WITH A MIND TO KILL by Anthony Horowitz (May 2022)

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  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,211
    There’s a review in the Times but it’s behind a paywall. I understand it’s lukewarm.
    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/with-a-mind-to-kill-by-anthony-horowitz-review-qq7mn6cg3
  • Red_SnowRed_Snow Australia
    Posts: 2,531
    mtm wrote: »
    There’s a review in the Times but it’s behind a paywall. I understand it’s lukewarm.
    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/with-a-mind-to-kill-by-anthony-horowitz-review-qq7mn6cg3

    Full review for those who can't view:
    There can be no more dangerous literary assignment than writing a new James Bond novel. With a Mind to Kill is Anthony Horowitz’s third such mission, so he’s not faint of heart. Yet while many fantasise about being 007, few would want to weather the judgments that come with taking charge of Ian Fleming’s national icon.

    Horowitz, the creator of Alex Rider and Foyle’s War for television, cleverly circumvented comparisons in his previous adventure, Forever and a Day, published in 2018, by imagining Bond at the start of his career in espionage. That gave him a relatively blank canvas with which to work and he amused himself establishing the character and the origin of his trademarks.

    With a Mind to Kill has a similarly bold set-up, but this time we have old Bond rather than young Bond. It envisions a weary 007, the one from the end of Fleming’s final novel, The Man with the Golden Gun, which was published posthumously in 1965. That novel’s plot had the secret agent brainwashed by the Russians into trying to kill M, his boss, before redeeming himself by taking out Scaramanga.

    Following straight on from this, Horowitz 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. There he is to fool the psychiatrist who broke him, the ice-cold Colonel Boris, into thinking Bond is still under his control and discover the aims of Steel Claw, a successor organisation to Smersh.

    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”. Instead, much of the action boils down to a duel between Boris and Bond, often taking place in the latter’s head, which is a different kind of thriller.

    Horowitz is faithful to Fleming’s conception of 007, albeit pared of some of Bond’s toxic masculinity for modern sensibilities. The homages are all there — betrayal, a comely female psychologist, a brutal fight in a metro station. Horowitz, though, is more interested in contemplating an older Bond filling up with accidie, wondering what it’s all for. That moral equivalence is what led to the greater realism of ripostes to Bond such as John le Carré’s The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, to which Horowitz gives a nod in a climax set in East Berlin. However, disillusioned, self-aware 007 isn’t that much fun. It’s a legitimate extension of the character of the novels, but it’s Horowitz’s misfortune as much as it was Fleming’s luck, in terms of his legacy, that the latter died before he could mature, and potentially wreck, his creation.

    As with James Dean, Bond’s appeal is rooted in his not ageing, in a self-possession and self-regard that is not blunted by experience. He’s the eternally cool hero for eternal adolescents. Skilfully though Horowitz writes, and exciting as it often is to be in the company of his Bond, the version that remains inviolate is the one forged by our imaginations. The word is not enough.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited May 2022 Posts: 16,211
    Thank you!

    It sort of sounds like a companion piece to NTTD in a way! Double Double-0 Debbie Downers :)
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,232
    I bought a copy of The Times earlier and I was intrigued to read of the Steel Claw as the Soviet successor organisation to Smersh. Reading the review I was reminded of the fact that this will be the first Bond continuation novel to use a villain created by Ian Fleming, Colonel Boris, which is both an exciting and intriguing prospect loaded with potential. Despite the rather downward trajectory of the review I'm hopeful that Horowitz won't let us down. 🙏
  • Posts: 2,913
    The reviewer seems unaware that Bond and accidie were old friends in Fleming's work. Suggesting that the pairing reflects le Carré is just another reiteration of the lazy critic's view of le Carré the humanist versus Fleming the shallow funster.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited May 2022 Posts: 18,232
    Revelator wrote: »
    The reviewer seems unaware that Bond and accidie were old friends in Fleming's work. Suggesting that the pairing reflects le Carré is just another reiteration of the lazy critic's view of le Carré the humanist versus Fleming the shallow funster.

    Yes, I want to stop short of outright saying he's a hack but he nonetheless does display traits of the general ignorance and laziness in research that seems to accompany many reviewers of Bond novels, be they reviewing the Fleming originals or continuation works. I understand that literary reviewers for national newspapers have a lot of books to get through and can't really be expected to be experts on every author, novel or genre of fiction. Still, one expects them not to make any major howlers or to oversimplify matters like a bad GCSE syllabus to the extent that the truth is extinguished. I think that's what's happened in this review.

