threats and perils Templar would face, he would survive them all and live to have new adventures in the next book and the next. Conversely, in the present book Charteris drops many hints that Norman Kent is in effect "fey", meaning doomed to die—for example, his hopeless but gallant love for Patricia Holm. Norman Kent, rather than Templar, is the true protagonist—certainly in the book's later parts. With reference to this book, Caroline Whitehead and George McLeod wrote: (...) Norman Kent is an archetypal knight-errant. Though formally a man of 20th Century England, he lives (and dies) by the Code of Chivalry. He loves totally his Lady, Patricia Holm—who, like Don Quixote's Dulcinea, is not aware of that love. He is totally loyal to his Liege Lord, Simon Templar. Like Sir Gawain in "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", Norman Kent takes on threats made to his Lord, wholly and without reservation. Not only physical threats to life and limb, but also the sometimes unavoidable necessity to perform dishonorable acts which would have reflected badly on the reputation of King Arthur/Simon Templar are taken unflinchingly by Sir Gawain/Norman Kent. The third sentence of this, however, is contradicted by Patricia herself: "Dear Pat," said Norman Kent, "I've always longed for a chance to serve you. And now it's come. You knew I loved you, didn't you?" She touched his hand. "Don't, Norman dear … please! … Of course I knew. I couldn't help knowing. I'm so sorry…". Updated edition In a foreword to the 1964 Hodder Paperback edition of Featuring the Saint, Charteris admits to "in a few cases" succumbing to the temptation of updating his earliest Saint stories. One such example occurs in the 1963 Hodder Paperback edition of The Saint Closes the Case where references to Mussolini and the League of Nations are changed to Khrushchev (misspelled "Kruschev") and the United Nations. Adaptations Although the novel itself has yet to be adapted on film, the 2013 television pilot The Saint, released in 2017, featured Rayt Marius as its villain. It was also adopted for radio by the BBC in 1995. References External links Review of the book Portion of the story 1930 British novels 1930 science fiction novels British science fiction novels Simon Templar books Novels by Leslie Charteris Novels first published in serial form Works originally published in British magazines Hodder & Stoughton books