The Name’s Bond
James Bond is not the only fictional character who has been granted a life after the death of his creator, but he must be the one who has been picked up by the most writers for a me-too Ian Fleming book.
Fleming passed away in 1964, since then, many authors have attempted a Bond book—among them Sebastian Faulks, Jeffery Deaver and William Boyd. Now Anthony Horowitz has written Trigger Mortis, in which Bond is still the macho, chauvinistic, Cold War throwback. In this book, there is no attempt at political correctness—M is still a man, Russians and Koreans are the bad guys, Pussy Galore makes a reappearance and the new Bond girl is called Jeopardy Lane. Bond is still fussy about his breakfast, his drink and is cologne, is unashamedly sexist, but does not use the F word and is quite sympathetic towards a gay colleague. Redeeming features!
Horowitz does a competent job of imitating Fleming’s style and adds a lot of action sequences that will look good on screen. He also had access to some previously unpublished material by Fleming, which he seamlessly blends into his book. It’s set in the 1950s soon after Goldfinger(who finds a mention here, when his henchmen try to kill Pussy Galore in his style, by covering her with gold paint), so there are no fancy gizmos, but that doesn’t come in the way of creating a reasonably exciting plot about rockets and the evil scheme to bomb New York (which has disturbingly contemporary echoes).
Bond has to do all his impossible stunts like participating in a tough car race to prevent the assassination of a British driver by the Russian secret service, SMERSH, stealing crucial documents, jumping from a height into freezing water, getting out of a coffin buried in the earth and gallantly rescuing the ladies when required, and, of course, saving the world. In all the mayhem there pops up a line about a Maserati engine sounding like “a vast sheet of calico endlessly torn,” or Bond noticing a woman’s resemblance to Jean Seberg (the Saint Joan actress). Who’d have thought he cared about cinema?
Jason Sin is a worthy adversary, the emotionless villain (he gets a respectful back story) who gets his thrills gambling with people’s lives. In comparison, Bond, who has no qualms about killing baddies, has the decency to spare the life of an innocent young man working for Sin. And that distinguishes one killing machine from another.
Bond fans probably won’t find much to complain about. Read it to figure out what the title means, or because you can’t put down a book that begins with the line: “It was that moment in the day when the world has had enough.” Priceless!
Trigger Mortis
By Anthony Horowitz
Published by Orion
Pages: 320
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