A great number of writers have written under the pen-name over the years, beginning in September 1886 when Nick Carter first appeared in the 'New York Weekly' in a 13-week serial, entitled 'The Old Detective's Pupil; or, The Mysterious Crime of Madison Square'.
The Nick Carter character was originally conceived by Ormond G. Smith, the son of one of the founders of Street & Smith, and realized by John R. Coryell.
A great number of writers have written under the pen-name over the years, beginning in September 1886 when Nick Carter first appeared in the 'New York Weekly' in a 13-week serial, entitled 'The Old Detective's Pupil; or, The Mysterious Crime of Madison Square'.
The Nick Carter character was originally conceived by Ormond G. Smith, the son of one of the founders of Street & Smith, and realized by John R. Coryell.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 11, 2021
I read Killmaster novels when I was a kid, a lengthy catalog (apparently over 250) of pulp Cold War spy novels. Written by different authors, they all were about Nick Carter, a spy in the ultrasecret AXE agency in the United States. Carter was extremely intelligent, strong, handsome (he has sex constantly, which sometimes gets very close to rape), good at everything, and embodied racism and toxic masculinity (very similar to James Bond).
I stumbled across a reference to some of the novels that focused on Latin America, and Cold War U.S.-Latin American relations was more than I could resist. In Operation Che Guevara, published in 1969, we learn that Che was not really killed by the CIA. Instead, he pretended to die and escaped. Someone had sent AXE his hand, which apparently Che had sacrificed to make the story more believable. He put a hook on there, called himself El Garfio (The Hook) and went about his business like a guerrilla pirate.
I was mostly interested in the portrayal of Bolivia. The author sprinkled in some appropriate Spanish words, including some referring to Bolivian food, and it surprised me they went to that trouble. They did make the classic undergraduate mistake of referring to coca as “cocoa,” though. Carter is, naturally, perfectly fluent in idiomatic Bolivian Spanish (and German).
Bolivian women exist to have sex with him. That’s really it. Every Bolivian man in the novel is corrupt, a killer, or both. Che himself, Carter, ruminates is a “cold-blooded, deadly fanatic with no regard for human life” (p. 134). Carter thinks this after happily killing scores of people. Because of his own narcissism, he also demands that no one else but him get to kill Che.
In a way, this perfectly describes U.S. Cold War policy toward Latin America. Once you portray Communists as inhuman and Latin Americans as corrupt, you rationalize the United States using covert action to kill people and demanding to be in charge. It never occurred to Nick Carter, or to many policy makers, that it should be any other way.
I stumbled across a reference to some of the novels that focused on Latin America, and Cold War U.S.-Latin American relations was more than I could resist. In Operation Che Guevara, published in 1969, we learn that Che was not really killed by the CIA. Instead, he pretended to die and escaped. Someone had sent AXE his hand, which apparently Che had sacrificed to make the story more believable. He put a hook on there, called himself El Garfio (The Hook) and went about his business like a guerrilla pirate.
I was mostly interested in the portrayal of Bolivia. The author sprinkled in some appropriate Spanish words, including some referring to Bolivian food, and it surprised me they went to that trouble. They did make the classic undergraduate mistake of referring to coca as “cocoa,” though. Carter is, naturally, perfectly fluent in idiomatic Bolivian Spanish (and German).
Bolivian women exist to have sex with him. That’s really it. Every Bolivian man in the novel is corrupt, a killer, or both. Che himself, Carter, ruminates is a “cold-blooded, deadly fanatic with no regard for human life” (p. 134). Carter thinks this after happily killing scores of people. Because of his own narcissism, he also demands that no one else but him get to kill Che.
In a way, this perfectly describes U.S. Cold War policy toward Latin America. Once you portray Communists as inhuman and Latin Americans as corrupt, you rationalize the United States using covert action to kill people and demanding to be in charge. It never occurred to Nick Carter, or to many policy makers, that it should be any other way.
August 4, 2025
"Tell El Garfio his days are numbered," I said. "Tell him that men of vengeance hunt his soul here in the mountains, led by an American." - Nick Carter to an enemy combatant
It is 1969 and the US counter-intelligence agents working for AXE have found evidence that the socialist rebel leader Che Guevera's death in Bolivia may have been faked. Guevera, having lost an arm in captivity, is now said to still be working there under the moniker El Garfio, "the Hook." Superagent Nick Carter goes undercover as an arms dealer to find Guevera and kill him.
This is the 49th installment of the Nick Carter Killmaster series and I couldn't figure out which of the ghost-writers for Award Books is responsible for penning this episode. Nick Carter the author is a pseudonym used by several authors writing for the series, with Nick Carter also being the name of the protagonist character, an American version of James Bond. These stories have adult content.
Verdict: "Operation Che Guevara" (1969) is kind of a lame and silly adventure with some over-the-top adult content but gets a bonus point just for the awesome climactic fight pitting Nick Carter against a hook-armed Che Guevara in the Bolivian jungle.
Jeff's Rating: 3 / 5 (Good)
movie rating if made into a movie: R
It is 1969 and the US counter-intelligence agents working for AXE have found evidence that the socialist rebel leader Che Guevera's death in Bolivia may have been faked. Guevera, having lost an arm in captivity, is now said to still be working there under the moniker El Garfio, "the Hook." Superagent Nick Carter goes undercover as an arms dealer to find Guevera and kill him.
This is the 49th installment of the Nick Carter Killmaster series and I couldn't figure out which of the ghost-writers for Award Books is responsible for penning this episode. Nick Carter the author is a pseudonym used by several authors writing for the series, with Nick Carter also being the name of the protagonist character, an American version of James Bond. These stories have adult content.
Verdict: "Operation Che Guevara" (1969) is kind of a lame and silly adventure with some over-the-top adult content but gets a bonus point just for the awesome climactic fight pitting Nick Carter against a hook-armed Che Guevara in the Bolivian jungle.
Jeff's Rating: 3 / 5 (Good)
movie rating if made into a movie: R
February 26, 2016
A nice rewrite of an old Pulp character. Recast more in the James Bond spy mode. Good quick men's adventure read. If you are looking for some fast paced action and adventure then this is a recommended read.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews