Pieces of Modesty

Modesty Blaise #6

by Peter O'Donnell

Six short stories featuring Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin.

Contents:

A Better Day to Die
The Giggle-Wrecker
I Had a Date with Lady Janet
A Perfect Night to Break Your Neck
Salamander Four
The Soo Girl Charity

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Mystery, Crime, Adventure, Short Stories, Pulp

182 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Librarian 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.

Reviews

[Werner · Rating 4 out of 5]

The six stories in this collection of short fiction featuring iconic heroine Modesty Blaise were all originally published in the Australian publication Pix in Jan.-Feb. 1970. O'Donnell intended them to be published in book form with illustrations by Jim Holdaway, then the artist for the Modesty Blaise comic strip; but Holdaway died that year, and the book-form collection wasn't published for another two years. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieces_... .) In the interval, however, at least one of the stories, "A Better Day to Die," was reprinted in an American magazine (I don't recall which one), where I read it --I think in the spring of 1970, while I was still in high school. It was my first introduction to the character, and one of very few exposures I'd had in fiction to a kick-butt heroine (they were much less numerous in my youth than they've since become). My teenage self was pretty awe-struck by Modesty in action; so that gave me an abiding interest in her fictional exploits, although this is still only the second book by O'Donnell that I've read. My review of the series opener, Modesty Blaise, is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ; that provides a basic introduction to the premise of the series, and to its heroine and her formidable sidekick, Willie Garvin.

While Goodreads counts this as the sixth installment of the series, because the stories are strictly episodic and not connected to each other, and are set at various times in the 60s, they don't really have to be read after the first five novels to be understood and appreciated. (It would probably be best to read the first novel first, just to provide a foundation.) In a couple of stories, references are made to events, and characters reappear, which are probably drawn from the novels; but any information about past events that we need to know is supplied. Five of them are written in third person; "I Had a Date with Lady Janet" is unique in that Willie narrates it in first person, which helps to develop his character more deeply. The settings are mostly British or continental European, with one tale taking place in South America. All six adventures involve Modesty in a wide variety of situations, which illustrate various aspects of her personality and abilities; that may explain the collection's odd title. (Don't worry --Modesty is not dismembered!)

O'Donnell writes with a very readable, professional style, and creates captivating story-lines centered around well-developed characters. His plots aren't overly convoluted, and their various elements dovetail nicely; that doesn't keep some of the stories from having surprise twists, which grow naturally from the soil of the tale itself, as legitimate surprises should. (I did guess the general outline of one, before the author revealed it.) This is, of course, action-adventure pulp fiction; unusual, extreme and sometimes life-threatening situations are the norm, and our main characters are larger than life. That doesn't mean the writing lacks literary quality, nor that it's without realism, psychological and otherwise. Neither of those are in fact lacking; and neither is moral vision, and the ability to evoke serious thought about ethical questions. The author just evokes the kind of thought about them that today's literary-critical clerisy doesn't welcome, because he thinks that right and wrong are real categories, and that virtues such as courage, loyalty and justice actually ARE virtues.

In commenting on individual stories, I want to avoid spoilers. I'll say simply that "A Better Day to Die" presents a serious, balanced and fair debate between absolute pacifism and the position that violent resistance to murderous and other harmful aggression is a legitimate last resort to protect the inoffensive, including oneself. (Modesty maintains the latter, and O"Donnell clearly agrees with her, as I do --but she respects the pacifist position.) "The Giggle Wrecker," set mainly in East Berlin in the days of the Cold War, brings back the memory of that era vividly, and to my mind refutes the claim of some that there was an absolute moral equivalency between the West and Soviet totalitarianism. Willie's narrative and "A Perfect Night to Break Your Neck" are noteworthy for their positive portrayal of physically handicapped characters (both of whom not only pull their weight, but enjoy serious romantic relationships with partners who appreciate them as persons). "Salamander Four" is the only selection here that indicates Modesty's openness, on occasion, to uncommitted sex (although there's no explicit sexual content there, or in any of the stories), but the psychology of it is understandable and she comes across to me as misguided rather than callous and selfish --it's clear that her intention isn't knowingly to be hurtful or exploitative. Finally, "The Soo Girl Charity" is the most disturbing of the stories, in that (though without being graphic) it provides a look into the dark reality of the exploitation of women by sexual sadists, and into the even darker reality of what pounded-in cultural brainwashing of females to accept patriarchy and male domination actually does to their psyches. (I didn't feel that the victim here being Asian indicates racism or cultural stereotyping; I think that simply reflects a reality that, at least in the 60s, traditional rural Asian cultures still tended to promote that kind of brainwashing to a greater degree than Occidental ones --even though the sexism of our culture is bad enough.)

