Book Review : Double Or Die by Charlie Higson

Even when I was just a lad, I was a big fan of James Bond. I think it is probably due to the high level of action and the sense of danger that is evident in the films, and  around the time Skyfall came out, I read some of the books. Most of the books, though, I quickly learned the pacing was quite a bit slower and the plots were a bit thinner. Although On Her Majesty's Secret Service remains the only book ever to make me cry.

A few years ago, Charlie Higson started coming out with a new series called Young Bond. The first book, SilverFin starts off with James first arriving at Eton as a new student. Unlike the other boys at the well-known prep school, James was not rich. But That didnt  prevent him from forming a small but loyal group of friends. It was also the start of his high adventures on an international scale.

This is the third volume in the series, which follows after  Blood Fever ( The best of the Young Bond bunch if you ask  me) . James has returned home to Eton after his summer adventures on the Italian isles. The holidays are quickly approaching when his good friend Pritpal receives a letter from Mr. Fairborn, the teacher/advisor of the Crossword Club. It offers his apologies for having to leave and seems to be filled with errors, which Pritpal, James, Perry, and their other friends quickly realize are clues to a cryptic puzzle. It quickly becomes clear that Fairborn did not leave by choice, and he is likely to be in danger.

After a mysterious visit from one of Fairborn's colleague for a planned visit with the Crossword Club. The visit does not go as planned as the visitor is not only rude, but he seems to have no interest in crosswords or any other form  of puzzles. It does  however, provide James and his friends with the first clue, outside of the letter, that they can use to find Fairborn.

James is confronted with an interesting cadre of villains. Sir John Charnage quickly comes to the fore along with the eerie looking brothers, Ludwig and Wolfgang Smith (who are hilarious). They are joined  by  Russian henchwoman, Babushka  in the fight to get a handle on the precursor of computers.

Today's younger readers will get an opportunity to learn about the early attempts by the British secret service to create a machine that will help them with their espionage. Familiar names and terms (to those with knowledge about computer history) such as Charles Babbage, Alan Turing, and binary code are weaved nicely into the storyline , Charlie Higson manages to make the latter interesting without it being overwhelming or boring.

Fans of the series will be thrilled to see the return of siblings Red and Kelly Kelly as they play a crucial role in James' plan. Kelly's feelings toward James are definitely shifting from friendship to something more, perhaps as a precursor to Bond's luck with the ladies.

The series has done a wonderful job in capturing everything that made the film series popular with its nice mix of humor, edge-of-your-seat danger, and an elusive solution the audience must join James in second. Double Or Die isn't just good by the standards of the Young Bond series , it's a book that Ian Fleming would have been proud to call his own if he'd written a book about the Young Bond. Does praise get any higher than that? Probably not.

Book Review: Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz

Plot:
They told him his uncle died in an accident. He wasn't wearing his seatbelt, they said. But when fourteen-year-old Alex finds his uncle's windshield riddled with bullet holes, he knows it was no accident. What he doesn't know yet is that his uncle was killed while on a top-secret mission. But he is about to, and once he does, there is no turning back. Finding himself in the middle of terrorists, Alex must outsmart the people who want him dead. The government has given him the technology, but only he can provide the courage. Should he fail, every child in England will be murdered in cold blood.

Who didn't want to be a spy when they were younger? For most kids it's a fantasy they never grow out of ( i know i haven't ).
 Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz is about a young boy named Alex Rider who happens to be at the right(or wrong) place at the right time. He becomes a spy for MI6 and is given his first mission, which he reluctantly accepts. This book immediately throws you into action packed and suspenseful scenes that never seem to stop.

Stormbreaker is a very well-written novel. Anthony Horowitz clearly has a passion for espionage and has put a great deal of effort into creating a believable and impressive story. It is a very descriptive book, putting a lot of detail into the scenes and people, like telling the reader that Alex is wearing Nike or other Labels at different points in the book. This really makes it easier to visualize the text, especially the action scenes, when so much is happening at once. 

This book is an excellent read for any age. As long as you have a weakness for spies, fighting and saving the world, you will enjoy Stormbreaker.

Anthony Horowitz has written one of the most clever spy books in recent memory, and Alex Rider is  charismatic and easy to relate to. If you haven't read this gem yet, be sure to pick it up. 

Alex Rider is no doubt the inspiration for the equally brilliant Young bond series ,i also have no doubt that the Rider books were good practice for Anthony Horowitz as last year he released an absolute jewel of a James Bond Novel , Trigger Mortis (review here) .

