Customer Reviews

The Saint steps in

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This is one of the mid-era Saint novels. I like the 1930's ones better, so I only give this 4 stars.

At the beginning of this book, the Saint already knows Hamilton, the U.S. is already in WWII, and Simon has to solve a mystery surrounding an inventor and his lovely daughter.

It's a good page-turner. No Patricia, no Hoppy Uniatz, Simon is on his own to save a beautiful damsel and solve a mystery nobody but Simon could solve.

I would love it if other readers of the delightful Leslie Charteris could include copyright dates in their reviews! It would help me finish out my collection and remember which ones are my favorites to read for the 3rd or 4th time!

Perhaps the dreariest of the full-length Saint novels.

Of the wartime stories, Charteris said (perfectly reasonably) that 1) to be at all credible, the Saint's contribution to the war effort had to be minuscule, and 2) he didn't want the Saint doing things more heroic than many ordinary people were doing every day in real life.

Certainly it would be farcical to have (for instance) Simon breaking into the Berghof and punching Hitler on the nose. Even so, it seems bizarre that a skilled pilot who can pass for German (as he does in Getaway) should be spending his time trying to get attention for a formula for artificial rubber, as he does here*.

Charteris's writing never falls below a certain minimum level of competence, and the villains don't quite descend to the "Ve haff vays of making you talk" level, but this is just plain dull.

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

*Indeed, in a couple of post-war stories (e.g. "The Covetous Headsman") there are passing references (no more) to wartime exploits in Europe.