One quibble I had with the latter story is that I thought the premise had Modesty and Willie acting (at least, for their current post-Network situation) out of character in a couple of respects. A more important issue was with a comment about a brutal gang rape of a teen girl that occurs in one of the stories. That the incident could realistically be expected to happen, given the mentality of thugs put in a position to dominate unarmed females, I don't deny (sadly, it would be more unrealistic if it didn't); O'Donnell doesn't treat it graphically and clearly disapproves of it. But afterwards he has Modesty thinking, at one point, "Just as well it had been Rosa. She was a sturdy peasant type with nerves like sisal. In a little while she might even begin to relish the cachet of having been raped by guerillas." To be sure, the author doesn't suggest that she relished the rape itself. But in the first place, I don't think being raped carries any cachet, in a culture that sees virginity as a valuable commodity and sees rape victims as "damaged goods." In the second place, I can't imagine that this would be a reaction Rosa would ever have, nor that the idea would be one that Modesty (who was a rape victim herself in the past) would ever think. It comes across as the kind of insensitive, emotionally tone-deaf perception a male author might have who doesn't have any real ability to imagine the actual psychology of a rape victim.

Overall, though, these caveats didn't keep me from really liking the collection as a whole. Modesty is one of my favorite action heroines, and one whom I see as, on the whole, a pretty good role model --she has her faults, which are recognizable; but if both male and female readers pick up on emulating her virtues, they'd find a great many to aspire to. I'm glad to have spent this interlude in her fictional world, and still hope to read more of the Modesty canon eventually.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Modesty Blaise series is a fun, entertaining, action-packed thrill ride. Modesty is a larger than life heroine, a one-time master criminal who lead the Network, ably assisted by her right-hand man and best friend, Willie Garvin. Now retired, she still helps British Intelligence when requested by her friend, Sir Gerald Tarrant, as she does in the 2nd story, The Giggle Wrecker. But more often than not, she just gets caught up in situations, finding herself and Willie rescuing friends from unfortunate situations. She is matter of fact, a marksman, physically talented in hand-to-hand combat and at the same time, a lady and with a strong moral compass about what is right and wrong. I enjoyed this series of short stories, all entertaining and finding Modesty in Britain, Finland and the Meditteranean. Best story for me was I Had a Date with Lady Janet, where we saw Willie in the major role, forced to save Modesty from an old enemy. Lots of fun and an enjoyable read.

[Zare · Rating 5 out of 5]

My second book about the mysterious Modesty Blaise and her right-hand Willie Garvin.This one is actually a collection of short stories.

Here we follow them as they go to East Berlin, fight against mysterious international industrial espionage group in the middle of Finland, fight a group of high-society robbers, clash with bandits in the middle of Mexico and finally help a lady in distress.

All stories are great, action packed. I can only say I am looking out for more Modesty Blaise books.

Highly recommended.

[Tiina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin - my favourite heros of all time!

Even though I tried to make this book last, I finished it last night. Sigh. Good stories, some humour included.

Interestingly, I know I'd read this before, and still I had completely forgotten that Blaise and Garvin had one adventure in Finland! One would think I would remember that, of all things!

Highly recommended, if you like super heroes (who do not have super powers).

[Mervi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of six Modesty Blaise short stories.

