Just finished Max Philips Eye of the Archangel (written under
the Forrest DeVoe pseudonym) and I have to say I'm impressed
with his recreation of Monaco of 1963. Like the previous
Mallory & Morse offering, Into the Volcano, the two
halves of the book are set in different locales. The second
half of Archangel is set in the "evil lair" of the villain in
the Swiss Alps. If this makes the book sound like a 60s spy
spoof, it is, but fear not, the book never stoops to the
satirical silliness of Derek Flint or Austin Powers movies.
In fact the villains in these first two novels are much more
three-dimensional and less comic-book-like than even Ian
Fleming's, though no less megalomaniacal.
As I mentioned in a previous posting, Mallory & Morse are
like an American version of The Avengers and, in fact, are
set during the same time period. There is also a little bit
of Modesty Blaise in the character of Laura Morse and a
little bit of Matt Helm in Jack Mallory. So, if you're a fan
of the aforementioned characters of the 60s, I recommend this
book. I enjoyed both of them every bit as much as anything
that was actually written in the 60s.
Jeff
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