    I think it all comes down to that behemoth we all have to deal with as literary Bond fans: the highly successful and enduring Eon Bond film series. It's ironically the Frankenstein's Monster of our Founder's own creation. Of course as literary Bond fans we know that without the huge success of the films these continuations would probably still not be going on or ever entered into in the first place. So it's something of a Catch-22 situation. The lion's share of attention is understandably given to the Bond films over the Bond novels and as a result many of the iconic elements of the films tend to confuse even those with a working knowledge of the original novels. That is sadly inevitable in a series as internationally successful and trendsetting as the Bond films have been. Films are after all more easily digested than novels.

    As @Revelator says, the reviewer seems to not be aware of Bond's and his villains's acquaintance with the ancient affliction of accidie. No doubt this is due to the Eon Bond films rarely, if ever, adapting the more interesting intellectual passages of the Bond novels where Fleming gives Bond a kind of stream of consciousness introspection about life and his chosen deadly profession as a Double-O agent. Think of how the accidie speech by Mr Big in LALD Is totally excised by the not-very-faithful film adaptation; of how Blofeld's interesting speech on accidie in YOLT is nowhere to be found in that totally unfaithful film either and so on and so forth. It's only really Goldfinger where many of the villain's best speeches are wisely carried over from the source novel. So it's little wonder such reviewers dismiss Fleming as merely being the modern dividing line in spy fiction between what's seen as disposable candyfloss spy fun and the more "serious" spy novels of Le Carré, Deighton and others who are lauded as the high tide of intellectual spy fiction that presents the human tragedy of the profession as it "really is". It's disappointing in this day and age of the Fleming revival (since the 2008 Centenary or so) that he and his Bond novels are still so unfairly misrepresented but there it is. As Fleming himself would no doubt have put it, one has to take the rough with the smooth.
  • Posts: 3,323
    Red_Snow wrote: »
    mtm wrote: »
    There’s a review in the Times but it’s behind a paywall. I understand it’s lukewarm.
    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/with-a-mind-to-kill-by-anthony-horowitz-review-qq7mn6cg3

    Full review for those who can't view:
    There can be no more dangerous literary assignment than writing a new James Bond novel. With a Mind to Kill is Anthony Horowitz’s third such mission, so he’s not faint of heart. Yet while many fantasise about being 007, few would want to weather the judgments that come with taking charge of Ian Fleming’s national icon.

    Horowitz, the creator of Alex Rider and Foyle’s War for television, cleverly circumvented comparisons in his previous adventure, Forever and a Day, published in 2018, by imagining Bond at the start of his career in espionage. That gave him a relatively blank canvas with which to work and he amused himself establishing the character and the origin of his trademarks.

    With a Mind to Kill has a similarly bold set-up, but this time we have old Bond rather than young Bond. It envisions a weary 007, the one from the end of Fleming’s final novel, The Man with the Golden Gun, which was published posthumously in 1965. That novel’s plot had the secret agent brainwashed by the Russians into trying to kill M, his boss, before redeeming himself by taking out Scaramanga.

    Following straight on from this, Horowitz 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. There he is to fool the psychiatrist who broke him, the ice-cold Colonel Boris, into thinking Bond is still under his control and discover the aims of Steel Claw, a successor organisation to Smersh.

    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”. Instead, much of the action boils down to a duel between Boris and Bond, often taking place in the latter’s head, which is a different kind of thriller.

    Horowitz is faithful to Fleming’s conception of 007, albeit pared of some of Bond’s toxic masculinity for modern sensibilities. The homages are all there — betrayal, a comely female psychologist, a brutal fight in a metro station. Horowitz, though, is more interested in contemplating an older Bond filling up with accidie, wondering what it’s all for. That moral equivalence is what led to the greater realism of ripostes to Bond such as John le Carré’s The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, to which Horowitz gives a nod in a climax set in East Berlin. However, disillusioned, self-aware 007 isn’t that much fun. It’s a legitimate extension of the character of the novels, but it’s Horowitz’s misfortune as much as it was Fleming’s luck, in terms of his legacy, that the latter died before he could mature, and potentially wreck, his creation.

    As with James Dean, Bond’s appeal is rooted in his not ageing, in a self-possession and self-regard that is not blunted by experience. He’s the eternally cool hero for eternal adolescents. Skilfully though Horowitz writes, and exciting as it often is to be in the company of his Bond, the version that remains inviolate is the one forged by our imaginations. The word is not enough.