I thoroughly enjoyed these short stories; O’Donnell is in excellent form here. If you’ve read any previous Modesty books or comics, you pretty much know what to expect. Like almost all of the MB stories, they’re stand-alone and don’t require any previous knowledge about the characters. The stories are set in 1960s. Both Modesty and Willie are very competent fighters with various weapons and in hand-to-hand combat. They’re best friends for life and can always depend on each other. But they’re not lovers; in fact they often have other lovers.

In “A Better Day to Die”, Modesty and Willie are going to see a dying man who used to be part of Modesty’s criminal organization. However, their car breaks down. Willie stays in a small village to repair it together with the local men, but Modesty chooses to ride in an old bus. The bus is full of young women whom a priest it taking to city to work there. But the priest, Jimson, has heard of Modesty and her skills in violence. Jimson is a fervent believer in pacifism to the point that he think it’s better to die than to defend oneself. He lectures Modesty about the evils of every kind of violence. When a group of guerrillas stop the bus and take the passengers, Modesty is practically unarmed and must adapt to the situation.

“The Giggle-Wrecker” is set mostly in East Germany during the Cold War. Tarrant asks Modesty and Willie to smuggle out a defector – who is Japanese and therefore very easy to spot. The duo must think their way very carefully. Also, they get to do some of my favorite stuff: disguises.

“I Had a Date with Lady Janet” is remarkable because it’s the only MB story told in first person, Willie’s. He’s on a date with his sometime girlfriend Lady Janet when a killer tries to kidnap him. Willie manages to turn the tables and finds out that an old enemy has returned. He already has Modesty but wants Willie, so that he can see her die brutally. This time it’s up to Willie to save her.

“A Perfect Night to Break Your Neck” features two recurring characters from the book “I, Lucifer”: Steven Collier who is a paranormal investigator and his wife Dinah. Dinah is blind but she’s loyal, tough, and has even has a supernatural power or two. Modesty, Willie, Steven, and Dinah are vacationing when they hear about a series of robberies. During a party, they’re also robbed.

In “Salamander Four”, Modesty’s long time millionaire boyfriend John Dall wants a wooden statue of Modesty. To do that, he hires an eccentric Hungarian artist who is living in Northern Finland. When Modesty is modeling for the artist, Alex, a wounded and half-frozen man staggers in. Modesty helps him but Alex, who has suffered in war, doesn’t want to get involved. However, the wounded man turns out to be an industrial spy who has info with him. A very dangerous organization called the Salamander Four are after him. Modesty decides to help him over the border to Russia.

The final story, “The Soo Girl Charity”, is the shortest. It begins very lightheartedly but turns out to be the most disturbing of them. Modesty has been coerced into selling flags for a charity. One man turns out to be too grabby and he seems to be a really nasty man in other ways, so Willie and Modesty decide to break into his house and steal some money to give to the charity. They find out a lot more than they expected.

While these all feel pretty straightforward adventure stories, they all have some sort of twist. They were written in the 1960s, so they show the attitudes of that time, casual racism and sexism. O’Donnell tries to do better but his attitudes are dated. For example, in the first story several men rape a teenaged, sheltered girl who seems to get over it quickly. Of course, she’s a side character and this is an action story, but the attitude is still too casual. Of course, neither Modesty nor O’Donnell condone it.

Two of the stories have disabled female characters who are shown in very positive light. Both are very good in their own jobs, bright, loyal, and have partners who clearly appreciate them. Dinah was born blind and Janet lost one of her legs in a car accident. Both are recurring characters in the comics.

Overall, I really enjoyed these despite the attitudes of the times. I love Modesty and Willie and their adventure and their great camaraderie. They have good villains and a great cast of supporting characters. I was thrilled to see one of the stories set in my native Finland, although we didn’t get to see Finnish people much. I also enjoyed the humor in the stories.

[Kaj Samuelsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had read most of the stories in this book before but it was worth reading them again. The combination of adventure, humour and the special relationship between Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin makes all the MB books worth reading. This book consists of short stories and I especially enjoyed the Lady Janet story.

[Leslie Crawley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great fun.

[Robert Garrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Modesty Blaise starred first in a comic strip and then in a concurrently published novel series. Until 1972, however, she had never been in a prose short story. PIECES OF MODESTY finally filled that gap.

