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Halfway through LALD now, my third time with this one. I really enjoy how after the confines of CR Fleming let loose with a really expansive, swashbuckling adventure story. Up until Leiter gets chowed on a lot of the atmosphere in NY and the train is quite cozy and is very enjoyable to revisit, and then the rest of the book really turns the thumbscrews on you with some of Fleming’s most brutal action-suspense sequences. I always feel like Dr. No is something of a sister novel to LALD as they’re both probably the pulpiest Bond material Fleming put out.
Enjoyable romp
Excellent read with some very tense chapters as well as an interesting end to the (pseudo)-romance with Gala in the very last chapter. I also loved to get to know M better.
I do miss that exotic feeling though, which it can't really have by default.
All in all, definitely very good, even though I don't think it'll ever be one of my very favourites.
I think most people would say Colonel Sun, it's traditionally the 'go-to' book after Golden Gun. Though, if I'm honest, I think the continuation novel that's best read after Golden Gun is With A Mind to Kill, Horowitz's last Bond. I'd even go so far as to say that it improves TMWTGG, by explaining a lot of what GG didn't cover, regarding Bond's brain-washing. With a Mind to Kill is more of a follow up to GG than Colonel Sun, as far as I can remember. But you won't go wrong with either.
Trigger Mortis was written to take place after Goldfinger in the Fleming chronology, (Bond is living with Pussy Galore in his London flat at the start of the book. And all the Fleming habits are there in that early chapter, down to the breakfast eggs and the correct time for the hot/cold shower. It really is a great tribute to the real world of James Bond). One day, I hope to get Horowitz to sign my Waterstones special edition.
For my money, Horowitz and Amis are the authors who sit most comfortably alongside the Fleming books. They both are able to safely navigate the world of Bond that Fleming created.
Sounds like I can’t go wrong with either but you’ve piqued my interest in the Horowitz books.
And following that with Colonel Sun by Kinsley Amis would also be right on time.
I started a thread on here about Horowitz's quote that 'literary Bond works best in Fleming's timeline', (https://www.mi6community.com/discussion/21576/a-literary-bond-only-works-in-his-own-timeline) and that's one of the reasons I love the Horowitz trilogy. It completely sits in with, and pays respect to the Fleming books. Obviously, AH has the writing chops to carry it off and not many could. But for my money, it's only the Horowitz and Amis books that sit comfortably alongside Flemings.
I haven't read Devil May Care for a while, I must say, but I think that's another continuation novel that's placed after Golden Gun. And I think Solo was sixties too. It's been a while since I read them, but I remember Devil May Care working better than Solo for me. But neither really felt like I was smack bang in Fleming's world like Horowitz.
Solo I liked. The villain's plot is depressing and has been overdone, and I think that's one of the turnoffs for people. The approach to Bond himself getting older was where Boyd was most creative, in a good way. It could work to end both CS/DMC and Anthony Horowitz's trilogy.
As you have said though, Anthony Horowitz and his trilogy truly belong next to Ian Fleming as getting the character. WAMTK does make TMWTGG better. Anthony Horowitz is the real author who could be credited with "Writing as Ian Fleming" over Sebastian Faulks. I once said that his Forever and a Day prequel would be a great start for a new Bond actor. He said thanks, but it was extremely unlikely! Amazon should look at him for ideas, honestly.
The romance with Bryce Fitzjohn was also another low point. As a character, she seems to perfectly fit the (or at least my) mold of Bond's regular trysts. The problem is twofold. Firstly, Bond's voyeuristic search of her home is bizarre. Breaking in is one thing (and quite odd from her perspective), but watching her get in the bath is surely on a level of lechery that not even the nastiest parody of Connery would touch. Secondly, the ending is overly dramatic. Bond's life in London is largely safe from foreign influence and so I find it hard to believe that he'd need to leave Bryce just to protect her; only in Thunderball is Bond caught up by business in England.
The Benson books were among the few I’d never tried, but I recently tracked down his two omnibus collections and I’m now on the second novel.
I was rather underwhelmed by Zero Minus Ten, but I’m enjoying this one a bit more. It’s still naff compared to Fleming, but I’m liking it more than the Gardner books I’ve read.