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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Thoroughly entertaining thriller, May 30, 2002
The Modesty Blaise books, including _Sabre Tooth_, are fairly clearly written to fit the James Bond spy thriller genre, with the key difference that the hero is a woman, Modesty Blaise. Also unlike Bond, she's a former criminal, and she's only unofficially attached to British intelligence. But such aspects of the series as love of neat gadgets, sex, and a certain romantic view of intelligence work, especially British intelligence work, definitely recall the Ian Fleming books. Modesty's backstory is that as a child (she was perhaps born in Greece) she was orphaned and forced to walk thousands of miles to survive, along the way encountering hunger and rape and learning to rely totally on herself. While still a teen she founded an international crime organization called "The Network", and later she rescued a brilliant criminal from a Thai jail, Willie Garvin, and brought him back to psychological health. At the time of the books, Modesty is somewhere in her late 20s, and Willie a few years older. They have retired from crime with a fortune. They remain a dedicated two-person team, and Modesty loves Willie, while Willie worships Modesty (whom he calls Princess). In neither case is the love sexual at all, however. Both are brilliant athletes and martial artists, Modesty is the better with firearms, Willie with knives, Modesty the better schemer, Willie the genius tinkerer. Though they are portrayed very well, they are clearly "superheroes", not realistic. But that's OK. The other main recurring character seems to be Sir Gerald Tarrant, an obscure British bureaucrat who actually heads a certain branch of UK intelligence. Tarrant is able to get Modesty and Willie to assist him, partly by being a friend, and honest, and partly by offering challenging work. In this book a mercenary team is being assembled in a remote valley in the Hindu Kush. The team is run by a merciless leader called Karz, and we are introduced to several of his conscience-deprived deputies, most notably a pair of Siamese Twins, called "The Twins", who are formidable fighters as a team, but who hate each other when they are not fighting. (This too echoes Fleming: the mastermind with his brutal henchman). Tarrant gets wind of a possible plot to take over Kuwait, to loot the oil money. He doesn't know who's doing it, but he does notice that a lot of well-known mercenaries have disappeared, so he assumes they are being assembled into an army. He intuits that the army will need leaders, who are very rare, so he manages to convince Modesty and Willie to feign a desire to get back into the "business", as their capabilities are so well-known that they will surely be approached. They do so, but they miscalculate the types of persuasion Karz will be able to use on them, and they find themselves in a situation where they have a terrible choice: they may have to actually go through with Karz' plans. It's terrifically exciting stuff. Thoroughly unrealistic, in character, technology, and in the over-the-top villainy and pride of the bad guys which of course contributes to their ultimate failure. (I hope no one thinks that a spoiler!) But that's all part of the genre -- and this is a wonderful example of the genre. I was gripped from the start, and there are numerous delightful scenes, and some real tension.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent read..., June 9, 2007
Peter O'Donnell's Modesty Blaise books are, in their way, elegant. They are, of course, thrilling, but the real attraction for me is the relationship between Modesty and Willie Garvin. Some might call Willie Modesty's right-hand man, but that description's not entirely accurate. They are equals who work extremely well together (the escape from the villa in Lisbon in this novel is a suspenseful example) and who care for eachother deeply, but not in a romantic way.
Sabre-Tooth is the second in the series. In it, many of the world's most notable mercenaries have disappeared off British Intelligence's radar. Modesty and Willie are enlisted to infiltrate and destroy the organization which has employed the mercenaries. First, though, they have to make it seem as if the master criminal Modesty Blaise has fallen, lost her fortune and is desperate for work. There are several great action set-pieces, some great banter between the leads and more of the exploration of Modesty's past, before she was a free-lance secret agent. In all an excellent read, and I'm looking forward to getting caught up to the four or five I haven't read.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"All right, Princess, let's go an' win it.", June 26, 2005
Willie Garvin, Modesty's loyal partner, makes the above statement just as he and Modesty are about to set out on what becomes an incredibly harrowing and dangerous caper. Willie makes this statement to Modesty (who he calls "Princess") at a time when he and Modesty have already been dealt a severe blow - they have just discovered that they are not only fighting for themselves and the need to save the world, but must fight for the life of an innocent child who is dear to them. This makes it of utmost importance that they have to defeat the bad guys.
"Sabre-Tooth" is the second book in the Modesty Blaise series of books and was written by Peter O'Donnell in 1966. It is a direct sequel to the first book, with Sir Gerald Tarrant of the British Foreign Service sending Modesty and Willie out on another dangerous mission.
As usual for a Modesty Blaise adventure the bad guys are bigger than life and extremely nasty. Karz, the huge Mongol who has assembled an army of mercenaries in northern Afghanistan, is totally ruthless, but still not the most fascinating of the villains.
That honor must go to "The Twins", a grotesque pair of killers who hate each other's guts but must endure each other's constant proximity to avoid insanity. This is because The Twins were once Siamese twins, and even though they were successfully separated, the separation was not viable due to a mutual psychological dependency. Now The Twins wear a harness that joins them at the shoulders, and they spend every minute of their lives linked together.
The high point of "Sabre-Tooth" is the fight to the death between Modesty and The Twins. How can Modesty, completely unarmed, survive in a fight against a four-legged, four-armed, two-headed killing machine?
The plot of "Sabre-Tooth" is fascinating, especially seen in retrospect after Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Peter O'Donnell's premise was that oil-rich Kuwait was a plum for the taking, and that in 1966 Kuwait's military defenses were such that they could not withstand a surprise attack by an army of ruthless mercenaries with the amazing firepower of modern weapons.
The story of how Modesty and Willie infiltrate Karz' army of mercenaries and their attempts to derail the attack on Kuwait is developed with a sure hand. Peter O'Donnell shows himself once again to be a master storyteller.
In this book we are introduced to the American businessman John Dall, a recurring figure in many of the later Modesty books. Willie Garvin's fondness for obscure English words is also presented, another recurring element in the series.
In my opinion "Sabre-Tooth" is one of the best books in the Modesty Blaise series, and well worth five stars. The unique and powerful relationship between Modesty and Willie is presented in a wonderful way, and their forcefulness and drive in the face of huge odds is also great.
If I had to mention a couple of negative factors it would have to be the minor inconsistencies that a good editor should have caught. For example, Mr. Vaubois, head of the French secret service, is referred to as Léon Vaubois in the first half of the book and as René Vaubois in the last half. Similarly, one of the bad guys is referred to as both "Chief Recruiting Officer" and "Chief Security Officer" - on the same page, no less.
A few more negatives: Modesty and Willie spend so much time smoking that they come across as nicotine addicts. And the book, like all of the Modesty books, is too short.
Highly recommended; both this book in particular and the Modesty Blaise series in general, especially the first six or seven books in the series.
Incidentally, you may wish to take a look at my "So You'd Like To" guide about books by Peter O'Donnell. It includes a link to my MSN group about Modesty Blaise where you can find more information about this whole series of books and an article entitled "Why I love the Modesty Blaise books".
Rennie Petersen
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