Wednesday, February 07, 2007

The Xanadu Talisman -- Peter O'Donnell

What could be more fun to read than a Modesty Blaise novel? Hardly anything, if you're in the right mood. This one's kicked off by an incredible coincidence, and in the first 8 pages Modesty has to deal with "an earthquake, entombment, a fight with a killer, and an attempt to save a stranger from bleeding to death." Top that, if you can.

As we all know, no good deed goes unpunished, and saving the stranger leads Modesty into all sorts of difficulties, all of them entertaining, to wit: homicidal twins, an evil nannie mastermind, flamethrowers, a panther, fights to the death, deeply buried memories, a treasure beyond price, and more derring-do than you can shake a whip at. There's also another incredible coincidence, but in a book like this that kind of thing doesn't bother me in the least.

Peter O'Donnell is an outrageously entertaining writer, and he whisks you from one exotic setting to another with the ease of a born storyteller. I have only four or five Modesty Blaise novels, so I have to space them out carefully. If you're lucky enough to have one that you haven't read, now might be the time.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's the kind of book cover the world needs.

Unknown said...

And it's a hardback!