PIECES OF MODESTY delivers six tales, all by Modesty co-creator Peter O’Donnell. There’s a fair amount of variety here, with a mix of crime and espionage, and settings that range from England and Scotland to Latin America and Cold War Berlin. As always, O’Donnell pulls out some fun twists - some of which you will likely see coming and others that might prove more surprising. He excels at colorful characters and gives us some here, and I especially like how the book series includes recurring supporting players that readers get to know.

While I liked all of the stories in PIECES OF MODESTY, some are naturally better than others. “The Giggle Wrecker,” in which Modesty and Willie attempt to help a prospective Soviet defector escape East Berlin, is my favorite - largely for some inventive twists and turns (Sorry, but I’m not going to spoil the meaning of the title.). “I Had a Date with Lady Janet” is notable in that Willie Garvin narrates, and (according to Wikipedia) it’s the only Modesty Blaise story told in the first person. I also enjoyed “Salamander Four” for the relationship between Modesty and the artist character charged with creating a sculpture of her likeness (again, no spoilers). On the minus side, “The Soo Girl Charity” dates poorly, with some unfortunate racial stereotypes. The other two tales, “A Better Day to Die” and “A Perfect Night to Break Your Neck” land somewhere in the middle - fun, but not especially remarkable.

Now comes the rub. While I enjoyed this book, I also felt that the short story format should ideally have given Modesty fans something different - something that they wouldn’t get in the novel or comic strip series. O’Donnell could have conceivably gotten away from the standard adventure formula and written quieter character studies or just something a little offbeat and unexpected. Unfortunately, having Willie Garvin narrate a story is as offbeat as this collection gets, and it occurred to me that all of these yarns would have worked equally well as comic strip stories.

That said, if you’re a Modesty Blaise fan, as I am, then you’ll have the usual good time. Peter O’Donnell is, after all, nothing if not reliable.

My rating: 7/10

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 3 out of 5]

These short stories read like back stories for the graphic novels/comic books, and I thought perhaps the strips had come first and then O'Donnell had published them in written form. I was wrong, apparently. These stories are awfully scrappy, as if O'Donnell needed a longer format to satisfactorily develop his thoughts. Cobra Trap had the same problem, though in this collection we are not subjected to the dreadful sentimentality of the latter collection. The Colliers get a story, of course--we must remember that Blaise and Garvin "really are just regular folks" with friends they care about, though we know they aren't. Poor old Weng doesn't get a look in, though he is mentioned in passing once or twice. The only thing I really disliked was the othering of Soo, especially given Modesty and Willy's history in Points East. The author kept referring to her as "the Soo girl" instead of just using her name as if she weren't fully a person, and Modesty kept reminding Willy that Soo "is Asian/Oriental" to mean "not like us." Ugh. So much for Modesty's multicultural persona!!
The curious aspect of this collection is that more than once the Daring Duo set out on a caper just for fun, but their fun always gets spoiled. Fortunately the reader's fun isn't ruined as it was in Cobra Trap. I have wanted to read this instalment for years, and at least when I finally got access to it I wasn't terribly disillusioned.
For MB completionists.

[Richard Clay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the place to start (that should be either of the first two, 'Modesty Blaise' or the awesome 'Sabre Tooth'), this is the first of two short story collections featuring Modesty and Willie. The sixth book overall, it - according to some reviewers - marks the point at which the series began to go downhill. I can't see any evidence of that, myself; 'The Giggle Wrecker' and 'The Soo Girl Charity' seem very effective to me. If anyone does read it before 'Sabre Tooth' they might get the wrong impression of the attitudes in the series as a whole. In the first story, a South American teenager, rescued from thugs by Modesty, is seen to have been the victim of a gang rape. Now, while this is shown to be an evil thing (Modesty and Willie clearly think so - they almost immediately kill all the rapists), some people might have doubts about the way the girl shrugs the event off afterwards. But, while O'Donnell accepts that women in the Third World (and elsewhere) DO have to put up with such treatment, it will only take a reading of 'Sabre Tooth' and, indeed, 'The Soo Girl Charity' to show that he is very far from thinking that they OUGHT to have to put up with it. He was the least misogynist of all male thriller writers; Fleming and Spillane could, in this respect, have learned a lot from him.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Six fun short Modesty Blaise stories featuring adventures with Willie Garvin. I really enjoyed the Villanelle series of books and the tv series, but rediscovering the Modesty Blaise series has been much more fun. Blaise was clearly an influence in the Villanelle books. In every case, Modesty out gimmicks Bond and is usually able to turn Bond's sexual aggressions around, to use her body and mental skills against the bad guys, who are usually clueless to how they're being used. On to the rest of the series now!