    Sounds great. Out of the 3 novels he has written, this sounds the most intriguing.
  • ChevronChevron Northern Ireland
    Posts: 370
    Had a scan through the thread and didn't see this mentioned, although I could have missed it...

    Anyway, waterstones.com lists the standard edition as 288 pages and the stencilled edition as 304 pages so I take that to mean there is additional content.

    Apologies if this isn't news.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,232
    Chevron wrote: »
    Had a scan through the thread and didn't see this mentioned, although I could have missed it...

    Anyway, waterstones.com lists the standard edition as 288 pages and the stencilled edition as 304 pages so I take that to mean there is additional content.

    Apologies if this isn't news.

    Thanks, @Chevron. It certainly is news if the addditional content turns out to be unused Fleming material. However, even if it isn't it's still good to know that there will be additional content in the Waterstones Special Edition.
  • Posts: 1,628
    I still think that - since many of the films, for some time, have drawn up original material (OK sometimes more a re-telling of a Fleming book/Bond movie than truly original, but not a Fleming book or chapter title) - the producers could just as well use any and all the continuation books. Even if some are more just a matter of using the title, and others using more of the content, it could be done, and good script writers could embellish, change, etc.
  • zebrafishzebrafish <°)))< in Octopussy's garden in the shade
    Posts: 4,340
  • Posts: 17,692
    It's always a joy watching Anthony Horowitz talk books. Can't wait to read With a Mind to Kill!
  • mybudgetbondmybudgetbond The World
    Posts: 189
    Pre-ordered in my local bookstore, they called me on Thursday to say it had arrived almost a week early! I happened to be one minute away from the shop, so I ran straight there and picked it up. I went into a bar and ordered a Vodka Martini and started it straight away. I’m now 2/3 of the way through! No spoilers but I’m really enjoying it - Horowitz has done it again!

    [img][/img]61049-DB0-C442-4199-96-D9-8-BE19461-B6-E9.jpg
  • goldenswissroyalegoldenswissroyale Switzerland
    Posts: 4,441
    I'm jealous. Good that you like it
  • Posts: 1,068
    Well, that's my 'read Golden Gun first' idea out the window.
  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 13,710
    Pre-ordered in my local bookstore, they called me on Thursday to say it had arrived almost a week early! I happened to be one minute away from the shop, so I ran straight there and picked it up. I went into a bar and ordered a Vodka Martini and started it straight away. I’m now 2/3 of the way through! No spoilers but I’m really enjoying it - Horowitz has done it again!

    https://postimg.cc/z3HJhD2M61049-DB0-C442-4199-96-D9-8-BE19461-B6-E9.jpg

    I'm expecting the same reaction @mybudgetbond. I recall content from Forever and a Day much more readily than most non-Fleming novels. For example it's easy to relate the replacement of a double-oh in FAAD (send a message, the next 007) with Bond at the other end of his tenure in The Man With the Golden Gun (send a message, 007 himself}. And new experiences like the acid. How the ending was handled. Horowitz makes smart choices that dovetail with 007's world.
    If the K.G.B. has the nerve to throw one of my best men at me, I have the nerve to throw him back at them. 007 was a good agent once.
    71l3S++j8zL.jpg
  • zebrafishzebrafish <°)))< in Octopussy's garden in the shade
    Posts: 4,340
    You can always read Golden Gun first, it is not that long! Do it now!
  • mybudgetbondmybudgetbond The World
    Posts: 189
    Is that the Hardcover copy without its cover? That won’t go with my Folio hardcover collection haha
  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 13,710
    Yes I noticed the image on Amazon: that's the hardcover edition minute its dust cover yes.

    I did a double take when I saw it, too. Couldn't find a good quality image, but I blew up the center so the detail is more clear.

