My Weekly Book

This, the penultimate book in the Modesty Blaise series, is most notable for the really striking change of tone that sets it apart from the other volumes - and, purists may say, not always to the good.

The problem lies in the 20-year gap between the conception of the series and the writing of this book. The world had changed considerably since the early sixties, especially in the areas of crime and law enforcement. Characters that had started their careers in a world of gentleman (and lady) jewel and art thieves, criminals with strict codes of morality and all the delights of fashionable London society for those of independent means to enjoy now find themselves in a different world entirely.

In 1983 - the year in which The Night of Morningstar was published - Peter O’Donnell was competing for readers with thrillers such as Ken Follett’s On Wings of Eagles, dealing with the events of the Iranian revolution, John Le Carré’s The Little Drummer Girl, based on Middle Eastern espionage wars, and John Gardner’s Icebreaker, which features James Bond caught in the middle of a team of agents from the CIA, Mossad and the KGB, all intent on double-crossing each other.

No wonder Modesty and Willie, fresh from adventures with fabled treasures, corrupt Saudi princelings and terrifying English nannies, must now find themselves mixing it with international terrorists, compromised CIA agents, political conspiracies and communist plots. It is arguable, although incredibly sad to have to do it, that the series by this point is simply out of its time. And this may well, in fact, explain why it was the penultimate of the novels and why the ultimate one is such a wholehearted return to the themes of the series’ heyday.

Having said all this, I’d hate to give the impression that it’s a bad book. On the contrary, it’s exciting and tightly-plotted, sends the characters into horrible danger and keeps the tension going right until the very end. The problem is that the feel is so different - there are incidents of really unpleasant violence and much of the book lacks the redeeming humour and transcendent power of human nature which generally make the nastier scenes in the other novels bearable.

If you like Modesty Blaise’s adventures then you’ll probably want to read this just because there’s only a limited amount of reading matter available. And if you like thrillers you’ll probably enjoy it as a pretty good example of the genre. But somehow, in trying to be both, it’s not fully satisfactory as either.

Tags: caper fiction, Modesty Blaise, Peter O'Donnell, thrillers

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 29th, 2008 at 11:02 am and is filed under 2008 reading challenge. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.