Review of "Modesty Blaise: The Hell Makers," by Peter O’Donnell, Jim Holdaway and Enric Badia Romero

Review of

Modesty Blaise: The Hell Makers, by Peter O’Donnell, Jim Holdaway and Enric Badia Romero ISBN 1840238658

Five out of five stars

 The lead story of this collection (“The Hell Makers”) reveals the power of the relationship between Modesty Blaise and her partner Willie Garvin. It is one of the best stories about this team of principled and extremely talented fighters. When Willie is kidnapped and heavily drugged to the point where he will quickly go insane, it is up to Modesty to risk her life to rescue him. There is no hesitation in her making the attempt, even though he is being held on a plateau that is supposedly accessible only by helicopter.

 Given her incredible resourcefulness, Modesty finds a way to ascend up the sides that have been polished like glass and with the assistance of an old-timer named Gus is able to quickly dispatch the people holding Willie. Her challenge then becomes finding a way to bring Willie out of his madness and the only thing that she can think of is to put her life in danger so that only Willie’s skill and return to sanity can save her.

 The second story is “Take-Over” and in it the American Mafia is attempting to take control of organized crime in Britain. They are ruthless and efficient and initially make great progress. When a string of brilliantly planned and executed robberies take place, Modesty is informed and asked to help. She declines, yet when her and Willie stop at a bank for a routine transaction, there is a robbery where the guard is killed in front of Modesty. Willie manages to take out all four of the robbers and this brings them into the battle against the take-over. Of course, even the professional mafia goons are no match for the skills of Willie and Modesty.

 The third story is “Warlords of Phoenix” and begins with Willie and Modesty in Japan working out with a master of the arts of unarmed combat. When the master’s granddaughter is stabbed by her fiancé, Willie and Modesty get involved in a battle with a criminal organization called “Phoenix.” Once again, the members of Phoenix consider themselves superior and attempt to conscript Modesty and Willie into the organization, where failure leads to death. It is no surprise that it turns out that the directors of Phoenix are simply not as powerful as they think and are no match for Modesty and Willie. In many ways this story is a bit silly and it lacks the power of other stories involving the two reluctant heroes.

 While the first story is one of the best, the second and third are just average or below, as their opponents lack the imagination and originality of so many of the foes that Modesty and Willie have faced.