Active: 1955-75
Key works: Assignment Tokyo, Assignment Budapest, Assignment to Disaster, Assignment Suicide
Ranked 100th in the Tim Shipman Best Spy Authors List
Edward S Aarons wrote more than 80 pulp fiction thrillers, 42 of which featured CIA operative Sam Durrell. Every one of them starts with the word Assignment. The first was Assignment to Disaster. Aarons sold 23 million copies and cemented his place as author of one of the great US action paperback series. Durrell is resourceful, his creator the master of the short sharp sentence. The locations are exotic, the action fast and often violent. These aren’t great literature but they are great fun.
Edward Sidney Aarons (1916 – June 16, 1975) was an American writer, author of more than 80 novels from 1936 until 1962. One of these was under the pseudonym “Paul Ayres” (Dead Heat), and 30 were written using the name “Edward Ronns”. He also wrote numerous articles for detective magazines such as Detective Story Magazine and Scarab.
Aarons was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and earned a degree in Literature and History from Columbia University. He worked at various jobs to put himself through college, including jobs as a news reporter and fisherman. In 1933, he won a short story contest as a student. In World War II he was in the United States Coast Guard, joining after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. He finished his duty in 1945, having obtained the rank of Chief Petty Officer.
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