A few thoughts about With a Mind to Kill

Anthony Horowitz has completed his James Bond continuation novel trilogy. While there’s a lot to recommend it, there are some things to consider.

Horowitz is a pro. He paces his stories well. He’s done his research on Ian Fleming’s original novels and short stories. And, with his first two Bond novels (but not With a Mind to Kill), he got to mine some unpublished Fleming material.

At the same time, Horowitz closely ties his Bond adventures to Fleming’s timeline. Essentially, he provides extended annexes to Fleming. Forever and a Day takes place shortly before Casino Royale. Trigger Mortis occurs shortly after Goldfinger. With a Mind to Kill starts two weeks after The Man With the Golden Gun.

Horowitz’s ending for his final Bond novel builds a wall between it and Colonel Sun by Kingsley Amis, the first Bond continuation novel published in 1968. In fact, Horowitz, in the acknowledgments doesn’t refer to Amis but his pen name, Robert Markham. Horowitz’s ending is intended as the final word on Fleming’s Bond.

Writing a Bond continuation novel isn’t easy. Detractors say some books are James Bond in name only. Other critics will say other Bond continuation books are mere pastiche, a faded copy of an original.

Even a gifted writer such as Horowitz, in With a Mind to Kill, felt the need to use footnotes. It’s a more restrained version of the editor’s notes that Stan Lee used in Marvel comic books to clue new readers into the events of prior issues.

Is With a Mind to Kill worth a reader’s time? If the reader is a fan of the literary Bond, certainly.

Still, after completing this new novel, I was reminded of how Ian Fleming was an original. Fleming crammed 90 years of living into a little more than 56.

Horowitz himself acknowledges this.

“Bond is a unique creation,” he writes in the acknowledgments. “The books have had an extraordinary impact all over the world. It makes me proud to think that from now on I may be a footnote in his history.”

That won’t stop Ian Fleming Publications. Kim Sherwood’s upcoming “James Bond novels without James Bond” are coming up.

Still, I think of a friend of mine. He tells me he re-reads the Flemings every year. He calls it rereading the Scriptures.

A sampling of With a Mind to Kill reviews

With a Mind to a Kill, the third James Bond continuation novel by Anthony Horowitz, is out.

The new novel is set after the events of Ian Fleming’s last novel, The Man With the Golden Gun. Here are some excerpts from reviews. Some spoilers follow. So go no further if you don’t wish to view them.

JAMES OWEN, THE TIMES (LONDON): Horowitz’s novel “has Bond pretending that he succeeded in shooting M, for whom a fake funeral is staged. The plan is for 007 to ‘escape’ to Moscow, like the real-life traitor George Blake.”

“Bond in the USSR is a neat conceit, but it’s not an escapist one. Although some of the quite short novel takes place in a swish hotel, shabby Moscow in the 1960s has little of the glamour that distinguishes the character (and not just in the films) from what George Lazenby might have termed ‘the other guys’. “

KIRKUS REVIEWS: “Horowitz completes his James Bond trilogy—begun in Trigger Mortis (2015) and Forever and a Day (2018)—by providing what would be the nonpareil British spy’s final adventure if only all those other earlier scribes hadn’t preceded him at the feast….Not nearly as ingenious as Horowitz’s meta-whodunits but well above average among post–Ian Fleming Bonds.”

AJAY CHOWDHURY, MI6 HQ.COM: “We live in an age where the tale of the movie Bond wags the dog of literary Bond. For the person given carte blanche to renew Bond’s literary licence for a solo mission every few years, they must conceive of a genuinely novelistic conceit that surprises and delights the wizened reader. It can be a thankless mission….Horowitz’s tale is dense with detail on period Moscow and the verisimilitude of psychological warfare.”

The Times provides a preview of Horowitz’s new Bond novel

Cover for With a Mind to Kill

The Times, one of publisher Rupert Murdoch’s “respectable” U.K. publications (as opposed to his trashy tabloids), has provided a preview of Anthony Horowitz’s third James Bond continuation novel, With a Mind to Kill. The novel is scheduled to be published at the end of this month.

Horowitz’s new story begins with a funeral. After a botched attempt to kill M by a brainwashed 007 in Golden Gun, M’s “burial” is now arranged and faked to fool the Russians, allowing Bond, who has now got his patriotic senses back, to go back behind the Iron Curtain to collect intelligence.

Bond must ingratiate himself with evil Colonel Boris, an expert in mind control with a place called “the magic room” in his lair, where 007 has already endured isolation, psychedelic drugs and torture.

Horowitz told The Times he penned the tale “long before the invasion [of Ukraine] began. And I’m just aware that I don’t want to be, as it were, promoting it on the back of what’s happening. It’s difficult, but it is timely, that’s for sure.” 

