Customer Reviews

The Avenging Saint

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Although the Saint books are definitely best if read in the right order, most of them - especially the later ones - can be read in isolation without great loss. The present book, the direct sequel to The Last Hero, is the exception.

Once again arms-dealer Rayt Marius is plotting to start a war to increase demand for his products, and once again Simon and his friends frustrate his major plan. But of course, Marius has a second string to his bow, and the climax of "Knight Templar" is the most electrifying in any Saint book (and, incidentally, provides the mechanism whereby Simon is able to continue on through thirty-three more rather than spending the next forty years in gaol).

Crown Prince Rudolf, my very favourite villain, who only comes on stage towards the end of the earlier opus, appears early here in the tale of the Desecrated Royal Toothpaste.

BTW, the titles of ten of the Saint books were later - confusingly - changed, as follows:

01: Meet the Tiger -> The Saint Meets the Tiger

03: The Last Hero -> The Saint Closes the Case

04: Knight Templar -> The Avenging Saint

07: She Was A Lady -> The Saint Meets His Match

08: The Holy Terror -> The Saint vs. Scotland Yard

10: Once More the Saint -> The Saint and Mr. Teal

12: The Misfortunes of Mr. Teal -> The Saint in London

13: Boodle -> The Saint Intervenes

18: Thieves Picnic -> The Saint Bids Diamonds

19: Prelude for War -> The Saint Plays With Fire

The fatuity of the revised titles is nowhere more evident than with the present book and its antecedent: in "The Last Hero" the Saint does not close the case, and in "Knight Templar" the one thing he does not do is avenge the death of Norman Kent.

P.S. For a list of -- and discussion of -- all Charteris's Saint books, see my So You'd Like To... Guide.