I, Lucifer (Modesty Blaise) (Paperback)

"I wouldn't know, Johnnie. I don't know what it's like to be dead," replies Modesty.

That's good enough for me. :-)

"I, Lucifer" (1967) is the third book in the Modesty Blaise series of action thrillers written by Peter O'Donnell back in the 1960's, 1970's and 1980's, a series of books that I really love.

Although I love this series of books I've decided to only give four stars to "I, Lucifer". The reason is that the supernatural plays a very important role in the story, and I'm too much of a skeptic to believe in such things. In addition, a major coincidence occurs that also reduces the believability of the plot in my mind.

The bad guys are always a major element in a Modesty Blaise story. In "I, Lucifer" we meet Seff and his wife Regina, two elderly puppeteers who turned to crime when they could no longer find work due to the closure of the vaudeville theaters. Unlikely villains, but they are described as being so evil that one feels a chill running down ones back.

Seff and his wife have developed a diabolical way of threatening people and demanding protection money. But they happened to have René Vaubois (a friend of Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin) on their list of targets, and he refused to pay when threatened. And René happens to be together with Modesty and Willie when a gang tries to kill him, to set an example for the other targets.

This is the start of a long and complicated story. First Modesty and Willie have to find the bad guys, then they suffer a major setback, and then we are led to the final exciting confrontation.

The high point in this book, in my opinion, is when Modesty and Willie are forced to fight a duel to the death against each other. Of course, I can't reveal what happens, but as usual Peter O'Donnell has created a story with many twists and surprises. And, as usual, the very special relationship between Modesty and Willie is an important and appealing part of the book.

This book introduces Stephen Collier, a recurring figure in several of the later Modesty Blaise books. I have mixed feelings about Stephen Collier, and am never really sure about what it is that Modesty sees in him.

One final point I'll mention is that the paperback edition of this book contains a couple of typographical errors not present in the original hardcover edition. Amazing as it sounds in our post-PC era, the text of books must have been manually re-entered back then when a book was copied from hardcover to paperback.

In conclusion, a great Modesty Blaise adventure, but not one of my favorites because of the emphasis on a certain supernatural ability of one of the characters in the story.

Rennie Petersen