Russian leader Vladimir Putin is a former official in the KGB. He is suspected of ordering the murders of his opponents.

Horowitz’s continuation novels are based on the timeline of Ian Fleming’s original Bond novels. Trigger Mortis took place in the middle of the Fleming timeline (after the events of Goldfinger) while Forever And a Day took place before Fleming’s debut novel Casino Royale.

With a Mind to Kill occurs toward the end of the Fleming literary timeline. Various Bond websites have already received their advance copies so expect a surge of reviews at the end of this month.

With a Mind to Kill is title of new Bond novel

With a Mind to Kill is the title of author Anthony Horowitz’s third James Bond continuation novel, Ian Fleming Publications announced today.

The book, to be published in May 2022, takes place after the events of The Man With the Golden Gun, Ian Fleming’s final Bond novel. IFP provided a cover image and brief synopsis on Twitter.

It is M’s funeral. One man is missing from the graveside: the traitor who pulled the trigger and who is now in custody, accused of M’s murder – James Bond.

We are thrilled to reveal a new #JamesBond title from @AnthonyHorowitz!#WithAMindToKill will be publishing in May 2022. pic.twitter.com/KTLMp4vS0D

— Ian Fleming (@TheIanFleming) December 16, 2021

Horowitz’s two previous Bond continuation novels were Trigger Mortis (set following the events of Fleming’s Goldfinger novel) and Forever and a Day (set before the events of Casino Royale).

In connection with the title reveal, The Express ran a feature story on Horowitz. The writer, Matt Nixson, tweeted out an image of the article.

Thrilled to reveal title and set-up of @AnthonyHorowitz's ace new (& last) #JamesBond book in #Express #WithAMindToKill (pub May 26) sees M murdered… and 007 accused of pulling the trigger! Thanks Anthony for talking so frankly about life, work and influences. A real privilege! pic.twitter.com/P7hRBXtgxU

— Matt Nixson (@MattNixson) December 16, 2021

Details about Horowitz’s 3rd Bond novel emerge

The Ian Fleming Publications 007 logo

Some details about Anthony Horowitz’s third James Bond novel have emerged via HarperCollins’ website.

HarperCollins lists the novel as “Unti Bond #3.” Here’s part of the description from the publisher:

Iconic spy 007 must pose as a double agent to infiltrate a secret Soviet intelligence organization planning an attack on the West—and face off against a man who could be the most diabolical enemy he’s ever encountered—in internationally bestselling author Anthony Horowitz’s third James Bond novel.

The Soviet counterintelligence agency SMERSH may be defeated, but a new organization, Stalnaya Ruska, has arisen from its ashes. Under Moscow’s direction, the group is planning a major act of terrorism which, if successful, will destabilize relations between East and West.

Returning from Jamaica and his encounter with Scaramanga (The Man with the Golden Gun), James Bond ponders his future. He is aware of a world that is changing all too rapidly around him. The old certainties of the early postwar years are gone. Disdain for the establishment is rising, and the intelligence services are no longer trusted. Bond is beginning to wonder if his “license to kill” is still valid.

But the threat to the free world remains all too real, and now 007 has a new assignment: discover what Stalnaya Ruska is planning and prevent it from happening. To succeed, Bond will have to make the Russians believe he’s a double agent and travel behind the Iron Curtain.

First though, he will have to convince Sonya Dragunova, the Soviet psychiatric analyst as brilliant—and as dangerous—as she is beautiful. Sonya knows more of what’s happening in Bond’s mind than he does himself. She’s also hiding secrets of her own. It’s a love affair that is also a treacherous game.

Sonya’s boss is a man who has previously played his part to bring Bond and the West down behind the scenes in two previous Bond novels—but who has never yet appeared, until now. A Fleming creation, the evil genius responsible for Stalnaya Ruka just may be Bond’s most dangerous enemy yet.

Horowitz previously penned Trigger Mortis (2015), which took place after the events of Goldfinger, and Forever and a Day (2018), set before Casino Royale, the first Bond novel by Ian Fleming.

Both books incorporated previously unpublished material by Fleming.

Ian Fleming Publications commissioned a number of novels by John Gardner and Raymond Benson from 1981 to 2002. Starting in 2008, IFP had a series of one-offs. With Horowitz’s arrival, IFP has gone with the author on “adult” Bond novels.

UPDATE: John Cox of The Book Bond site says “FYI, Anthony Horowitz confirmed this is a leak and should not be online. I took mine down.”

The thing is, things don’t work that way. As of 7:15 p.m. New York time, the release is STILL ON HARPERCOLLINS WEBSITE.

The horse is out of the barn, the toothpaste is out of the tube, etc. I’m not taking this post down.

UPDATE II (Nov. 4, 2021): HarperCollins eventually did take down that plot description it posted. At least it was gone when I looked today.

