The name is Bond, James Bond !!!
That phrase is legendary and has kept millions of people interested and intrigued both in books and on the screen since the 1960s. The longest running moving franchise, with the man played by no less than 7 suave men, from Connery to Lazenbury (and Niven in between as a spoof), to Moore, Dalton, Brosnan and currently Craig, who would be your best Bond ? And what would be your best book/film ?
The Bond stories were originally penned by the masterful Ian Fleming until his passing in the mid 60’s. He wrote his 14 Bond novels inspired by, but largely exaggerated, on his time in the British Secret Service. However sadly his heavy smoking and lifestyle took him too soon however, since his passing a number of authors have been given licence to carry on writing the Bond stories and Anthony Horowitz is back with his 2nd Bond novel in Forever and a Day.
This was my second read of my holiday and I found the story set before Fleming first introduced us to Bond in Casino Royale. We find out that the previous 007 is Dead, killed in the South of France whilst on a mission to identify why the Corsican mafia have appeared to have ceased a lot of their crime activity in particular their drug smuggling.
Bond, a Naval Officer has been trained in the arts of spying but is ready to take the leap into license to kill status and M sends him to Sweden to carry out his first kill mission on a former double agent to see if he is up to joining the 00 ranks. The kill successfully made, Bond returns to London to receive his license and in honour of his friend killed in the South of France, he requests to take up the 007 title.
His first full mission as a 00 agent is to track down the person who killed his predecessor, understand why he was killed and to kill his murderer. Heading down to the South of France he encounters femme fatale, Sixtine who is a former double agent who now works for hire and as Bond discovers she is an ace card reader in the Casino of Monte Carlo. Added to this, we also come across our main villain in Scipio, an oversized Corsican drug dealer who has total control of drugs in and out of the port of Marseille and who uses an interpreter to anyone who does not speak Corsican.
Following Bond’s initial meeting with Sixtine he ventures to spy on Scipio with the help of local CIA agent, Reade Griffith and he is easily captured following a simple mistake. Expecting to die, Bond is told by Scipio that he is going to be sent home to MI5 with a clear message to keep out of Scipio’s business and a concoction of acid is prepared to be thrown over Bond’s face. This however is used to scare Bond and they actually throw water in his face and he is released with the expectation that he will return to the UK with his tail between his legs.
But come on, this is James Bond and we know he won’t do that !! In fact he does quite the opposite. Determined to find out more about Scipio’s operation and what he is planning, he identifies that Sixtine’s suspected lover, the Philanthropist, Irwin Wolfe may well have a link to Scipio’s master plan. Bond seduces (as he does) Sixtine to get her to share secrets but soon learns that she isn’t who he thought she first was.
What follows is classic Bond as he gets himself into trouble trying to stop the villian and his henchmen with gruesome deaths afoot. We all know that Bond will succeed or none of the previous Bond books / movies could have existed, however there are twists and turns along the way to keep you captivated and wanting to read more.
A great holiday read by the pool and potentially one to use as book case furniture when you’ve read it instead of a Kindle read because after all it is Bond. I’ll rate it an 8 out of 10 only because I think Bond could have had at least one more love interest just like the good old days !!
More information on Anthony Horowitz, the Author can be found at https://www.anthonyhorowitz.com/
Enjoy
Canberralover
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