[Tony Hisgett · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice collection of short stories although I still can’t believe how often the author relies on something unexpectedly going wrong, a puncture, crumbling mortar, a squeaking floorboard etc.

I read all the stories except the one with Steven Collier A Perfect Night to Break Your Neck as I really don’t like him. My favourites were The Giggle-wrecker and I Had a Date with Lady Janet.

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was the first book in the Modesty Blaise series that I have read because my library did not have any of the first 5 novels. I don't think that short stories are a good way to introduce the Blaise character. It seemed the stories assumed the reader already knew the background of the main character. I did not finish the book and only read two of the short stories. I do not plan to return to the series.

[LilaJean]

This is a sort of sequel to Peter O'Donnell's book, Modesty Blaise. Modesty has been compared to James Bond. She is a survivor and a globe-trotter who has a strange bunch of loyal friends. She gets involved in convoluted nightmarish situations.

[Tim Tofton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable re-read, only 4 stars because I don't usually like short story's as they end too quickly! This fills out the Modesty character with some minor adventures that don't always involve near death experiences.

[Marie Bouteille · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny and witty anecdotes and it does the trick. I didn't enjoy the one told by Willie Garvin as much as the other.

[Shawn Conner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now that I’ve started reading Modesty Blaise I can’t get enough! Peter O’Donnell is a master suspense writer and each story in this collection is a gem.

[Kari David · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has not aged well and has a bunch of racism and misogyny, but, in between that, there are some fun action capers.

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

very fun short story collection.

[Paritosh Vyas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many years ago I used to read the daily comic strip of Modesty Blaise. These short stories have revived those memories.

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun for fans of Modesty Blaise,less so if you're not familiar with the series.

[Tom Meade · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another solid entry in the Modesty Blaise series, this time it's a collection of short stories. Given that O'Donnell seems to have been better at character and incident than a taut, well-structured novel, this actually makes the whole thing more enjoyable than the other Blaise books I've read. There's an impression running throughout the book that O'Donnell just sort of sat down and dashed these off in each in its own afternoon, but I have no real trouble with this, given that Modesty and Willie Garvin make for one of those most likable and interesting duos in the field of pulp spy-fiction.

If I've got a complaint, though, it's that O'Donnell's claim that he's "in love with Modesty and best friends with Willie" tends to show through a bit too much at times, particularly in the case of the former. There's always something a bit remote about Modesty, even when we're reading a story told from roughly her perspective (interestingly, Willie Garvin gets his own first-person narrative here (and one of the best stories in the bunch, too), but Modesty is limited to the third person limited). And the less said about scenes where Modesty becomes, ahem, "emotionally entangled", perhaps the better. On the one hand, the her love-interests are invariably shown as being rather silly, chauvinistic and overly possessive in romantic views of Modesty, but on the other hand O'Donnell does slip a few times into something dangerously close to presenting her as a sex object.

Then again, it is called Pieces of Modesty. The point of Blaise is that she's somewhat fragmentary and essentially unknowable, as a total person. The key to this rests in the story "The Salamander Five", where a Swedish artist who has become her lover spends a great deal of time trying and failing to capture her face in mahogany, before realising that the problem lies in his trying to capture every facet of her personality, rather than just one of her many moods. When Modesty is shown from the inside out (however limited those exposes may be) she's generally represented as a rather no-nonsense sort with a clear, logical mind driven by ruthless pragmatism.