Third Horowitz 007 novel to debut in 2022

The Ian Fleming Publications 007 logo

A third James Bond continuation novel by Anthony Horowitz is scheduled to be published next year, according to The Bookseller website.

The story picks up after the events of The Man With the Golden Gun,” Bond creator Ian Fleming’s final 007 novel.

“The new book begins with the death of Scaramanga and Bond’s return from Jamaica to confront an old enemy,” Horowitz said in The Bookseller article.

Horowitz’s Bond novels are period pieces. His stories take place in and around the timeline of the Fleming novels and short stories. Horowitz’s previous Bond novels were Trigger Mortis in 2015 and Forever And a Day in 2018.

“I am very excited to have started my third Bond novel with the continuing support of the Ian Fleming estate,” the author said. “Forever and a Day looked at Bond’s first assignment. Trigger Mortis was mid-career.”

The Bookseller article has a mockup of a cover. There’s no title and it says “coming May 2022.”

Since the late 2000s, Ian Fleming Publications has hired established authors to write their take on the literary Bond. The first of these was Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks, published in 2008 on the 100th anniversary of Fleming’s birth.

Of that roster of scribes, Horowitz is the only writer to do more than one Bond continuation novel. Today’s announcement comes on the 113th anniversary of the birth of Bond’s creator.

UPDATE: Ian Fleming Publications has posted the official announcement of the new Horowitz novel. The quotes in the announcement by Horowitz and others are the same as in The Bookseller story.

UPDATE II: I thought it was clear the post referred to continuation novel authors “since the late 2000s” in the next-to-last paragraph and last paragraph of the original post. But, noting reader comment below, yes,, IFP changed its management strategy in the 2000s. Both John Gardner (1981 to the mid-1990s) and Raymond Benson (1997-2002) wrote multiple Bond continuation novels.

During the Gardner and Benson eras, continuation novels came out annually, similar to when Fleming did his originals. Since 2008, continuation novels are “events” that come out every so often.

Bond 25: Eon pulls a Horowitz?

Lashana Lynch publicity still released during April “reveal” event in Jamaica

Spoilers. Again. Spoiler adverse should move on. That is all.

Eon Productions, with Bond 25, may be adapting an idea utilized in one of Anthony Horowitz’s 007 continuation novels.

The author’s Forever and a Day, set in 1950, begins with the death of 007. But it’s not James Bond. It’s another agent who has been killed while on assignment. That death creates the 00-section vacancy that Bond fills. He also takes on the 007 number.

On July 13, the Mail on Sunday (sister publication of the Daily Mail) said Lashana Lynch’s Bond 25 character assumed the 007 number after Daniel Craig’s James Bond left the secret service. Same idea as the one Horowitz used, just applying it toward the end of Bond’s career instead of the start.

There’s no way to know if Bond 25’s sceenwriting crew actually was inspired by Horowitz’s novel. But Horowitz used it first.

This idea has been speculated by fans for a while now. Still, that hasn’t stopped adverse reaction, which some fans complaining about “political correctness” and so on.

The basic idea means that 007 (or any other 00 code number) isn’t assigned to any one person permanently. It can get passed along as staff turnover occurs.

Also, it means a 00-number isn’t like a uniform number that can be retired, a la the New York Yankees with 2 (Derek Jeter), 3 (Babe Ruth), 4 (Lou Gehrig), 5 (Joe DiMaggio), etc., etc., no longer being worn by current players. Major League Baseball retired 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson for all major league teams.

UPDATE: Jack Lugo, webmaster of the James Bond Radio website, reminds me via Twitter that in the You Only Live Twice novel that Bond was assigned a new number, 7777, when assigned what’s supposed to be a diplomatic mission.

Forever and a Day: Mixing 1950 with 2018

U.K. cover image for Forever and a Day, Anthony Horwitz’s second James Bond continuation novel.

Yes, there are spoilers. Stop reading if you don’t want to see them.

Art reflects the time when it was produced. So it is with Forever and a Day, the second James Bond continuation novel by Anthony Horowitz. The story mixes a 1950 setting with 2018 sensibilities.

When the novel was announced, Ian Fleming Publications emphasized how it would be a prequel to Casino Royale, Ian Fleming’s first Bond novel. (Horowitz’s first Bond novel, 2015’s Trigger Mortis, was set in 1957 after the events of Goldfinger.)

Specifically, IFP’s marketing emphasized how the new novel would show Bond being promoted to the Double-O section and depict his first mission with the code number 007.

Horowitz’s story emphasizes the time period. It’s just five years after World War II ended and there’s plenty of uncertainty. The reader is treated to a bit of M’s philosophy in managing the Double-O section and how it reflects what’s occurring in 1950.

At the same time, there is a 2018 mind-set present.

