Another great Modesty Blaise. The story takes you from North Africa, through the French Riviera back to the Sahara, and has some terrific moments. Little Krell is one of the best characters in the series, and this book has some of the best combat scenes you will read.

Lots of 'firsts' in this novel. The first appearance of Sir Gerald Tarrant, the father-like head of British Intelligence, and Gabriel, a ruthless and ancient adversary of Modesty Blaise. We are also privvy to Modesty's past as a young girl and as head of the criminal organization The Network ... not to mention the origin of her friendship with Willie Garvin.

Though the book is cumbersome at times with technical descriptions involving an elaborate heist, the action and excitement outweighs it. Look for a spectacular hand-to-hand battle between Modesty and Mrs. Fothergill, one of Gabriel's eccentric bodyguards.

Don't believe the hype that Modesty Blaise is just another female 007. Modesty Blaise is far from an ordinary 'spy'. In fact, she's an exceptional woman way ahead of her time!

Modesty Blaise & Willie Garvin. This novel introduces these two, as well as Sir Gerald Tarrant, and their all-time nemesis, Gabriel. Peter O'Donnell has imagined the *ultimate* independent and competant woman in this series. However, I feel a bit at a loss that I can only review the *novels* based on these characters. Yes, they're good...sometimes GREAT! But this was also a *very* long-running British newspaper comic strip, which is incredible, remarkable, and HIGHLY recommended!!! By far, the BEST of these (the earliest) were illustrated by the late, great Jim Holdaway. Holdaway died in 1970, but he illustrated *numerous* Blaise stories from 1963 until then.

Great graphic novels are something half-way between novels and movies. When they truly are GREAT, there's a fascinating tension that develops between the story being told by the writing, and the story being told by the illustrator (not necessarily the same thing). You'll find that here! A more contemporary master of this art form is Frank Miller, who's THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS is simply *the* best thing *ever* done in "comic book" form! The collected editions of the Modesty Blaise newspaper strips are often *equally* as good! They've appeared in two different versions in this country, both out of print. Ken Pierce originally published many of these in his "First American Edition" series. Titan Books later published a more extensive collection in a larger format, which I prefer. If only...if only...! Some of the later strips (not illustrated by Holdaway) still occasionally appear in The Comics Review. Not to be missed, I think (as O'Conner is still right on target with this series). But, the *classic* stuff appeared *many* years ago, as described above.

Still, O'Connor's novels are a worthy substitute, in the meantime. Many have described Blaise as a kind of female James Bond....and I actually *do* agree with this (what other comparison is possible?). But, I also agree that this analogy really does *cheapen* her a bit. I say this somewhat reluctantly, as I do think Fleming's early Bond novels were remarkable feats of imagination. (Did you know he was a *big* follower of Carl Jung?) Modesty Blaise, however, is an *original* character! There was a *very* bad movie based on her a number of years ago---ignore that! If you are a man, you will utterly fall in love with this woman! If you are a woman, she will become your serious role model. The relationship she has with Willie (non-sexual) is both intimate and powerful...*way* ahead of it's time!

Interested? I hope so....

I've been slightly Modesty-obsessed for about ten years now, so I was thrilled when Amazon found me a copy of this out-of-print gem. Modesty and Willie's first caper for Sir Gerald has suspense, drama, and wit. The novel fills in details not in the comic version of this adventure, making it even more fun to read. A great addition to any pulp fiction lover's collection.

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.

To betray Modesty Blaise is to, at minimum, risk the wrath of Willie Garvin and, at most, to lose everything you hold precious. In SABRE-TOOTH, Modesty and Willie follow up on a hunch of Sir Gerald Tarrant's which turns into a horrific reality. When Jack Fraser tries to intervene in the midst of their infiltration, he is summarily ousted. The stakes are jaw-droppingly high as Modesty and Willie are pushed to their not-inconsiderable limits. The amount of damage done to and by them is enormous, but Peter O'Donnell never loses sight of Modesty and Willie's greatest asset: loyalty to each other. SABRE-TOOTH is a razor-sharp trip into the world of Modesty Blaise!

