With a Mind to Kill: the action-packed Richard and Judy Book Club Pick (James Bond 007)

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So well written and has the depth that sometimes Fleming didn’t bother with. The 60s Cold War setting works perfectly and there is that sense that Bond is struggling with the idea that his career may be coming to an end and wants to prove himself. But there also an understanding that it is his 00 status that defines him and he can’t imagine a different future. To be clear, Horowitz is in no way the first author anointed by the Fleming estate to continue the adventures of James Bond in book form. That tradition started in 1968 when Kingsley Amis wrote the 007 book Colonel Sun under the pen name “Robert Markham,” just four years after his friend’s death in 1964. But for Bond fans, all the “continuation” books are interesting, and the committed 007 completist will find strong entries like John Gardner’s License Renewed (1981) or William Boyd’s Solo (2013).

The rest of the novel plays out at an uninteresting, plodding pace with an underwhelming finale. It reads so workmanlike, like Horowitz was fulfilling a contract obligation, not because he was inspired. Which is a shame as he seems to have a good handle on Bond as a character. Bond recalls the multiple occasions when he was subjected to significant physical trauma, including his torture at the hands of Le Chiffre, the beating he took at the hands of the Spangled Mob and being put through an endurance course by Dr. No. Indeed, a subplot throughout the novel is Bond wondering how much more punishment he can possibly take and whether or not it's time to resign from the Service. Discover the latest chapter in the world of 007, brought thrillingly to life by Sunday Times bestselling author Anthony Horowitz. Although Horowitz may not have the detailed descriptive talent of Ian Fleming his characters are spot on. Katya Leonova is a wonderful creation & worthy of any Fleming novel, as are many of the characters throughout this novel. At the end of the last Fleming book The man with the Golden Gun we get the return of the oldish 007 more or less. The James Bond before he met his wife Teresa.So it was a downbeat end for the Horowitz Bond trilogy, maybe even qualifying for an Unsatisfactory Ending Alert™. I am rather more hopeful for the new Kim Sherwood Double-00 trilogy which started off with Double or Nothing (September 2022) [4 **** stars] even if it is set up as an intentional icon-breaker. Bond was being abused and he thoughts of quitting. He should quit. Let someone else who hasn’t suffered so much to carry on this work. Being good at his work should make him feel appreciate and treasured as a good employee. WaMtK is a sequel to Fleming's final original novel The Man With the Golden Gun (James Bond #13 - 1965) and can also be read as an imagined end to the canon. That is the reason for my Ambiguous Ending Alert™, about which it would be a spoiler to say anything more. A significant chunk of the novel is taken up with Bond and Katya on a seemingly never-ending first date that develops predictably and is never once compelling. What’s worse is that Horowitz’s usually strong characterisation seems to regress considerably to portray Katya as the worst kind of stereotypical damsel-in-distress. She goes from being an independent, intelligent woman to a simpering, clingy bimbo in no time, existing only to be used by Bond, and Horowitz too, when the narrative suits.

The third Bond book from Anthony Horowitz and, sadly, it looks like it might be his last. I say sadly because the publishers finally found an author who “gets” the character of James Bond and the appropriate plots. This doesn’t really feel that way. Is government agent by nature, in days before HR practice has catch-on on the suffering of the work force. The CIA were going through a selection process to find their top assassin, someone who must be obedient but ruthless. The three shortlisted candidates are given one final task, they are handed a gun and told to go into a room where they will find their wife, and to prove their absolute dedication to the CIA and the US they must kill her. Bond's brief marriage to Tracy in On Her Majesty's Secret Service is discussed by Katya Leonova and Colonel Boris, with the latter expressing her belief that the marriage wouldn't have lasted long had Tracy survived due to Bond's inability to commit to a long-term relationship and domestic life. Towards the end of the novel, Bond muses that he was at least able to make Tracy happy before her death while he was unable to do so for Katya before she sacrificed her life to save his. In a mission where treachery is all around and one false move means death, Bond must grapple with the darkest questions about himself. But not even he knows what has happened to the man he used to be.

