Simon Templar, the Saint, Invades the Big AppleThis novel of the Saint is a period piece, harkening back to the days of the corrupt Tammany Hall where judges and politicians were bribed and paved the way of gangsters. Where police interviews used a bright sweating light and the 3rd degree. Where killers walked free from courts of justice and the easiest way to die would be to take on the gangsters. Enter the cool and calm Simon Templar in a case of murder, battle, and sudden death and he is the newest celebrity to down and out.The price for this job is impressive. The challenge is the biggest he's ever known: take down the top hoods, stay one step ahead of the police, and figure out the identity of the top man in the operation known as the Big Fellow. What could be simpler?I was warned this novel would be a turning point in the Saint's life. The Saint has always been ready to take on Death itself. Push it, twist it, and fun. This is one story where he will question his own motives and how to deal with them. Women, egos, fears, and rankled fears of exposure rule the plot of this book.Hire the Saint to be an assassin, fine. Just be aware the Saint is not a man to be used. I was warned The Saint in New York. Watch out, world, Simon Templar is on the loose and enjoying life to it's fullest, thank you very much!
Originally published on my blog here in July 2000.This novel, the first Saint story to be conceived as a novel rather than expanded to that length from work which had already appeared in magazines, established Leslie Charteris as an international bestseller. This is a new Saint, rather more in the line of an American thriller character than he was originally, though still maintaining a trademark line of banter perplexing to his opponents.The three days covered in the novel's plot do require a particularly tough Simon Templar, as he takes on New York's organised crime single handed. Aiming for "The Big Fellow" who has recently taken over, he is twice 'taken for a ride', kills several hoodlums, baits corrupt politicians, and is enchanted by the mysterious Fay Edwards, mouthpiece of the Big Fellow.Aside from the excitement of the plot itself, the novel is remarkable for containing one of the earliest direct attacks on Nazism by a popular writer, among the familiar diatribes against corrupt politicians which give his work something of a radical tinge.
What do You think about The Saint In New York (1984)?
One of the early Saint novels not written in three novellas. ANd it is a nice take upon the sole adventurer who is up against the whole of New Yorks gangsterdom.The Saint gets asked to help out in order to break the back of organised crime in a pre-WOII New York. He comes to town and gets to work with a list of people that are big boys in the crime world and pretty quick people start dying. The Saint meets Henry Fernack a police-officer he likes (and will continue to do so in future books and movies) and a young lady who tickles his fancy and apperently he does hers. In the end the Saint meets the Big Boss and leaves the big Apple having singlehandedly decimated a crime-organisation.This is a somewhat dated but fun adventure of a darker Saint than before and after. This is perhaps as close at the EON folks got to Charteris' hero while creating their moviehero 007.A fun book that I have read often and undoubtely will do so again.
—Mark