The female lead, Joanne Brochet, aka Sixtine, aka Madame 16, is introduced as a mysterious character. Before the novel ends, she’s like a more subtle version (at least in personal style) of Jinx from the Eon 007 film Die Another Day. Just to be clear, Sixtine is a much more developed character than Jinx. But they’re comparable in their abilities to inflict death.

By the time I finished the novel, I imagined what it would be like if Sixtine were a character in an Eon 007 movie. She’s Bond’s equal in every way. She takes her destiny in her own hands. She’s not passive.

In Forever and a Day, it turns out Sixtine is even better at killing than Bond is. She makes clear to Bond they will only make love on her terms. And she’s older than Bond.

Bond himself changes because of their relationship. When he first meets Sixtine, there’s this passage: “She was about ten years older than him and, for Bond, that made her at least fifteen years too old to be truly desirable.” The agent feels considerably differently when they part ways.

Horowitz utilizes two villains. With one, Horowitz describes Fleming-style physical characteristics. It’s a Horowitz take on a classic trope. The other villain, however, reflects current-day U.S. politics despite the 1950 setting This occurs when this character gives his “big villain speech.”

Just to be clear, I enjoy big villain speeches when done well. The one Horowitz writes keeps you reading. But I couldn’t help but notice the similarities to what’s happening in 2018 with talk (via the villain) of why the U.S. should be more isolationist.

One other note: Whether intentional or not (my guess is not), the plot of the villains has a strong resemblance to a villain’s plot in a certain Roger Moore 007 film. The dynamics aren’t identical. The movie villain expects to get even richer; Horowitz’s villain expects the opposite but is doing it for a far different reason.

This, of course, doesn’t figure into the theme of 2018 creeping into Horowitz’s 1950 tale. But it is there.

Forever and a Day excerpt goes online

Anthony Horowitz

The website of Penguin UK now an excerpt of Forever and a Day, the new James Bond continuation novel by Anthony Horowitz.

The excerpt consists of M and his chief of staff Bill Tanner discussing a fatality in the Double-O section and what to do about it.

This leads to James Bond getting accepted into the section. The excerpt includes an exchange between M and Tanner that was included in an Ian Fleming Publications announcement of the book back in February.

The novel is set in 1950 (“And now, just five years after VE Day…”) and is a prequel to Ian Fleming’s first Bond novel, Casino Royale.

Essentially, the extract provides a reader the setup to the story of Forever and a Day. The novel will be published May 31 in the U.K. It won’t be published in the U.S. until November.

Early reviews for Forever and a Day start to come in

U.K. cover image for Forever and a Day, Anthony Horwitz’s second James Bond continuation novel.

Early reviews of the newest James Bond continuation novel, Forever and a Day, are coming in. The novel, by Anthony Horowitz, will be published in the U.K. on May 31. It won’t be published in the United States until November.

This is Horowitz’s second Bond novel. The first, Trigger Mortis, was set in 1957 after the events of Goldfinger. The new novel is a prequel to Casino Royale.

What follows is a mostly no-spoiler sampling of reviews. However, those who want to know absolutely nothing about the book should stop reading.

DAVID MILLS, THE SUNDAY TIMES (LONDON): “Sadly it’s very formulaic. Anyone who has read more than a couple of the post-Fleming Bond novels knows that we are going to get references to his knitted tie, love of scrambled eggs and heather honey, Scottish housekeeper, scarred cheek, moccasin shoes… There’s (much, much) more but that’s enough. Then there’s the customary sequence of scenes — meeting with M, travel to foreign location, hang out in casino, drink martini, have sex, sneak up on installation that turns out not to be an innocent industrial concern after all but the heart of the villain’s dastardly enterprise heavily guarded by goons in logoed uniforms, where, of course, Bond is spotted and causes havoc while escaping.”

STEVEN POOLE, THE GUARDIAN: “Inevitably, the prose throughout is more verbose and cliched than the brutal efficiencies of Fleming, but Forever and a Day is still an enjoyably compact thriller, with an absolutely killer last line. Scattered throughout the book, too, are some pleasingly echt Bond moments, as when he tells one of his captors: “It would be nice to know your name when I kill you.’”

BRIAN SMITH, FROM SWEDEN WITH LOVE (FAN WEBSITE): “When I wrote the review for TRIGGER MORTIS, I declared it to be the best James Bond continuation novel ever. Its position has just been usurped. FOREVER AND A DAY is a stylish and clever thriller. 16 out of 16!”

UPDATE (May 28)

 BEN MACINTYRE, THE TIMES (LONDON): “Horowitz has put together a fast-paced, skilfully written derivation on a theme so familiar most of us could hum it in our sleep. It is briefly intoxicating and unsatisfying, leaves you wanting more, and for serious Bond junkies is the next fix in a long tale of addiction.”