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Modesty Blaise #5
The Impossible Virgin
Mischa Novikov died trying to preserve his discovery of the Impossible Virgin, a secret that meant enormous wealth. But right at the last moment, he babbled. When Modesty makes a forced landing in Central Africa, she meets the man who possesses Novikov's secret without knowing it — Giles Pennyfeather, the guileless and blundering young doctor with a gift for healing. In saving Giles from Brunel, a dangerous killer, she buys yet another ticket to danger, for Brunel is determined to have the secret. Modesty and her lieutenant, Willie Garvin, take on Brunel and his partners in a fierce and devious battle, where Modesty is brought to the most shattering reverse she has ever suffered. How she fights back, and at last learns the truth of the Impossible Virgin and her ferocious guardians, brings this fifth tale in the saga of Modesty Blaise to an astonishing climax.
272 pages, Paperback
First published March 9, 1973
3 people are currently reading
335 people want to read
About the author
Peter O'Donnell
373 books116 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Peter O'Donnell also wrote as Madeleine Brent.
http://www.cs.umu.se/~kenth/modesty.html
is an excellent resource on this author.
To help keep the novels and the adventure strip collections separate, here's some info about the Modesty Blaise works.
In 1963, O'Donnell began his 38-year run as writer of the Modesty Blaise adventure story strip, which appeared six days a week in English and Scottish newspapers. He retired the strip in 2001.
Each strip story took 18-20 weeks to complete. Several publishers over the years have attempted to collect these stories in large softcovers. Titan Publishing is currently in the process of bringing them all out in large-format softcover, with 2-3 stories in each books. These are called "graphic novels" in the Goodreads title.
Meanwhile, during those 38 years, O'Donnell also wrote 13 books about Modesty Blaise: 11 novels and 2 short story/novella collections. These stories are not related to the strip stories; they are not novelizations of strip stories. They are entirely new, though the characters and "lives" are the same. These have been labeled "series #0".
There is a large article on Peter O'Donnell on Wikipedia, with a complete bibliography.
Peter O'Donnell also wrote as Madeleine Brent.
http://www.cs.umu.se/~kenth/modesty.html
is an excellent resource on this author.
To help keep the novels and the adventure strip collections separate, here's some info about the Modesty Blaise works.
In 1963, O'Donnell began his 38-year run as writer of the Modesty Blaise adventure story strip, which appeared six days a week in English and Scottish newspapers. He retired the strip in 2001.
Each strip story took 18-20 weeks to complete. Several publishers over the years have attempted to collect these stories in large softcovers. Titan Publishing is currently in the process of bringing them all out in large-format softcover, with 2-3 stories in each books. These are called "graphic novels" in the Goodreads title.
Meanwhile, during those 38 years, O'Donnell also wrote 13 books about Modesty Blaise: 11 novels and 2 short story/novella collections. These stories are not related to the strip stories; they are not novelizations of strip stories. They are entirely new, though the characters and "lives" are the same. These have been labeled "series #0".
There is a large article on Peter O'Donnell on Wikipedia, with a complete bibliography.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
November 1, 2017
This book was actually published by Doubleday in 1971 and not as the description states.
April 12, 2011
Modesty Blaise stories are my very favorite escapist reading. She would surely kick James Bond's ass.
January 9, 2008
While making an emergency stopover in Rwanda Modesty Blaise meets Giles Pennyfeather, a slightly dotty medical practitioner with an almost uncanny knack for healing his patients under the most dire of conditions. During her time with Pennyfeather, Modesty serves as his nurse — and later much more — and they soon find themselves accosted by two vicious thugs, Adrian Chance and Jacko Muktar, who seek to shake down the doctor for any information he may have gleaned from Novikov, a Soviet defector with a lucrative secret. The problem is Novikov died after escaping grueling torture at the hands of Chance, and Pennyfeather may have inadvertantly overheard him babble the one bit of information vital to the plans of the thugs' master, a diminutive and icily evil international criminal named Brunel. Of course Modesty kicks Chance and Jacko's asses like a motherfucker, humilitaing them mercilessly, but lets them live after stranding them miles from civilization, a huge error in judgement that comes back to kick her ass — along with the collective ass of Pennyfeather and her right-hand man, Willie Garvin — in a way that makes most of her previous brushes with death or worse pale by comparison...
That's just the setup for a majorly harrowing adventure, a story that puts both Modesty and Willie to some serious tests of all of their many skills, and even if you're a fan of the series and know for a fact that Willie is the co-lead in every book in this series, there's a sequence that will have you on the edge of your seat and believing along with Modesty that Willie has been taken out of the picture once and for all; I mean, what else could you possibly think if you witnessed your best friend engage in savage combat, while strapped to a steel chair no less, and escaping from a straight jacket as he gets thrown out of a plane flying at three thousand feet, sans parachute? I won't say anymore, but Willie's missing for about the next third of the book, and when he shows up in the nick of time, his explanation of how he cheated death is so ludicrous and over-the-top that you have believe every hilarious word of Willie's account.