    3ccb77c7848035c83083fab8cfc64fb38959ea84.jpg


    And more on the Amazon page.
    13b40c07-43a8-4fb1-851d-c8b61a2c17fa.__CR0,0,1200,1200_PT0_SX300_V1___.jpg
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    4113e326-8586-4bf3-b5f6-8e13c78fffd0.__CR0,0,970,600_PT0_SX970_V1___.jpg
    d7ba12b3-4729-4084-8a40-4475a89d3091.__CR0,0,1200,1200_PT0_SX300_V1___.jpg a1dc93ff-6f60-4f99-a62a-9bd70ad56859.__CR0,0,1200,1200_PT0_SX300_V1___.jpg
    Product description
    Review
    • The super spy is back, with a fresh injection from novelist and screenwriter extraordinaire, Anthony Horowitz. The expert in suspense takes us back to the beginning of James Bond’s story… the story rips along with plenty of familiar Bond staples: evil villains, fast cars and women falling for young Bond’s charms. Ian Fleming would be proud. ― Guardian
    • Horowitz is a worthy successor to Ian Fleming, putting 007 back in his true domain… This New Bond is up there with the better Old Bonds… The denouement is a very fine piece of action writing… Horowitz has done splendidly. ― Scotsman
    • A novel that feels very like a film… fast-paced, skilfully written… leaves you wanting more, and for serious Bond junkies [it] is the next fix in a long tale of addiction. ― The Times
    • Even better than Trigger Mortis… it is tremendous fun. Anthony Horowitz has the discipline and skill of a first-class action writer. ― Sunday Express
    • Exciting high drama… Horowitz stays loyal to the fabulous Fleming formula. And for that he surely deserves another mission guiding the fortunes of the world’s favourite superspy. ― Daily Express
    • [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
    • Anthony Horowitz writes Bond in the style of Fleming... Total brain candy in the best possible fashion. ― RTE Guide
    • 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*
    • Horowitz shows that he knows the Fleming books backwards, offering plot twists that are homages to the master's novels. This nicely imagined book... is an amusing and thought-provoking addition to the post-Fleming bond canon. ― The Times *Audiobook of the Week*
    • An enjoyably compact thriller, with an absolutely killer last line. ― Guardian
    • Forever and a Day is an explosive prequel to Casino Royale which promises to please Bond aficionados and a new legion of fans. ― Northern Insight **Book of the Month**
    • This is another great new James Bond novel from Horowitz, who’s filling the shoes of Ian Fleming with apparent ease. ― Trucking
    • Highly enjoyable. ― Metro
    • Anthony is an enthusiastic writer who relishes the world of adventure he conveys. ― Writing Magazine
    • A timeless Bond... has all the elements of a rollicking read. ― Irish Examiner
    • Horowitz proves himself so adept at getting inside the iconic character, and Fleming’s writing style, that it’s difficult to see the join. Rip-roaringly recommended. ― Hot Press
    About the Author
    Bestselling author Anthony Horowitz has written two highly acclaimed Sherlock Holmes novels, The House of Silk and Moriarty; two James Bond novels, Trigger Mortis and Forever and a Day; three Detective Hawthorne novels, The Word is Murder, The Sentence is Death and the forthcoming A Line To Kill, and the acclaimed bestselling mystery novels Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders.

    He is also the author of the teen spy Alex Rider series, and responsible for creating and writing some of the UK's most loved and successful TV series, including Midsomer Murders and Foyle's War. In January 2022 he was awarded a CBE for his services to literature.
  • mybudgetbondmybudgetbond The World
    Posts: 189
    I had taken the dustcovers off my previous Horowitz’s to help them blend in with my Folio hardcovers...may not work with this one lol.

    I really can’t wait for you all to read it so we can discuss it. I’m loving it so far. Very, very Cold War spy story.
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 13,978
    With A Mind To Kill, will be the only Bond book that I will read this year, as I intend on reading them all next year for the anniversary.

    I am currently working my way through The Executioner books, but will put them on hold while reading With A Mind To Kill.
  • Posts: 1,397
    Looking forward to reading this , finally preordered it today!
  • MaxCasinoMaxCasino United States
    edited May 2022 Posts: 4,544
    Got my copy today! Someone needs to update James Bond Wiki and Wikipedia. Might be a while till I read it. I got quite awhile until I can read it.
  • Posts: 4,044
    Got my copy today too. Hopefully get to start it soon.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,211
    How come everyone else's post actually arrives in the morning? :D
    Mine's on the way, signed copy of course!
  • Posts: 9,840
    I hate to admit it but I think I will be buying this book and not the Batman on blu ray so I can be apart of the conversation lol
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,232
    Just ordered the Waterstones Signed Edition from their website.
  • CharmianBondCharmianBond Pett Bottom, Kent
    Posts: 556
    Mine's ready to pick up from my local Waterstones, I went with the signed copy as well, I thought I'd regret not getting it more than the exclusive edition.
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