Dragon's Claw

Modesty Blaise #9

by Peter O'Donnell

This crime adventure begins when heroine Modesty Blaise finds Luke Fletcher, one of Britain's greatest artists, lost on a raft in the middle of the ocean. This discovery leads Modesty to an island called Dragon's Claw, where the evil Sam Solon has kidnapped the world's leading art experts, keeping them prisoner to admire his collection of stolen art treasures. Along with Willie Garvin, her loyal lieutenant, Modesty begins to unravel a complex set of murder mysteries until she is suddenly held captive herself. Modesty relies on her ingenuity and resourcefulness to escape from Solon and his two hired killers, Revered Uriah Crsip and Beauregard Browne, as well as solve the crimes and lure the evil men into an inescapable trap. With Modesty's adventurous character and a thrilling plot, this novel is an exciting addition to this acclaimed series of crime fiction.

Genres: Thriller, Adventure, Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Action, Ebooks

318 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

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

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

Some reviews of this series, and in particular this book, made me grin. Of course the villans are comic-book caricatures. They're meant to be. In the first place, MB started as a comic strip before graduating to "graphic novel" status (before that was even a thing). In the second place, think about how "realistic" Blofeld and co. are. Not at all, right? So it might be said that MB's villains are a parody of James Bond's bad guys. I did get tired of all the sex and talk of sex in this particular instalment; not content with a nymphomaniac evil female lead, O'Donnell gives us a male evil lead that is of dubious sexuality at best. Once again we are treated to the Twisted Cleric trope; the writer obviously had some serious spiritual issues. Mind-bending and post-hypnotic suggestion are on the table also. I read somewhere, a long time back, that O'Donnell was in WW2 Special Forces; turns out that while he was in the war, he was only in the signal corps. Sounds like he started writing fiction at an early age. Some of his "spyland" bits are very much for commercial use only.

I know I've read this book at least once before, years back. What was missing for me this time around was the lightness of touch, the bits of humour that we usually get in a MB novel. It just wasn't as much fun as some others. Tarrant is supposedly nearing retirement, which may explain the rather sober telling of the story; perhaps the author was feeling his age (though he continued to write the series until 1985, with an eleven-year wait for the last in the series in 1996). Maybe that explains why it all ends...with a carol service???

[Tony Hisgett · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read these books for Modesty and Willie not for the villains or her ‘hangers on’. I definitely had no interest in Clarissa, Beauregard, Uriah etc. In fact I thought most of these characters were just caricatures from a really bad B movie.

The first half of the book was actually an enjoyable read, especially when I skipped some of the rubbish and quickly moved on to reading the parts with Modesty. Then came the blackmail and Jade Queen fiasco, followed by the betrayal and capture. By this point I had had enough, why can’t the author think of another plotline?

This is better than a 1 star rating, but I’m so fed up with the author that I can’t give better than 2 stars. My problem is that these books still have some great bits and everytime I decide not to read another I get drawn back, almost against my will.

[Richard Clay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars doesn't sound like much. But, to be honest, if this was the first 'Blaise' I'd read, I'd have probably given it four. It's only the knowledge of how good some of the previous ones - 'Sabre Tooth' and 'A Taste for Death' in particular - had been, that makes me a bit canny. True, 'Dragon's Claw' has a lot of good stuff in it - the escape by homemade hang glider (made out of bits of greenhouse!) is particularly good. But, compared to previous triumphs, this one takes a while to get it together and two out of four of the principal baddies - posh nympho Clarissa and drawling bisexual assassin Beauregard Browne - don't quite cut it compared to the likes of 'Silver Mistress'' Sexton, or Gabriel, or the terrifying Simon Delicata. Browne in particular often comes across as a series of camp clichés - O'Donnell would have needed to get into the character's villainy with real relish for him to work and - perhaps thankfully - O'Donnell was no Joe Orton. Still, as I say, there's still much here to commend, and though the characters had, at this point, already been adventuring for sixteen years, there were another twenty three to go; in the comic strip alone, some of the very best Modesty was still to come ('Return of the Mammoth', 'The Special Orders' etc). Neither Modesty and Willie, nor their creator, were spent forces.

[Alien · Rating 3 out of 5]

Partly good, partly not so good.
I liked the beginnig. The rescue of Luke Fletcher was gripping and realistic.
I liked Modesty and Willie, even though I normally don't like super intelligent, super capable, super good looking, super perfect protagonists.

I disliked the villains. They were comic book - like, which made the book uneven for me. The mixture of comic-book-likeness and realism did not work for me.
I did not like the motivation of the villains. I don't want to spoil it here though.
All in all it was an OK read.

[Jan Sørensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Modesty takes up a supposed-dead artist in the ocean between Australia and New Zealand. He has lost his memory. What has happened him?A fantastic adventure as usual, which explodes in a shooting on a small island -wonderful and imaginative and very readable! Modesty at her best!

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I took a few days off from writing and editing to finish reading several books. This episode of Modesty Blaise was as fun as the others I've read so far. There are a couple of the series that are only available in hard cover, so it may be a while until I can read them, but I will. As I near the end of the list of novels, I'll start to take a look at the graphic novels... of which there are many.
In this one, Modesty and Willie head to Australia to crack an art theft and kidnapping case, with the usual thrilling fun ensuing.

[Roybot · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd give this about 2.5 stars. This was okay, but feels a little recycled in some ways. There are too many elements in this one that are just variations on earlier themes. If I hadn't just finished reading the other Modesty Blaise books this might have rated higher, as it does have some really exciting moments, and it was good to see Garvin get to really shine, but overall this one just doesn't rank as high on my list as the rest of the series.

[James Hein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good one in the series

[Kari David · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's..... a lot wrong with this book. The caper ends up being fairly satisfying, but it's not worth either the slow pacing of the first half or the really excessive misogyny and racism.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ninth in the Modesty Blaise series, and the one I accidentally read first! Modesty rescues a man from the ocean while she's sailing, and he turns out to be Luke Fletcher, a genius artist who was reported dead several weeks earlier. Modesty and Willie get caught up in trying to figure out who dumped Fletcher into the ocean, why people are trying to kill him, and what they can do to protect him.

It's an adventure, not a mystery -- we know whodunit well before the characters did -- but there are still things to surprise the reader, and I was just as surprised at the twist as Modesty and Willie were. Also, the villains in this one were incredibly over-the-top, but entertaining.

[Shervin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Action packed thrilling work ,9 of its kind by peter o'donnel. modesty blaise happens to save a man called fletcher who was fighting for his life in tasmanian sea. the events that follow turns blaise nd her pal willie into the play and their effort to avenge fletcher results in a most thrilling experience. the climax gives an icing to the cake of this masterpiece by o'donnell...

[Tiina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really really good!

[Keith Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oct.2023 re-read