And speaking of hilarity, there's a great bit in which Modesty and Willie decide to steal some vital stolen documents from Brunel because their sale would lead to the inevitable sacking of their pal Sir Gerald Tarrant from his position in the secret service, and they just can't let that happen (plus Modesty wants to give the papers to Sir Gerald as a surprise birthday present). After days of intense scrutiny of the defenses in and around Brunel's London home our heroes determine there's absolutely no way to break in without tripping all manner of alrams and getting shot in the process at the very least, even given their world class talents, so they come up with a plan both brilliant in its simplicity and downright sidesplitting in its audacity. I won't tell you how they pull it off, but it's so simple that you'd never think of it, and when it happens you'll smack yourself in the head for not thinking of something so obvious.
Simply put, the heroes are in top form, the villains are among the most heinous human vermin ever to (dis)grace the prose page, and the supporting characters, Pennyfeather and the cruelly abused albino Lisa, are worthy of books in and of themselves. And, no, I'm not going to tell you what the title refers to. RECOMMENDED.
That's just the setup for a majorly harrowing adventure, a story that puts both Modesty and Willie to some serious tests of all of their many skills, and even if you're a fan of the series and know for a fact that Willie is the co-lead in every book in this series, there's a sequence that will have you on the edge of your seat and believing along with Modesty that Willie has been taken out of the picture once and for all; I mean, what else could you possibly think if you witnessed your best friend engage in savage combat, while strapped to a steel chair no less, and escaping from a straight jacket as he gets thrown out of a plane flying at three thousand feet, sans parachute? I won't say anymore, but Willie's missing for about the next third of the book, and when he shows up in the nick of time, his explanation of how he cheated death is so ludicrous and over-the-top that you have believe every hilarious word of Willie's account.
And speaking of hilarity, there's a great bit in which Modesty and Willie decide to steal some vital stolen documents from Brunel because their sale would lead to the inevitable sacking of their pal Sir Gerald Tarrant from his position in the secret service, and they just can't let that happen (plus Modesty wants to give the papers to Sir Gerald as a surprise birthday present). After days of intense scrutiny of the defenses in and around Brunel's London home our heroes determine there's absolutely no way to break in without tripping all manner of alrams and getting shot in the process at the very least, even given their world class talents, so they come up with a plan both brilliant in its simplicity and downright sidesplitting in its audacity. I won't tell you how they pull it off, but it's so simple that you'd never think of it, and when it happens you'll smack yourself in the head for not thinking of something so obvious.
Simply put, the heroes are in top form, the villains are among the most heinous human vermin ever to (dis)grace the prose page, and the supporting characters, Pennyfeather and the cruelly abused albino Lisa, are worthy of books in and of themselves. And, no, I'm not going to tell you what the title refers to. RECOMMENDED.
September 14, 2021
I started reading the Modesty Blaise thriller / adventure series in 2014 when I found most of the books at a local Rotary Club Book sale and thought they might be worth trying. Think of James Bond and other spy series and you've got Modesty Blaise, except in this case the hero is a fascinating, larger-then-life woman. In an earlier life, Modesty ran one of the most successful crime syndicates in the world, along with her right hand man, Willie Garvin, but by the time the series starts, she has closed the syndicate down and is living a retired life in England, sometimes helping the head of a UK secret service department, Sir Geoffrey Tarrant, deal with 'malcontents' around the world. They are always fantastical adventures but also entertaining, page - turners.
In this 5th book, Modesty is flying down to South Africa for business when she makes a stopover in Central Africa and ends up helping a somewhat hapless doctor, Giles Pennyfeather, work with the natives. Just before she arrived, a man (a Russian) straggled into the camp, obviously having been tortured, and he died before Pennyfeather could save him. Two men show up to force Pennyfeather to disclose what the Russian (Novikov) told him. Modesty deals with them quite satisfactorily and escapes with Pennyfeather back to London, where he begins to live with her.
