He's very good at dragging you into the story at once! Was it the "Retief" collection? Those are my favorites of his work. Even better than the dystopias.
I don't even have the protagonist's name yet! Strangely, the fellow who wrote the preface refers to Laumer as a "journeyman" writer. It's too early to really say, but, so far, if Laumer is a journeyman, them most writers are just hacks. 'Course most writers probably are just hacks, but still.