Book Review: The Witness by Simon Kernick

Book Review: The Witness by Simon Kernick

  Those of you who know this blog or follow me on twitter will know that I’m a huge Lee Child fan and when I told a family member this he went into his shed and came back with a stack of thrillers. Amongst these were books by the likes of Peter Robinson, Chris brookmyre, David Baldacci, Jonathan Kellerman, Patricia Cornwell and Simon Kernick.( I may have missed some out , it was quite a large pile)

 That particular Simon Kernick book was Target (which I reviewed on here a while ago http://bookebloke.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/book-review-target-by-simon-kernick.html) I blew through that in about a week and decided to check out some more of Kernick’s work and have since read A Good Day To Die ,The Debt ,One By One and the subject of this review The Witness.

The Witness focuses on Jane Kinnear who witnesses her lover being murdered, and suddenly finds herself with information about a terrorist attack and  maverick DI Ray Mason (who seems to be cut from the same cloth as Dennis Milne) from the Met Counter Terrorism Command is on the case. While Jane and Ray tell their tales in the first person, both flick back to moments that shaped their lives, which gives an insight into what makes them tick.
Kernick expertly builds layers upon layers of intrigue and tension, just as everything starts to fall into place, even more action barges in and delivers a good kicking.  

The Witness is written in a similar style to the Jack Reacher novels. There is also a lot of action  but not so  much that it becomes over-the-top or unbelievable. I thought the plot was very clever and well thought out, with quite a few unexpected twists especially at the end ,but I won't give that away.

The Witness is one of Kernick’s best books to date, if not the best. Regular fans won’t be disappointed and newbies are in for a treat.

 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Witness-Simon-Kernick-ebook/dp/B014XJGURU/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1475427690&sr=1-1&keywords=the+witness

Book Review : Make Me By Lee Child

 Jack Reacher books are a bit like the Bond movies. If they're the same as the one that went before you feel a little let down but then, if they are totally new and different you aren't sure if you like them anymore. Either way you're guaranteed someone will be a whiny little bitch about it.

Lee Child clearly believes in the adage of 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' and he continues to plow the same furrow as always. Thing is, the people who deride him seem to yearn for something new or different, not sure what they are expecting here, Child writes the way he writes, end of story. If it ain't your thing then don't read it.

I certainly haven't tired of reading about Reacher wander into a corrupt little town, unpick a problem, become a thorn in the side for the resident bad guys and go around kicking ass, bedding the attendant beautiful woman then breezing out once he has cracked the problem right open.

It’s set in the current day, with Reacher travelling aimlessly (as ever) and just happening to run into a whole load of trouble. This time he’s on a train passing through a tiny town – called Mother’s Rest  and out of pure curiosity he decides to get off the train, have a look around and move on in a day or two . But as ever with Reacher things are never that simple.

One thing leads to another and he’s soon hopping around to  LA, Chicago, Phoenix, and San Francisco, and   the hidden parts of the internet, accompanied by Chang – a female, ex-FBI private detective – who is “long-limbed and solid, but not where she shouldn’t be”.

I won’t spoil the plot because the book’s neatly constructed so that we (and Reacher) know almost nothing at the start and the plot slowly but surely unfolds. Unlike many Reacher books, where the stories could almost have been set any time in the last 70 years, the plot of this one is bang up to date.

I've noticed some people thought the end was violent - I thought it was in keeping with the type of people that would be involved in the Deep Web .

Despite a suggestion I read in one review you can't suddenly have this eternal loner setting down with a mortgage and an honest job . That would be shit, LC would be pilloried for it and would probably  loose a lot of fans.  Besides he's done that before with Tripwire and The visitor where Reacher found himself with a girlfriend and a house. Child can't have been too keen on that idea because by book 5 the girlfriend had gone to work in London and Reacher was back on the road . Which is where he should be and long may it continue.