Ultimately, this story will result in a major confrontation with Monsieur Brunel, a sociopath if I've ever seen one, who wants the information Novikov possessed (basically a location to a gold field somewhere in Africa. It will involve Willie, Pennyfeather and Modesty against Brunel, his albino 'girlfriend' / slave, and Brunel's gang of 'evil' henchman. There is beaucoup action, a journey from London back to Africa, a grievous tragedy in Modesty's life, etc. It's all larger - than - life, but it doesn't matter. Modesty is a wonderful character and Willie an excellent partner in crime (in the good sense, of course). The story is well-written, moves along nicely and ends, as always, quite satisfactorily. I still have 7 stories in the series to enjoy and look forward to getting to them. (3.5 stars)
In this 5th book, Modesty is flying down to South Africa for business when she makes a stopover in Central Africa and ends up helping a somewhat hapless doctor, Giles Pennyfeather, work with the natives. Just before she arrived, a man (a Russian) straggled into the camp, obviously having been tortured, and he died before Pennyfeather could save him. Two men show up to force Pennyfeather to disclose what the Russian (Novikov) told him. Modesty deals with them quite satisfactorily and escapes with Pennyfeather back to London, where he begins to live with her.
Ultimately, this story will result in a major confrontation with Monsieur Brunel, a sociopath if I've ever seen one, who wants the information Novikov possessed (basically a location to a gold field somewhere in Africa. It will involve Willie, Pennyfeather and Modesty against Brunel, his albino 'girlfriend' / slave, and Brunel's gang of 'evil' henchman. There is beaucoup action, a journey from London back to Africa, a grievous tragedy in Modesty's life, etc. It's all larger - than - life, but it doesn't matter. Modesty is a wonderful character and Willie an excellent partner in crime (in the good sense, of course). The story is well-written, moves along nicely and ends, as always, quite satisfactorily. I still have 7 stories in the series to enjoy and look forward to getting to them. (3.5 stars)
February 2, 2018
The first half of the book was excellent, I really enjoyed the way Modesty was on the top of her game and proved that she really is a great ‘kickass’ heroine. Unfortunately, we are then back to the author’s standby of; ‘It all goes wrong’ followed by the ‘Abuse’, then the ‘Escape’. I shouldn’t really complain, as I knew it was coming, but I do wish he could come up with a different scenario for a change.
Having had my little moan, I should say this is a great read and I nearly gave it 5 stars.
Having had my little moan, I should say this is a great read and I nearly gave it 5 stars.
October 3, 2017
"Atomic Blond" is now described as the 'first female James Bond.' Baloney, Modesty Blaise had that title years ago. And even that is baloney because it would be much more accurate to describe James Bond as the "male Modesty Blaise" or better yet, "a pale imitation of Modesty Blaise."
Modesty Blaise is ... well, self-actualized. She is in total control of herself, physically and mentally. She is always classy, elegant, composed without ever being arrogant or condescending. She has the normal attributes of an action hero: fighting ability, skill with weapons, money, fatally attractive. But several things put the Blaise novels above the pack. Morals, as in an unwillingness to kill unless forced to and compassion for the weak. She has a sidekick, Willy, a very strong knife-throwing fatally attractive man--who she never has sex with. Modesty has a degree of self-composure, a sort of secular spirituality, that is well described. She can control her body like a yogi with mad MMA skills.
Modesty and Willy travel the world as unofficial agents for British counter-espionage stopping various dastardly plots. O'Donnell makes you worry for her as he constructs horrendously life-threatening situations and then has her plausibly overcome them.
Don't confuse these well-written stories with the horrible movie from the 60's.
Modesty Blaise is ... well, self-actualized. She is in total control of herself, physically and mentally. She is always classy, elegant, composed without ever being arrogant or condescending. She has the normal attributes of an action hero: fighting ability, skill with weapons, money, fatally attractive. But several things put the Blaise novels above the pack. Morals, as in an unwillingness to kill unless forced to and compassion for the weak. She has a sidekick, Willy, a very strong knife-throwing fatally attractive man--who she never has sex with. Modesty has a degree of self-composure, a sort of secular spirituality, that is well described. She can control her body like a yogi with mad MMA skills.
Modesty and Willy travel the world as unofficial agents for British counter-espionage stopping various dastardly plots. O'Donnell makes you worry for her as he constructs horrendously life-threatening situations and then has her plausibly overcome them.
Don't confuse these well-written stories with the horrible movie from the 60's.
October 24, 2011
A superb example of the Modesty Blaise novel, quirky characters, appalling situations, a little kink, and lots of combat, all to hand. It's the kind of action-adventure novel that in fact would never make a good movie, because too much would be lost in the jump to the big screen. Reading this is like going to a great restaurant that nobody knows about, or hugging a fantastic yarn store to your chest, your own delicious secret.
January 16, 2018
A spot of bother for Willie Garvin when he gets chucked out of an airborne Dakota at three thousand feet. Bleedin' 'ell, Princess, some people do take liberties, don't they?
There's little here to cause the reader to doubt the reviewer who said 'these books are the finest escapist thrillers ever written': the silver-haired Adrian Chance is a villain almost as mesmerizingly creepy as 'A Taste for Death's Simon Delicata and, in a flashback to his days at the orphanage, Willie's way of making sure he wins at conkers is laugh-out-loud funny.
