My Weekly Book

2007 Reading Challenge: Book 63

When I was talking about Modesty Blaise stories a few entries back, I pointed out that to read them you had to be prepared to believe six impossible things before breakfast. Well, this book is constructed around one of them – the idea that one of the protagonists has genuine, reliable and unforced psychic powers, probably best described as a form of precognition.

This is a subject that clearly interests O’Donnell greatly as it frequently crops up in the books in a multitude of ways from Willie Garvin’ sense that trouble is on the horizon that manifests semi-humorously in his ears prickling to Sir Gerald Tarrant’s entirely accurate hunch that the disappearance of a large amount of mercenaries from general circulation means that someone, somewhere is collecting them up for nefarious purposes.

If the notion of a plot predicated on belief in precognition doesn’t bother you too much, then the rest of the book should be a treat. Modesty stumbles across one end of the caper after having to save the life of a dear friend, the head of French intelligence, when he is attacked by a band of hired killers. As her and Willie’s attention turns to sorting out who on earth is trying to kill him, Tarrant is able to get information that leads our heroes to a former trusted member of their own organisation The Network now doing hard labour in a Yugoslav prison camp.

He is able to provide a name that takes them on towards a Scandinavian island to check the lie of the land – and it looks like a piece of clever deception by Modesty will serve up the solution to their puzzle on a plate. Until a desperately unfortunate coincidence blows her plan wide-open. She is taken prisoner and, while Willie searches for a way to free her, she becomes more deeply entangled in the villains’ schemes than she could ever have envisaged – and has to attempt a coup in order to get herself and those she cares about out of danger.

This, I am told, is vying for the title of ‘best Modesty Blaise novel’ and, on what I’ve read so far, I wouldn’t argue with that. It’s got a much-needed lighter tone after the grimness of Sabre Tooth and a difference of scale in its plot which is also rather important. It’s funny, offbeat and has just the right balance of action, romance and danger. It also creates two of the most grotesque villains ever to grace the pages of a novel. A welcome addition to the series and a very good read.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 12th, 2008 at 12:17 PM and is filed under 2007 reading challenge, Reads I recommend. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.