If you're a Reacher fan, you'll know what to expect. If not, welcome to the world of Jack Reacher

Book Review - Strange Affair By Peter Robinson

STRANGE AFFAIR BY PETER ROBINSON


Strange Affair is my second Inspector Banks novel and the 15th overall, I finished it about a month ago so my memory of it is a bit sketchy.
 It’s hard to review a book that you finished over a month ago but I’ll give it a go.
After the fire that destroyed Banks' cottage and almost cost him his life in the previous book (playing with fire), this one begins with Banks still away from work and dealing with some major issues like PTSD and depression. He receives a message from his estranged younger brother Roy, asking for his help. Banks tries to reach Roy, who lives in London and can't get in touch with him. Banks decides to go to London and see for himself what happened to his rather questionable younger brother.
He finds that the door to Roy's flat is unlocked and Roy's mobile is on the kitchen table, but it's been twelve hours since the frantic voice mail and Banks has no idea where Roy could be. He begins to investigate on his own. Back home in Yorkshire, the body of a young woman is found on an abandoned country road. She had been forced off the road and shot to death. DI Annie Cabot is assigned the case.
A note with Alan Banks' old address is found in the back pocket of her jeans, so Annie is tasked with trying to find Banks. They meet up in London, and they find out that their two cases are somehow linked. Both of them are doing their own investigation and they find themselves in the dangerous underworld of prostitution, smuggling and human trafficking.
Things get very dicey for both of them, and Banks suffers another unimaginable loss when his brother Roy winds up floating in the river Thames, this causes  Annie to worry about his well-being and Banks is pulled off the case ,but Annie does keep him informed.

This is a very interesting novel which shows us more about the relationship of Alan Banks and his brother Roy. I feel that this book really excels in all areas, character development, plot, suspense, dialogue, and atmosphere. The story was well-paced and Robinson throws enough curveballs  to keep you guessing  until the very end.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes police procedurals.

 Now I’ve finished the Jack Reacher books I need something to fill the void and from the 2 books I’ve read so far the Inspector Banks novels may well the series for the job.

Book review : Shaken Not Stirred By Aaron Cooley

I first heard about Aaron Cooley's shaken not stirred whilst he was being interviewed on the excellent James Bond Radio podcast. Aaron is also kind enough to follow me on twitter and I promised that I would write a review of Shaken Not Stirred as soon as I found some time.

I’ve never been much of a fan of historical fiction but the idea of a fictionalised version of Ian Fleming's WW2 exploits and the story of how that would lead him to create James Bond was an intriguing one.

Before i get into the review properly i should explain that this book took me quite a while to finish, not because it was bad or anything but because I was stressed out with college work and was reading other stuff. I should probably explain that I’m writing this review about a month after I finally finished the book (for the reason I’ve just outlined) which means I’m writing from memory (which is pants) so  some details may have escaped me .

Synopsis: Haven’t you ever wondered what inspired the creation of fiction’s greatest secret agent? Author Aaron Cooley takes the reader on a World War II thrill ride across two continents and six nations in pursuit of the answer to this question. A first-time British spy is on the trail of the Allies’ most important Double Agent, on a mission to determine his loyalty before he can hand over the means of creating history’s most devastating weapon to the Nazis. Before his mission is over, this young Briton will be inspired to create a fictional super-agent who will one day become one of literature’s most famous characters. An engaging, fantastical what-could-have-been, SHAKEN, NOT STIRRED is not to be missed by World War II buffs, literary devotees, and especially, fans of Her Majesty’s most famous spy.

 Shaken, Not Stirred is a fictionalized account of Ian Fleming’s wartime work, but it’s easy to imagine it really happening.

In Shaken, Not Stirred, a young Ioan is working for   Naval Intelligence and he’s sent to the Congo to find and report back to MI6 about   the whereabouts of double agent Dusan Petrović. His inexperience is apparent and he stands out like a sore thumb. While Petrović could have easily looked the other way, he takes Ioan under his wing, nick names him Phlegm and teaches him how to be a spy.

At first Ioan isn’t sure what to make of Petrović (neither was I) Does Petrović have a master plan or does he feel sorry for Ioan? Perhaps this is the nature of a double agent. Together Ioan and Petrović navigate the perils of being agents and Ioan gets a little more than he anticipated. Throughout the novel, we get glimpses of what would eventually inspire Ioan to create James Bond.

Ioan gets a code name and is introduced to gadgets Bond would be happy to use. We’re also introduced to would be Bond Girl, Christine who has a preference for martinis. It’s through Christine, Ioan quickly learns how women play a role in espionage. Petrović tells him,  "If you take one lesson from me, Phlegm, never forget the number one rule of espionage: Women are a business expense. You allow yourself to expect anything more out of them, you lower your defences. To a knife in the back." It’s at this exact moment, a reader can understand Fleming and why women are the “business expense,” in a Bond novel.