Anthony Horowitz

What makes the Horowitz books so compelling and unique is that they really feel like modern versions of Fleming's texts. Horowitz is the only Bond continuation author who was able to use unpublished Ian Fleming material and weave it into wholly original adventures. In Trigger Mortis, this results in some actual Fleming prose lifted from a manuscript called “Hell on Wheels,” which gives one racecar sequence a heart-stopping zing. In Forever and a Day, some of Fleming’s travelogue prose is incorporated, as are some concepts from an unmade James Bond TV series. While these details give the Horowitz Bond novels an extra touch of legitimacy, you’d hardly notice which aspects came from Horowitz and which came from Fleming. The prose style of these books is perfect. If Horowitz were James Bond’s tailor, he’d be like Eva Green in the 2006 movie version of Casino Royale, able to size up Bond and create the perfect suit for him with just one glance. Anthony Horowitz already published two previous Bond adventures. Trigger Mortis was set just after the events of Goldfinger; Forever and a Day was set prior to Casino Royale; and now With a Mind to Kill takes place after the events of The Man With The Golden Gun and is directly influenced by events that occur in Ian Fleming’s final Bond novel. With a Mind to Kill (WaMtK) is Anthony Horowitz's final book in his James Bond trilogy which was commissioned by the Ian Fleming Estate. It follows a mid-career Bond in Trigger Mortis (2015) and a pre-007 Bond in Forever and a Day (2018). In terms of chronology, the latter is a prequel to Fleming's original Casino Royale (James Bond #1 - 1953) and the former follows after Goldfinger (James Bond #7 - 1959). It’s almost uncanny how well Mr. Horowitz summons Bond’s mindset . . . Yet this Bond also feels the winds of change: 'He had his licence to kill. But was it possible that in this new, more questioning age, that licence might have expired?' A drop of retro pleasures, a pinch of things to come; shaken, not stirred."— Wall Street Journal

I find that Horowitz has taken it upon himself to really deliver a decent spy/infiltrator novel with 007 starring and the ending was certainly to my liking. I would have liked to see where Fleming would have gone with his creation as the man died way too early. But this addition is certainly worthy and fits the times of the original 007 stories. So overall it’s a bit of a mixed bag. The writing is certainly well up to standard, fast-paced and exciting in all the right places. When I started reading it seemed like it might be the best of the Horowitz trilogy. Perhaps it was being caught two weeks behind and under pressure to read and review the book, but for me it sometimes falls short as a James Bond novel. The challenge for me whenever I read a James Bond novel is, in my mind’s eye, which version of James Bond do I see? Once I understood the timeline of when WITH A MIND TO KILL, the final novel in Anthony ‘Tony’ Horowitz’s James Bond trilogy was set, I had my answer. While Horowitz 007 was thinking about his past and who played a role in it towards which extend they played a role. You realise that this Bond is a very good 00 agent and does the job so well because he likes and enjoys the job. Some people are just like that.The title and cover of the new James Bond novel by Anthony Horowitz have been announced: With A Mind To Kill will be published on 26 May 2022 by Jonathan Cape. Faking the Dead: M's death is faked to convince the Soviets that their plan to use a brainwashed Bond to assassinate M had succeeded. The objective is to maintain the illusion that Bond is still under the Soviet's control, so that he can return to Russia and infiltrate their new secret organization Stalnaya Ruska. My only real criticsim is the author's constant references to a huge amount of previous Bond adventures by Ian Fleming. Some of these are essential to the story, but many are unnecessary & somewhat laboured. Other Bond continuation novelist like John Gardner & Raymond Benson had the same problem. These endless references to 007's past did irritate me at times, but the last four chapters of With A Mind To Kill are so sublime that (once again!) I'll forgive him.