Edward S. Aarons Character Analysis

Edward S. Aarons was an American novelist best known for writing the Assignment series of novels. He also wrote under the pseudonyms Edward Ronns and Paul Ayres and also under his real name publishing more than 80 novels of which about half were in the assignment series over nearly four decades of writing. He also penned several numerous short stories for Scarab and Detective Story Magazine. While he wrote other short stories over the years, his assignment series was his most popular work as they were published across the world and translated into nearly twenty languages. S. Aarons series of novels featured Sam Durell a CIA agent and the lead protagonist that made his first appearance in Assignment to Disaster that was published in 1955. Aaron
Aarons Assignment series of novels has Sam Durell a fictional CIA agent as the lead protagonist through all the forty plus novels of the series. Durell is a Yale educated CIA agent code name Cajun given that he was brought up on the values of the Cajun people that taught him to be independent and self-reliant. He once served in the OSS during World War II before he moved to the United States to become a highly valued member of the CIA. Sam is a tall man tending at more than six feet with a lean waist, heavy set shoulders and the hands of a gambler. He has dark thick hair that complement his deep blue eyes that often turn black when he is contemplating some dangerous plan or simply angry. Given his Cajun upbringing he loves to work independently and many who work with him find him hot tempered. As one of the best the CIA has he is assigned to a secretive branch of the NSA with offices in a nondescript residential area of Washington D.C. for complete anonymity. Given his many accomplishments he is on the radar of many foreign intelligence services across the world most of which are red tagged with kill on sight. Sam became such a beloved character that it is believed that he forms the basis for the James Bond character so popular in later contemporary movies. The series is also known as the Sam Durell series even though the official name listed as Assignment series and later editions referred to the novels simply as Sam Durell. While they can be listed in alphabetical or numerical order of when they were published, each novel in the series may be read as a standalone. Most of the novels have their own plot lines though some incidents and characters from previous novels may recur. Most of the novels will typically have the lead protagonist in a foreign country where he faces up to a series of challenges, best the shadowy villain, and wins a lady’s