I must confess that i don't read much historical fiction (nothing against it , it just isn't my thing) and that I weren't a  mahoosive bond fan i might not have picked this up BUT. I really enjoyed Shaken, Not Stirred. It’s thoroughly researched and well written. It’s a different take on the life of Ian Fleming.

 Cooley  mixes Fiction  with reality and as I've said, he does a superb job with the research. Several events included are based on true events such as the Heisenberg and Dibner rivalry and it goes hand in hand with Hitler’s pursuit of the bomb. Petrović and several other characters bring up the ‘what if’ Hitler gets the bomb, which is a question a lot of people asked themselves at the time. Cooley kept me on the edge of my seat and afterwards all I could think of was, “thank god Hitler didn’t get there first.”  It’s something you’ll be thinking as you read.

Readers will easily recognize aspects of the Bond novels and films. In fact, if you’ve read Casino Royale or seen the film version, the scene where Bond watches Le Chiffre at the card table is familiar in Shaken, Not Stirred. This time it’s with Ioan and Petrović and a set of cards with Skorzeny and a game of Baccarat. Prior to Ioan joining Petrović and Skorzeny, Petrović sends him a suit and Ioan asks why. Petrović says it’s to seduce Christine and here we can see the birth of the immaculate Bond in his tux. It works well enough for Ioan since Christine waits for him in his room and says, ‘Why Ioan. I thought spies were meant to be suave. Debonair.’ Ioan replies ‘I was ill that day at spy school.’ That is a line that wouldn't be out of place in a Bond film.

 After I finished reading shaken not stirred I went back to that James Bond Radio podcast and I found out something that astonished me ,  shaken not stirred is Aaron's first novel but it's so well written you'd never guess it .  Shaken, Not Stirred is without a doubt a must read for any James Bond fan.    Cooley has done the near-impossible: crafted a spy thriller that   Ian Fleming himself would have been proud to call his own. It’s one of The best books I've read this year , in fact it’s almost as good as this year’s official Bond book : Trigger Mortis. 

Book Review : Cold Is The Grave By Peter Robinson.

Jack Reacher, November Man, Bond and Bourne are all thriller series I’d thoroughly recommend and after reading Cold Is the Grave by Peter Robinson I would add the Inspector Banks novels to that list. 

Cold Is the Grave is the eleventh outing for Inspector Banks.  

Description from the back cover:

Detective Inspector Banks’s relationship with Chief Constable Riddle has always been strained. So Banks is more than a little surprised when Riddle summons him late one night and begs for his help.

For Riddle, Banks’s new case is terrifyingly close to home. Six months ago his sixteen-year old daughter ran away to London, where she has fallen into a turbulent world of drugs and pornography. With his reputation threatened, Riddle wants Banks to use his unorthodox methods to find her without fuss. But before he knows it, Banks is investigating murder …

Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks had never had a good relationship with Chief Constable 'Jimmy' Riddle, so he was more than surprised when the Chief Constable summoned him late one night and begged for his help. Six months previously Riddle's daughter, sixteen year old Emily, ran away to London and became involved with drugs and pornography. Riddle wants Banks to go to London and find his daughter – and try to persuade her to return home. He also wants Banks to go as a private individual rather than as a policeman. Banks agrees to go; he knows how he would have felt if the same thing had happened to his daughter Tracy.

 Emily Riddle, sixteen going on thirty, ran away from home after leaving her parents in disarray. She made demands of them and then when they gave her what she wanted she loathed them all the more for it. Banks finds her living with a thug named Barry Clough, but he has had other names. Clough is a gangster with a rock star image of himself and a penchant for underage girls. After posing as her father Banks extracts the girl, dodges a potentially career ending temptation to sleep with her, and returns the girl to her parents. 

One month later she is found dead in a nightclub toilet , murdered by a mixture of cocaine and strychnine. Banks finds it difficult to stand back and be objective. It becomes personal to him and Detective Superintendent Gristhorpe has to warn Banks,

‘Don’t let anger and a desire for revenge cloud your judgement? Look clearly at the evidence, the facts before you make any moves. Don’t go off half-cocked the way you’ve done in the past’. (page 192)

He and his team, including Detective Sergeant Annie Cabot, are also investigating the death of Charlie Courage, a small-time crook. Their investigations take them from their base in Eastvale, Yorkshire down to London, Stony Stratford, and Leicestershire, with links to crime in Northumbria. At first this seems to be unrelated to Emily’s death but Banks begins to suspect that the two cases may be linked.

More complications follow with blackmail, another death and suicide, but eventually Banks and Annie work their way through the maze of events. Banks, though, has more victims of crime to add to those that bother his sleep with feelings of guilt, thinking that he should have dug deeper, and that he could have prevented the murders. He knew there was ‘something desperately out of kilter with the Riddle family’, and realises that Emily’s death was ‘murder from a distance, perhaps even death by proxy, which made it all the more bloody to solve.’ (page 271)

Weaving together threads of plot from characters pasts, presents and futures, Robinson builds a case that involves more than just one crime and more than just one character. This was a great 'who-dunnit' from beginning to end, with   plot twist’s that always ensure your best guesses will be wrong.

This is the 11th book in the Inspector Banks series and refers back to incidents in previous books. It’s not too difficult to follow if you haven’t read all the others (as I haven’t) but I think it would help and I wish that I had. It’s also a bit too long for my liking .However, this is still a good read and I’ve already moved on to my next Inspector Banks novel ‘A strange Affair’ 

Film Review: The November Man

Playing 007 is both a curse and a blessing because any actor who has played Bond will always be best remembered for that role regardless of whatever other films they make, no matter how good they may be. Take Sean Connery who in my book was the best Bond and has made some bloody brilliant films and is one of my favourite actors. He is a legend, make no mistake, but with the six Bond films he made, he tried his best to shake off the character with other films that were not as successful until probably the late 80's to early 90's which is when I think he made the best of his non Bond films.
George Lazenby hasn't done a great deal acting wise post-Bond but he seems to be happy enough with his one performance as Bond and doesn't mind being associated with it .

Roger Moore, another legend and national treasure, seems more relaxed about the whole Bond thing and still enjoys being associated with the character.  
Timothy Dalton has done some great films post Bond (Hot Fuzz , Toy Story 3) and he too seems to enjoy being remembered for being Bond.

Daniel Craig seems to be doing very well with making a clear line in the sand when it comes to his more serious Bond and making other films like the very enjoyable Cowboys And Aliens, Defiance,The Golden Compass ,Flashbacks Of a Fool and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo , aswell as the forthcoming NASCAR movie Logan Lucky and TV series Purity.

Now, we have Pierce Brosnan who was also brilliant as 007 but he has stated in recent interviews that he wanted to play Bond more realistically and he was not 100% happy with his efforts. He shouldn't be so hard on himself because there was nothing wrong with his Bond movies ( apart from Die Another Day). Granted, he didn't have the best scripts to work with but you can't really blame him for that .

 However, I do admire his honesty  and the fact he remains  humble about having had one of the best jobs in the world.

This brings me onto The November Man which is a real jewel of an espionage action thriller. Brosnan plays a retired CIA agent Peter Devereaux (code name The November Man) who is lured out of retirement for that "one last job". The job: to protect a witness targeted for assassination who is played by ex Bond girl Olga Kurylenko. Then we have an ex student agent of Devereaux who has a personal score to settle after being dropped from the CIA training program by Deveraux.

There are lots of clever twists and turns in the film so I won't go and give it all away but rest assured you will love this film if you are into fast paced no nonsense action. Brosnan plays his role very well indeed, showing us how he wanted to play Bond in the first place and then some ,one scene where Deveraux puts a knife to a girls throat and then severs an artery is something you wouldn't see even in a Timothy Dalton Bond film.
Deveraux is angry and brutal throughout and Brosnan clearly enjoyed being able to do something different .

Sadly The November Man got a shockingly bad  release in Britain but it is on Netflix ,Itunes and Amazon Video . But if you want it on DVD or Blu Ray you'll have to import it,  the one i bought came from Poland.

 Lets hope that for the sequel Brosnan's production company chooses a better distributor.
I Have to say though that i thoroughly enjoyed The November Man and if you want a taste of what Brosnan's 5th Bond film could have been like it's worth a look.

Book Review - Lee Child : Personal

BOOK REVIEW: LEE CHILD - PERSONAL

I know that some fans think the Reacher books have gone off the boil of late with 2012’s A Wanted Man being a low point and I admit that one was a bit subpar but a bad Reacher book can still be a good read (and I didn’t think AWM was that bad anyway). Happily however it seems that lee child’s   mojo has been slowly returning and I’m happy to report that in the 19^th book personal it’s almost back.

I won't summarise the plot because other reviewers elsewhere have done that and it's been sometime since i've read it so i can't remember.
What I will say is that if you like Reacher to be involved in fist fights, gun fights, and outwitting people with that oh-so-logical mind of his, then look no further.

I liked the location being moved (briefly to Paris, and then to London/Essex). I think the last time Reacher was in the UK was for The Hard Way, but that was a rural set-up, and it was good to see him in London (with some amusing, tongue-in-cheek observations about British peculiarities along the way). I know that the Reacher we know and love is the one doing his Littlest Hobo routine, moving from one US state to another, and those stories are still my favourites, but I don't think a change does any harm once in a while.

Living oop North, I don't know how realistic the Romford Boys are but really, does it matter? They made for a satisfying gang of baddies, especially 'Little' Joey who, at 6'11", is Reacher's largest adversary since (I think) the huge guy in Persuader. As someone who's never had any training in unarmed combat, nor often finds myself in situations I need to fight my way out of (thankfully), I always find the fight scenes fascinating. Lee Child is the only author I know of who goes into such lengthy descriptions of a fight which only lasts for a couple of minutes maximum.

As regards the character of Casey Nice, I liked her. She was well thought-out and intriguing. She demonstrated that even CIA agents are human. Lee Child did a good job of keeping their relationship purely platonic/professional (the bit where Reacher has a right old perv at her arse notwithstanding). Nice is in her twenties, Reacher is in his mid/late forties so a sexual relationship between them would have been gratuitous and inappropriate.

The reveal at the ending was a good'un - I didn't see it coming - and things were tied up nicely. All in all, a really satisfactory read. If you've not read a Reacher book before, you won't be disappointed. If you're a Reacher fan who feels he's gone off the boil of late, then take heart from him being back.

Overall Personal is a nice change of scenery and a worthy addition to the series. In fact it feels like a bit like James Bond novel (an observation Lee Child himself has made ), I get the impression that Personal is what a Lee Child Bond novel might have been like.

But For those of you who want Reacher to be on foot, righting wrongs in some dusty, sparsely-populated US state, smashing faces with his elbows ,drinking gallons of coffee and getting involved in massive bar fights then I have good news the 20^th Reacher book ‘Make Me’ is exactly that and there will be a review of that once I’ve finished it.

Book Review:Trigger Mortis By Anthony Horowitz

Book Review: Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz

You know how everyone went bonkers over Go Set a Watchman a few months back? Well the book I’m about to review is my equivalent of that.

I should probably point out that whilst I watch at least one bond film a week I don’t read the books as often purely because there’s much more time involved and I have loads of other stuff to read .

Before I get into the review of Trigger Mortis let’s take a moment to go over the previous James Bond books because as I’ve said in a previous blog about Trigger Mortis (http://bookebloke.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/trigger-mortis.html) the Bond books and yes , I'm including Fleming in this are a bit of a mixed bag.

Fleming – So far I’ve Read Casino Royale, DR.NO (audiobook), Goldfinger (audiobook), Octopussy And The Living Daylights (audiobook) and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service ( my favourite book of all time)  , I need to revisit them at some stage and read the rest of them whilst I’m at it.

Colonel sun- never read it

John Gardner – read a few of them but not all of them. The ones I have read were reasonably good albeit not particularly memorable. (Goldeneye, Win Lose or Die and Icebreaker)

Raymond Benson – only read one and that was a novelisation of the world is not enough , also dipping in and out of The Facts Of Death.

Sebastian Faulks – I don’t know about anyone else but I get the impression he read the Fleming books, nicked some ideas and put them in a book. Some good moments but I don’t think I’ll ever read that one again. I also thought Faulks "writing as Ian Fleming " was nothing more than marketing bullshit. Not exactly the best way to mark Fleming's 100th birthday.

Young bond – Started reading them this year and I’m loving them. Charlie Higson should be writing the adult Bond novels.

Jeffery Deaver –  A lot of people hated Carte Blanche and I’ll admit that has put me off somewhat , I might give it a chance one day but I’m not rushing.

 William Boyd – A good effort and arguably the best of the recent bond books, but like devil may care I can’t see myself reading it again any time soon ,it’s not that solo is a bad book but it’s no Any Human Heart.

Because of the mediocrity of the last few continuation novels I went into Trigger Mortis with low expectations, just to be on the safe side.

Trigger mortis takes place 2 weeks after Goldfinger (luckily references to that novel are explained) and it’s unique because for the first time ever in a continuation novel trigger mortis uses previously unseen material written by Ian Fleming.  The material in question is a treatment for an episode of a never made James bond TV show. The episode is called “murder on wheels “and is also a chapter title in the book.  

The race sequence is fantastically written, a surprise when you learn that Horowitz knew virtually nothing about 50’s motor racing when he started to write the book.

 Of course it wouldn’t be a bond novel without an absolute bastard of a villain, he is named Jai Seung Sin. Sin is aligned with SMERSH(precursor to SPECTRE).

 The evil scheme this time round is outer space and the space race not to mention sin’s plan to wipe out half of New York (for fun) Like all bond villains sin is comically sadistic, and who lets his adversaries and henchmen play an ancient Korean card game that will force them to choose their own manner of death.

Bond is also forced to play this game (after a lengthy explanation of sin’s backstory) and is quite literally buried alive and you really do find yourself thinking ‘is Bond going to get out of this?’ it probably won’t surprise you to learn that he does. But not without a few tense moments.

The novel flows brilliantly, especially events at the Nürburgring and Sin’s various buildings and the climax which sees bond hanging off the side of a train whilst trying to defuse a bomb. The manner in which sin dies is particularly gruesome.

Apart from a couple of niggles, which are so small I won't even bother mentioning them Trigger Mortis is a triumph. 

Horowitz has perfectly imitated Fleming’s exquisite eye for detail in all manner of things from food and wine, to cars, weaponry and Space Age technology. Action sequences in the novel exude the perfect balance of tension and excitement which make the novel such a thrilling and compelling read, but he also intersperses it with changes of scenery which provides some relief but also makes the reader hungry for whatever is next.

 I hope that the Fleming estate sign him up for at least one more.

Oh, and thanks to riot communications, Anthony Horowitz and event magazine for the signed copy. 

Edit : Since this review was written The Fleming Estate has announced that Horrowitz has signed up to write a second Bond novel ,which will once again use unseen Fleming material and will be published in 2018.

Book Review – Target by Simon Kernick

Book Review – Target by Simon Kernick

 Who would have thought a few drinks with your best friend's ex could lead to such devastating consequences?

  When wannabe writer Rob Fallon bumps into his best mates ex, Jenny Brakspear on a night out in London he has no idea what he’s getting himself into, after a few drinks they end up back at jenny’s flat, with rob feeling guilty before anything has even happened.

Whilst Rob is in the bathroom two assailants kidnap Jenny .Unable to stay hidden rob makes a run for it, narrowly avoiding being killed… for now. Rob optimistically hopes the police can help.

 Tina Boyd is the on duty officer who listens to Fallon’s story and takes it upon herself to investigate. There is only one problem though –there isn’t one piece of evidence. When Boyd and fallon return to jenny’s apartment they discover that the doorman hasn’t seen anything and that Jenny’s flat is spotless even Rob’s jacket is gone. To put the final nail in the coffin it turns out that there is no CCTV footage of Fallon and Brakspear or the kidnappers entering the building.  Despite every instinct telling her that Fallon is a delusional piss head Boyd can’t help but feel that something isn’t right.

Her boss believes that there is nothing to investigate so Boyd turns to an ex colleague and peruses the case on her own and calls in Rob Fallon to help her out, soon enough both of them are fighting for their lives – Rob has witnessed a friend being killed right in front of him as a warning to let things lie and Tina has been kidnapped.

Eventually Mike bolt Tina’s  colleague takes the investigation and discovers the real reason for Jenny’s kidnapping – a planned terrorist attack involving mustard gas, imported into Britain by Jenny’s father , who runs a small time gas company. At this point the book turns into a cross between a Bond movie and an episode of 24.

From this point the book absolutely flies and it becomes clear that jenny’s kidnapping is only a small part of the plot. IRA members, Underworld criminals, Company director’s and city boys all seem to be connected to the plot, but how?

Will everyone survive? Or will thousands of innocents face death by mustard gas?

  In short this book was fucking awesome and I’d recommend it to anyone, thriller fans or not.

Final thoughts in bullet point form

·         Tina Boyd is the female equivalent of Jack Bauer

·         Keeley Hawes would make a good Tina Boyd.

·         I’m seriously tempted to read the book again. Immediately

·         Although seriously tense the second half of the book has some genuinely funny moments.

·         The second half of The book is like a cross between a Bond movie and an episode of 24.