Note that this is the first 'Modesty Blaise' set in central Africa and, while the portrayal of black people would not have been considered racist at the time (some of them are clearly shown to be good - and not just as servants), some descriptions of them would not be acceptable in a novel published today.
There's little here to cause the reader to doubt the reviewer who said 'these books are the finest escapist thrillers ever written': the silver-haired Adrian Chance is a villain almost as mesmerizingly creepy as 'A Taste for Death's Simon Delicata and, in a flashback to his days at the orphanage, Willie's way of making sure he wins at conkers is laugh-out-loud funny.
Note that this is the first 'Modesty Blaise' set in central Africa and, while the portrayal of black people would not have been considered racist at the time (some of them are clearly shown to be good - and not just as servants), some descriptions of them would not be acceptable in a novel published today.
November 25, 2021
I've been enjoying this series quite a bit. I've reached the point where I hadn't read any of the books past number four. (Still haven't gotten number two yet.) I'll have finished the series before the end of the year, and looking forward to reading some of the "graphic novel" books.
As always, the adventure is full of improbable but not impossible events as Willie and Modesty take on a new set of bad guys. All of the books, but this one especially, support the Chekov axiom that a gun shown in the second act must be fired in the third act. OK, it's quarter staffs this time, but the axiom holds.
As always, the adventure is full of improbable but not impossible events as Willie and Modesty take on a new set of bad guys. All of the books, but this one especially, support the Chekov axiom that a gun shown in the second act must be fired in the third act. OK, it's quarter staffs this time, but the axiom holds.
January 16, 2022
Another fine Modesty Blaise thriller. This time Modesty has a run of bad luck and makes an emergency landing in Rwanda, where she meets a British doctor helping out with the local tribes. Along with her ever present companion Willie Garvin, she has to help the doctor out of a tough spot when hired goons come looking for information from a tortured man who ended up at the makeshift hospital.
This is fun instalment in the series with some good action (with one moment that’s a little to far fetched, even for these books), detestable villains, and a few interesting twists along the way. If you’re a Blaise fan this book won’t disappoint.
This is fun instalment in the series with some good action (with one moment that’s a little to far fetched, even for these books), detestable villains, and a few interesting twists along the way. If you’re a Blaise fan this book won’t disappoint.
May 16, 2018
I’ve been ploughing through the Modesty Blaise books and enjoying them all to some extent. Some of them are incredible the whole way through, some of them are a bit bumpier. This one is a little more painfully dated, and I don’t love Giles Pennyfeather all that much, but it was still an enjoyable read.
September 1, 2017
How nice to set off again on an adventure with Modesty and Willie ! They're as resourceful as ever, facing particularly nasty villains. Dr Pennyfeather adds a touch of whim. A lot of fun and thrill as usual !
August 1, 2022
I only know about the series because a character in the pulp fiction movie was reading a book by this author on the toilet. This books are hard to find and I was fortunate enough to find one on a trip abroad. The book itself however lacks character emotions.
July 6, 2017
I continue to find the Modesty Blaise books a delight to read, despite the horrible, trashy covers.
August 2, 2017
Another in the series, this one set mostly in Africa.
July 15, 2022
3 pluss. Read in Danish.
July 29, 2022
I read the Swedish hardcover edition.
March 5, 2023
My first time reading something like this. Silly but fun and some bits were really tense and exciting. Now, where's the erotic Modesty & Willie fan fic?
February 8, 2024
Gosh, I just admire Modesty Blaise so much.
July 23, 2011
C1971: Who wouldn’t want to be Modesty Blaise? As fast paced as ever and clearly a product of the cold war. Features Africa (Rwanda – how forward thinking was that? FCN: Modesty Blaise (heroine par excellance), Mischa Novikov (a Soviet defector with a secret), Doctor Pennyfeather, Willie Garvin (side-kick), Adrian Chance (one of the evil villains). “"Well, good lord, a body's only a body, and I'd hate you to get into any trouble just for doing in a rotten swine like that. Public service, if you ask me." Tears in his eyes, still wheezing a little, Willie croaked, "We could've shoved "im down the Tweeny. You're lovely, Giles. I mean it, matey. Honest to God, you're lovely."
August 3, 2018
Set in Rwanda where a marvellously evil crook tortures a russian scientist for the situation of a gold mine -which is situated between the legs of the impossible virgin. A story in itself. Read with pleasure several times.
October 7, 2008
Really fun stuff; a bit grisly, with some highly problematic attitudes towards sex and gender. It was the sixties though, right? Definitely a Modesty fan now, though.
December 22, 2022
Impossibly well written and so tense. Yes to all!
December 11, 2014
One of the best in this series. This one brings Dr Giles Pennyfeather into the story line.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews