Dead Man's Handle is the title of a 1985 action-adventure and spy novel written by English writer Peter O'Donnell. It was the eleventh and final full-length novel chronicling the adventures of O'Donnell's comic strip creation, Modesty Blaise. Although O'Donnell continued to write the comic strip, he did not write any further Modesty Blaise prose until the 1996 volume, Cobra Trap, which consisted of short stories. The opening chapters of the novel are set prior to the novel and comic strip and constitute the "origin story" of Blaise's partner, Willie Garvin.
The headquarters of "The Hostel of Righteousness" is an old monastery on the Greek island Kalivari. But this does not imply that the organisation is a particularly holy one. On the contrary, Dr. Thaddeus Pilgrim and his followers are among the most unholy people you could have the misfortune of meeting.
By chance, Willie Garvin and Modesty Blaise are targeted by Dr. Pilgrim, who has an obsession for creating "interesting scenarios". Dr. Pilgrim sends Sibyl and Kazim, his two top assassins, to England to capture Willie Garvin and bring him to Kalivari under heavy sedation. There Dr. Janos Tyl subjects Willie to the most diabolical brainwashing possible for him; he is made to think that a woman called Delilah has brutally murdered Modesty, and that he must now avenge Modesty's death by killing Delilah. Willie is shown pictures of this she-devil Delilah, in reality pictures of Modesty Blaise. In other words, Willie is now programmed to kill Modesty on sight, at which point he will regain his memory, and presumably go insane when he realises what he has done.
Modesty manages to pick up Willie's trail, and she eventually arrives at Kalivari, waiting until after dark to go ashore. Dr. Pilgrim has ensured that Modesty and Willie encounter each other in the old amphitheater, suddenly seeing each other when the spotlights are switched on. Willie doesn't hesitate a moment, he draws his throwing knife and throws it.
The story does not end here, and soon Dr. Pilgrim's obsession with interesting scenarios goes horribly wrong (for him) when Sibyl and Kazim are killed in gladiator-style duels and Dr. Janos Tyl is felled by a heavy round shield thrown frisbee-style by Willie. And finally, the ungodly Dr. Pilgrim meets his fate at the hands of one of his own assassins.
Similarity to earlier comic stripedit
The plot element of Willie being programmed to kill Modesty on sight is a reversal of the scenario featured in the early 1970s comics strip "The Puppet Master" in which it is Modesty Blaise who is kidnapped and programmed to kill Willie.
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dead, handle, safety, device, dead, switch, this, article, does, cite, sources, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, july, . For the safety device see Dead man s switch This article does not cite any sources Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Dead Man s Handle news newspapers books scholar JSTOR July 2023 Learn how and when to remove this template message Dead Man s Handle is the title of a 1985 action adventure and spy novel written by English writer Peter O Donnell It was the eleventh and final full length novel chronicling the adventures of O Donnell s comic strip creation Modesty Blaise Although O Donnell continued to write the comic strip he did not write any further Modesty Blaise prose until the 1996 volume Cobra Trap which consisted of short stories The opening chapters of the novel are set prior to the novel and comic strip and constitute the origin story of Blaise s partner Willie Garvin Dead Man s HandleHardcover first edition 1985 Souvenir PressAuthorPeter O DonnellCountryUnited KingdomLanguageEnglishSeriesModesty BlaiseGenreSpy fictionPublisherSouvenir PressPublication date3 October 1985Media typePrint hardback and paperback Pages240 first edition hardback ISBN0 285 62702 3 first edition hardback OCLC13123492Preceded byThe Night of Morningstar Followed byCobra Trap Plot summary editThe headquarters of The Hostel of Righteousness is an old monastery on the Greek island Kalivari But this does not imply that the organisation is a particularly holy one On the contrary Dr Thaddeus Pilgrim and his followers are among the most unholy people you could have the misfortune of meeting By chance Willie Garvin and Modesty Blaise are targeted by Dr Pilgrim who has an obsession for creating interesting scenarios Dr Pilgrim sends Sibyl and Kazim his two top assassins to England to capture Willie Garvin and bring him to Kalivari under heavy sedation There Dr Janos Tyl subjects Willie to the most diabolical brainwashing possible for him he is made to think that a woman called Delilah has brutally murdered Modesty and that he must now avenge Modesty s death by killing Delilah Willie is shown pictures of this she devil Delilah in reality pictures of Modesty Blaise In other words Willie is now programmed to kill Modesty on sight at which point he will regain his memory and presumably go insane when he realises what he has done Modesty manages to pick up Willie s trail and she eventually arrives at Kalivari waiting until after dark to go ashore Dr Pilgrim has ensured that Modesty and Willie encounter each other in the old amphitheater suddenly seeing each other when the spotlights are switched on Willie doesn t hesitate a moment he draws his throwing knife and throws it The story does not end here and soon Dr Pilgrim s obsession with interesting scenarios goes horribly wrong for him when Sibyl and Kazim are killed in gladiator style duels and Dr Janos Tyl is felled by a heavy round shield thrown frisbee style by Willie And finally the ungodly Dr Pilgrim meets his fate at the hands of one of his own assassins Similarity to earlier comic strip editThe plot element of Willie being programmed to kill Modesty on sight is a reversal of the scenario featured in the early 1970s comics strip The Puppet Master in which it is Modesty Blaise who is kidnapped and programmed to kill Willie nbsp This article about a spy novel of the 1980s is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it See guidelines for writing about novels Further suggestions might be found on the article s talk page vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Dead Man 27s Handle amp oldid 1163223324, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
