The Saint is a nickname given to Simon Templar, a sleuth who seems to be quicker than the police detectives at tracking down criminals and sorting out mysteries. Just like the author, The Saint is very much against war.
The author cleverly manages to paint a scene with his descriptive writing style, opening the novel with The Saint on an evening drive with his fiance Patricia, whilst listening to the radio. They spot a fire and drive up to the burning mansion where the story unfolds. The Saint attempts to heroically rescue one unaccounted for person to no avail. He quickly suspects murder has taken place.
The reader is swiftly taken on a journey of tracking down a motive for murdering the fire victim, John Kennet. We learn that John Kennet was in possession of crucial evidence in what turns out to be a plot to cause a French revolution and to start a civil war. This novel features a small cast of characters, with plodding detectives; good friends who help him in his quest to track down the evidence and to prevent a war and the fascist Sons of France and their allies in the shape of aristocrats planning a war all for the greedy hope of making a lot of money through dealing with the firearms and amunitions. The search for the evidence becomes a cat and mouse game with The Saint eventually finding himself chasing down one lady, Lady Valerie Woodchester, who has the key piece of information, a negative of a photo. The Sons of France are also keen to track down this evidence, as they would wish to destroy it as it would implicate them in causing misery and bring them undone.
I admire the writing style of this author, but it is very dense. I recommend reading it at length, preferably in one sitting as there are many details worth remembering. There is a surprising twist at the end of the novel too.
A terrific novel that does not shy away from highlighting the characters that lurk in the background doing dirty deals in munitions. I found it quite interesting to be reading this novel over the Anzac Day holiday. Lest We Forget.
Review by Bianca
