The Eliminator (Jonas Wilde #1)

Author: Andrew York (aka Christopher Nicole)

First Published: 1966

Pages: 196

In my last blog I reviewed the first Jonathan Anders novel Operation Destruct by Christoper Nicole. This book was aimed at the young adult market in the early seventies. It sparked my interest in Nicole's other work and pretty quickly I landed upon a series of espionage novels he wrote under the pen name of Andrew York (one of Nicole's many many pseudonyms) that involve the character of British spy Jonas Wilde.

There are nine books in the series, all of the with very similar titles ending in "..ator", such as The Dominator, The Predator, The Deviator etc. Published regularly between the years of 1966 and 1975, ending with final book, The Facinator. They were published in the U.S. by Berkley Medallion Books with some great artwork covers. I could not find any U.S. Berkley version of the The Eliminator other than the film tie-in pictured below. If anyone has a copy, I'd love to see it?


In the previous blog I gave some background to author Nicole. There are some interesting connections from his personal history, and to the Jonathan Anders books that show up in The Eliminator. For instance I get the feeling that Nicole is a keen chess player as both Wilde and Anders are players, as are some of their nemeses. Nicole lived on the Channel Island of Guernsey. The same island plays a part in the first half of Operation Destruct, and plays a huge part in The Eliminator. Additionally there is a section at the beginning of this book that takes place in the Caribbean, and we have a significant event of the plot taking place in Georgetown, Guyana which is Nicole's birthplace.

Jonas Wilde came off the back of the James Bond explosion mid-60s. With this series it feels that Nicole is molding a slightly less flamboyant version of Bond for his hero, Wilde. Jonas goes to exotic locations; Guyana and Barbados are mention in this opener. But he also tempers this with more down to earth English settings, Weymouth, Lymington and the aforementioned Guernsey. Wilde is a deadly killer, known within his organisation and other circles as "the eliminator", but he eschews the use of guns - his hands are the weapons (as gloriously depicted in the U.S. covers) with which he dishes out killing blows to his "targets". His one flamboyant touch is his love of cocktails. Wilde loves to drink cocktails at every opportunity.

He has an exotic background, born in Santiago, Chile to mixed parents, one American and the other British. We also discover that Wilde was recruited by the British Intelligence service following his military service in the Commandos in Korea. It seems that he could have gone far, but each time he was in the frame for promotion he would blow it - details are brief but it seems our protagonist is a bit of a loose canon. He becomes an off the record assassin for Britain, his job so secret not even politicians know of his existence.

The plot of The Eliminator begins with two men meeting in a seedy porno theatre discussing Wilde. It seems that the eliminator needs to be eliminated himself. They agree to set him up, and it is made clear that a woman will do the dirty deed.

We then skip to the Barbados and join Jonas on his latest assignment to kill a Mr Hartman. Wilde uses women, he uses them a lot - especially to get close to his targets. This time is no different, he is dating Hartman's daughter and is invited to go night fishing. We get a feel for his modus operandi; multiple identities, bedding the women and killing swiftly and effectively with his bare hands. It's a great opening section.

The action moves back to the Channel Island, Guernsey and the Route (hence the film adaptation being titled "Danger Route"). The Route is the way that Wilde is able to travel anonymously into and out of the U.K. Acting as the part owner of a Boat Building Company he can disappear on sea trips to all intents and purposes - but this is just cover to enable him to whisk off to his foreign hits.

Back in England Jonas is given his next target. He isn't even given time to enjoy himself with his recent new girlfriend Jocelyn - he must take out a Russian germ-warfare expert, Stalitz, but in the U.K. This is highly unusual, and Wilde is suspicious but obedient and sets out to complete his assignment. Of course, as the reader you know something is seriously up, and there is a hitman/woman possibly around every corner waiting for him.

The Eliminator was a very enjoyable book. I finished the second half of the book in one afternoon. Although the book was a little slow in its first half, once the hit in England is underway the story really steps up a notch and becomes very engaging indeed. Wilde, although being quite emotionless when it comes to killing, is quite sensitive. He takes advantage of women (in more ways than one) but is not sadistic or brutal (all the time). The books sets up a number of female adversaries to keep you guessing. I was impressed with Nicole's prose and dialogue, it is still very evocative of the time period - there were brand names, colours and other contemporary references that keep it grounded to its source, and I enjoyed that more than I thought.

These books are not typical Men's Action, or indeed Spy fiction - if you are expecting lots of gun action, thrills and spills, you may be disappointed here. However it delivers a different take, one which covers a more seedy espionage atmosphere in the vein of Callan or a slightly less cerebral Harry Palmer.

A film was made in 1967, starring Richard Johnson, Carol Lynley and others. I have not seen the movie, but fron what I have read it is not regarded very well, and takes some liberties with the original plot.

Personally, I recommend The Eliminator. I will be reading more of Jonas Wilde. I purchased the eBook from amazon for £5.98. A bit on the pricey side for me. There are currently only two other Wilde books in eBook format, published by Ostara Publishing under their "Top Notch Thriller" banner. I hope they are going to complete the nine book series?

[I've noticed that one of the Jonas Wilde books, The Infiltrator, was published in the U.S. and numbered as No.1 in the series. I think this might be a way of infiltrating the current trend of the day rather than a mistake (forgive the pun).]