I have all of O'Donnell's books. Many I have read several times. Cobra Trap did not live up to the usual action line of his previous books. I even thought there might be another author writing the story?
O'Donnell developed so many great endings, each story was easly visualized and enjoyed. Cobra Trap was a fair story, it's just I felt cheated. I knew an ending had to happen, just not that way.

Way back in the seventies when I was a little boy back in the Dominican Repúblic I got introduced to Modesty Blaise via the newspaper strips,been a comic fan all my life I never really got to know her well because she never had(at least to my knowledge)a regular comic series,two or three weeks ago I remenbered her and got into mile high comics and Amazon com to try to get something on her,when I bought the Cobra trap I thought that it was a comic book so my first emotion receiving it was of dissapointment,nevertheless I took the time to read it and to my surprise the novel hooked me,I fell in love with Modesty and all his enviroment,it's much better (as good as they are),than the comics books I got reprinting the strips,beautiful written and very nonchalant it has the same style of another series I love very well,the Avengers with _Steed and Emma Peel,I went through the book swiftly and in the interin ordered two more books of Modesty Blaise,this was before I reached the final chapter(The Cobra Trap) last night,full of emotion and incredibly written it lead me to belive it was a something new developing when it was a revelation of what the relationship between Modesty and Willie standed and why he always was thwe first one,full of emotion I've never read anything like this before,not written like this anyway,I'd really like to hear what Mr. O'Donnel feelings were when he wrote down the last page,it should has been a very hard thing to do for him.

Outstanding,to every one who loves fiction,read it!!!

As a Modesty Blaise fan since 1966, when I was 14, I have avidly followed and collected all the books, and even met Mr. O'Donnell in 1985 and got 2 of my hardbounds autographed. I was both excited and reluctant to read the 'last' of the MB series. But I did, and was glad. The separate stories were classic MB and Willie, but it still did not prepare me for COBRA TRAP, the final adventure. I admire Mr. O'Donnell's accurate portrayal of the way MB and WG would want to end their action careers. As a female investigator about MB's age,(27 yrs in the field), he is right on the psychology of his ending! Cheers and kudos!!!

You can't keep a good girl down, and Modesty's the best. Lose her in the middle of the ocean, alone on a yacht and you can bet she'll find trouble. This time round a rescue at sea pitches Modesty into the hands of some daring Art Thieves. Who is their mysterious backer, and where is the loot being stored? Leave it to Modesty and Willie to turn the tables on the bad guys and come out (relatively) unscathed. They even have time to practise their latest hobby in the middle of a fight for survival. That takes dedication. Dragon's Claw is hard to find, harder than most Modesty titles, but go find it: you'll be glad you did.

Peter O'Donnell has done it again! I love his Modesty stories, and this book just made me want more. Willie Garvin and Modesty are the ultimate daring duo. No matter the situation, they always come through and with style and class....and of course with their customary wit and humor. Keep up the good work and Please Please write more!

The good doctor Giles Pennyfeather is introduced in this tale. He is a good-natured medical embarrassment who is hopeless in the modern world but who can perform medical miracles in Third World environments. Modesty's plane drops out of the sky and she finds herself stranded at Gile's makeshift hospital in the middle of Central Africa, so she makes herself useful as his nurse. Unfortunately, the local criminal element muscles Giles out of the area under Modesty's watch, and Modesty doesn't let her friends get ruffled without a fight. Willie joins the odd couple and they all do battle against guerillas, a gorilla and Mother Nature. All of this leads to the immense fortune known as The Impossible Virgin, the specifics of which I will leave to the honorable Peter O'Donnell. Another smashing success for Modesty Blaise!

I absolutely love those plots. It's filled with real intelligence and a lot useful tricks, unlike most other comics. And full of surprises, you never can guess what happens in the next moment. I'm a fan of Modesty Blaise since I was a kid. A must for her fans. I felt the pictures could have been drawn a little better.

In this story for children there is a little boy who thinks there are wolves in the forest because he hears the wind and thinks it is wolves. So this scared little boy begins a journey to overcome his fears and find out what is really in the forest.
A mysterious fox leads him to a mysterious white stag that knows many things but doesn't give answers very easily. Well the boy and his bear travel through the forest and are separated. The boy thinks he hears wolves and is frightened and runs right into his friend and he explains that the wolves are all in his imagination.
This book was written by: Peter O' Donnell.