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

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Meanwhile, Bond is returning from Jamaica and his encounter with Scaramanga ( The Man with the Golden Gun). He is aware of a world that is changing all too rapidly around him. The old certainties of the post-years have gone. The intelligence services are no long trusted. He is beginning to wonder if his "license to kill" may even be valid any more. In addition to the flashes of psychological realism, Horowitz’s Bond is also more politically progressive by default, mostly because this version of Bond doesn’t only encounter homosexual villains, but instead has cool gay friends like the agent Charles Henry Duggan, introduced in Trigger Mortis. As Duggan says to Bond, “The trouble with you, James, is you’re basically a prude.” It's a smart inversion of our perception of the famous secret agent. It’s not that James Bond is this sex god, able to do whatever he wants. He’s actually kind of vanilla. This is why, at the end of Fleming’s Moonraker, Bond is super-sad that Gala Brand doesn’t want to be his girlfriend. In fact, the ending of Moonraker— “He touched her for the last time and then they turned away from each other and walked off into their different lives”—actually proves that Fleming nestled a sad version of Bond inside the more confident one we’re familiar with. But Horowitz is consistently better at making you believe that Bond is there; he removes the matryoshka doll lid more often, revealing the smaller Bond beneath. But not so often as to prevent the escapist adventure from happening. Discover the latest chapter in the world of 007, brought thrillingly to life by Sunday Times bestselling author Anthony Horowitz. 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. With a Mind to Kill is a James Bond novel published in 2022. It is the third and final Bond novel by Anthony Horowitz, completing a loose trilogy that includes Trigger Mortis and Forever And A Day.

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. This is set a couple of weeks after Fleming’s “Man with the Golder Gun”, Bond is recovering from brainwashing and an intense ordeal, and he is very much a damaged man. But a mission arises that may be vital to the safety of the Western world and, despite not being ready, Bond volunteers to put himself in the hands of the Russians, acting if the brainwashing is still in place.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). Bond is still very Bond, but he is older and jaded and, maybe for the first time, overconfident. There are plenty of typical Bond moments to enjoy but there is a definite theme of a man out of his depth and at the end of his career. Can he pull it together in time to not only survive intact but complete his mission, or is this the end of the line for 007? Katya Leonova is a far more rounded Bond lady than the norm for these novels, and Horowitz, I think, does well to make her changes of view and emotions believable. As for the villains? They’re all, quite rightly, thoroughly nasty bastards! But first, he will have to persuade Sonya Dragunova that he is what he says he is. A psychiatric analyst as brilliant as she is beautiful, Sonya knows more of what's happening in Bond's mind than he does himself. She is also hiding secrets of her own. This is a love affair that is also a very dangerous game.

Horowitz.captures the mood, pace and style of Fleming very well. the story thunders along with action galore in the Bond tradition. It whets the appetite for the 25th Bond film. Alex Gordon, Peterborough Evening Telegraph 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. Horowitz's Bond] is once again in safe hands, not departing much from Fleming's entertaining formula... Horowitz's light touch and smooth plotting create something close to the ideal holiday read. Irish Examiner 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. The second guy is given the same task, he looks very unhappy, but goes into the room to find his wife, but he just can't bring himself to do it and walks out with his arm around her, both in tears, apologising to the CIA management that he's not their man.

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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. The sense of well being come from not only not being harmed. The sense of wellbeing come from accepting the risk and the harm and feel it is all worth it. 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. Even better than Trigger Mortis. it is tremendous fun. Anthony Horowitz has the discipline and skill of a first-class action writer. Sunday Express I’d expect this kind of lazy writing from older books that at least have the excuse of being “of a different time”, but not from a novel published today (although maybe because it’s set in the ‘60s, Horowitz is trying to stay true to the literary conventions of the time?). It’s just embarrassing to read more than anything.

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. Deconstruction: This novel arguably serves as one for the typical Bond story. After spending time in Soviet Russia, Bond comes to realize that his heroic defeats of megalomaniacal villains like Dr. No or Goldfinger ultimately will not make much of a difference in the outcome of the Cold War and that only the Russian people can free themselves from the tyranny of Soviet rule. He also reflects on how the years of physical and psychological trauma that he's suffered as a secret agent have permanently damaged him. The conventional notion of Bond being The Casanova is also deconstructed by Katya Leonova - contrary to popular belief, Bond does genuinely have feelings for all the women he's been involved with and treats them well during the relationship. It's just that the relationships don't last since he's too emotionally damaged to make a long-term commitment. 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 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. 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.

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. Anthony Horowitz's second James Bond book will keep 007 obsessives happy with martinis, beautiful women and an enormously fat Corsican gangster. The Times *Best New Novels* While thinking about what he'll do once he resigns from the Service, Bond considers looking up Tiffany Case and Honeychille Ryder. 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

With a stronger story than his previous two, this is easily Anthony Horowitz’s best Bond novel; making it, for me, the best of all the non-Fleming Bond’s that I've read. It flows logically and ends terrifically, better in fact than many of Fleming’s originals. I don’t think endings were his thing. One of my favourites, Dr No, was a wonderfully atmospheric book, but I think Fleming was laughing over a gin on the veranda of Goldeneye in coming up with the great Dr’s demise! I was really looking forward to the books as the movie franchise with Craig after CR went a direction that was not my cup of tea, and not like the books about the mission but it turned into a bloody family soap.At the same time, he knew, deep down, that love from Mary Goodnight, or from any other woman, was not enough for him. It would be like taking "a room with a view". For James Bond, the same view would always pall. 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. 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 novel is set in 1964, immediately after The Man with the Golden Gun, the final novel written by Bond creator Ian Fleming. After recovering from his near-fatal encounter with Francisco Scaramanga at the end of that novel, Bond undertakes a dangerous undercover mission behind the Iron Curtain in a bid to infiltrate a group of former SMERSH agents planning an operation that will change the balance of world power. Along the way, he must wrestle with his inner demons, and deal with the fallout of the brainwashing he'd suffered the last time he was in Soviet hands.