With A Mind To Kill by Anthony Horowitz
Horowitz has written several books continuing the work of famous authors, notably Conan Doyle/Sherlock Holmes and Ian Fleming/James Bond. I read one of his Holmes books, ‘House of Silk’, and enjoyed it. This one, a Bond story, not so much. All his work in this genre (it’s probably rude to call it fanfic) is approved by the people who control the legacy of the characters.
It gets off to a rather clunky start with rather too much ‘new readers start here’ explanation which, I suspect, most readers won’t need or want. Further into the story it moves well but more than anything I felt I was reading a written version of a Bond movie. All the expected tropes are there – Russian villains, evil doctors, glamorous women for Bond to take to bed, torture and violence, and a climactic showdown at a famous landmark. Horowitz has taken his Bond further: he is now positively embracing the idea of packing all the 007 stuff in, but the ending leaves open the possibility of just one more time.
As far as I can remember I’ve only read two Bond books, Casino Royale and Dr No, and they were both a long time ago. Maybe all the later books have been in this style and Horowitz has faithfully stuck with it, but I had hoped for something a bit more intriguing and demanding of the reader rather than watching a movie in my head.
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