I don't know what my point is (unless it's that I'm taking a busman's holiday from my Literature homework). I'm not sure how I feel about O'Donnell having created Modesty as some sort of perfect, quasi-virginal embodiment of God knows what. I do enjoy poking about in his books, in any event.

Oh, and this leads me to one odd point - Peter O'Donnell seems to have something against kinky sex. He goes on about it in "I Had A Date With Lady Janet", where Willie spends a great deal of time explaining that he's not dating an amputee because he's a pervert, and then he does it again in "The Soo Girl Charity", where Modesty and Willie end-up "rescuing" a girl who they perceive to have murdered their husband due to his sadistic sexual practices. Of course in the end it turns-out that she actually enjoyed the cigarette burns, and killed the man because he was cheating on her with someone else, but still.

Actually that brings me to one final point, which is that every story in this book ends with the revelation that one of the characters is not anything at all like everyone had assumed them to be.

There's a thesi at a disreputable university buried away in all of this, but much like Cugel the Clever I am disinclined to go diving for it.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

According to the Wikipedia, this collection of short stories was originally intended to be issued as an edition featuring illustrations by original MODESTY BLAISE cartoonist Jim Holdaway, but Holdaway died in 1970 and the stories lay fallow until finally published in 1972. Holdaway did, however, provide the art before his untimely demise, and the illustrations have seen print in various magazines (I, alas, don't have any of them). Also, elements from some of these stories later found their way into the daily comic strip, a fact that doesn't surprise me since much of this material reads like something much more out of a comic than what's usually found in the fully fleshed-out novels.

Definitely a very mixed bag, PIECES OF MODESTY is worth a look for Blaise fans and is certainly better than the later short story collection, COBRA TRAP (1996), but overall the book feels like six story arcs from the newspaper strip that have been shorn of the accompanying artwork. If you want my honest opinion, the second half of the book is the best of it, especially "A Perfect Night To Break Your Neck" and "Salamander Four," and though not bad "I Had A Date With Lady Janet" is a major disappointment to us Willie Garvin boosters, providing nothing that couldn't have been had in a story not narrated by our favorite Cockney badass. This is also the only book in the series not to be included among the recent reprints, so it's a bit of a collector's item and as such is hard to find and not exactly cheap. Having paid thirty-five bucks for my hardcover edition, I have to say that it isn't worth much more than fifteen-to-twenty bucks max, even for die hard Blaise junkies, so caveat emptor.

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It kind reads like a combination of Choose your own adventure and Alias. This was my first reading of the series and I think a full-blown novel rather than a series of shorts would have been the better way to go. It comes off as a little dated, especially since we now live in a world of Nikita and her other femme fetal spies.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

c1972. I loved this book. 6 short stories featuring Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin (who wouldn't want someone like him in their life!). A great way to get into the Modesty Blaise world but I would still recommend to start at the beginning of the series as then these short stories acquire a deeper enjoyment.

[Stel Bee · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first ever Modesty Blaise, and the one that drew me in to the rest of the series and then in to Peter O'Donnell's Madeleine Brent historical romances. He can do no wrong. Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin's adventures are perfect escapism and the 1960s setting makes them perfect - not dated but retro.

[Celine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Be aware this is a nostalgia rating: I read this books when I was very young and even in that blissfull state of teenage ignorance I recall some disturbing sexist and racist content (and some equally disturbing attitudes to rape)

[Dawn]

These books were okay even though they wasn't much action considering the genre.

[Sparisen]

book lust action heroines

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Modesty Blaise attracts adjectives as honey draws bears: beautiful, smart, sexy, tough, not-to-be-messed-with and, of course, totally unconventional. Here we're treated to romps involving South American guerrillas and a cricket bowl ; a novel way to get over the Berlin Wall ; Willie Garvin's own tale of derring-do ; jewel thieves on the Riviera ; vicious industrial spies in Finland; and a rich man's kinkiness. Some readers will lap up all the derring that's done and leave it at that. Connoisseurs of James Bond's high seriousness and snobbery, will enjoy this book too.