Customer Reviews

Knight Templar

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4 star:		(3)
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If you already have The Avenging Saint, don't get this book. The publisher just changed the book's name and cover.

You may want to read "The Last Hero" before reading this book in order to really understand the background of this story.

The story starts with Simon Templar returning to England to revenge the death of a friend. Revenge isn't easy if every member of Scotland Yard is trying to arrest you for murder and other crimes. Simon soon learns he is the only person who can stop a major European war. Can Simon bash the villians, stop their war, and avoid arrest? Not quite; he only manages to achieve two of these objectives.

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.

I liked the book for being different from the normal Saint stories. The plot is wide and it makes you think. The Saint plays a more thoughtful role in this story as he can't make a false move. He knows that he is the only one who knows anything about a coming war and he is the only one who can stop it. Actually, that's what I liked about this book. The Saint didn't do anything remotely rash in this book.

This is a strange novel. I can point out a lot of defects of this novel; the style is old-fashioned and too figurative; the story is also old-fashioned; the plot is easy and crude. Nevertheless, I LIKE THIS NOVEL. It has some inexplainable charm that fascinates me. It may be partly because of a charm of the hero, Simon Templar, alias the Saint.

I didn't know this "Knight Templar (alias The Avenging Saint)" was a continuation to "The Last Hero". I will read the previous story, too.