Double or Nothing

Double O Trilogy #1

by Kim Sherwood

The start of a brand-new trilogy following MI6’s Double 0 agents with a license to kill, that blows the world of James Bond wide open!

James Bond is missing…

007 has been captured, perhaps even killed, by a sinister private military company. His whereabouts unknown.

Meet the new generation of spies…

Johanna Harwood, 003. Joseph Dryden, 004. Sid Bashir, 009. They represent the very best and brightest of MI6. Supremely skilled, ruthless, with a license to kill, they will do anything to protect their country.

The fate of the world rests in their hands…

Tech billionaire Sir Bertram Paradise claims he can reverse the climate crisis and save the planet. But can he really? The new spies must uncover the truth, because the future of humanity hangs in the balance.

Time is running out.

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Mystery, Espionage, Adventure, Action, Suspense

422 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2022

About the author

Kim Sherwood is an author and creative writing lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, where she lives in the city. Kim Sherwood’s first novel, Testament (2018), won the Bath Novel Award and Harper’s Bazaar Big Book Award. It was longlisted for the Desmond Elliot Prize and shortlisted for the Author’s Club Best First Novel Pick. In 2019, she was shortlisted for The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. Her second book, Double or Nothing (2022), is the first in a trilogy commissioned by the Ian Fleming Estate to expand the world of James Bond. Her next novel, A Wild & True Relation, was described by Hilary Mantel as “a rarity – a novel as remarkable for the vigour of the storytelling as for its literary ambition. Kim Sherwood is a writer of capacity, potency and sophistication.”

Reviews

[Iain · Rating 1 out of 5]

The first novel to expand the James Bond Double-O world is a disaster. I rarely give out 1-star ratings, but so much of this novel is unforgiveable. I do seem to be in the minority at the moment - perhaps if you have no preconceptions about Bond or his literary world, this book is more acceptable.
The Fleming Estate chose to hand the honour of writing this expansion to Kim Sherwood, with only one novel to her name, and a self-confessed 'feminist and Bond fan.' Why a more experienced writer wasn't considered, I have no idea. On the cover, the only previous Bond author to provide a complimentary quote is Jeffrey Deaver - writer of 'Carte Blanche', easily the weakest of the post-Fleming Bond novels. Take warning from that.
For a self-confessed Bond fan, Sherwood seems to have little grasp of Fleming's strengths. Gone are his sense of style, both in his writing and the world he wrote about, and his streamlined plotting. It starts off with a promising premise but descends further and further into a turgid mess as the author has no idea how to bring together the separate threads of the story into anything cohesive. The writing style is disjointed, with frequent jumps back to the past in the middle of action scenes, or bizarre asides that offer nothing but needless exposition. The obsession with wristwatches, models and makes is, frankly, weird.
Sherwood wears her politics on her sleeve too, so we have the strange combination of a writer telling us a story about government agents, while actively disliking the government - the police are the bad guys, the climate protestors the victims. More than once, in fact over and over again, the spies working for MI6 question why they are devoted to a colonial power that has caused so much misery around the world. We get lectures on climate change, capitalism, colonialism, as though Sherwood is determined to use this opportunity to tell us all how the world should be. The straining to be politically correct throughout results in some unintentional hilarity (no tigers were sacrificed in the making of this action scene!)
The references to the Bond films peppered throughout the text are grating. I assume Sherwood thought this was clever, so we have satellites named Icarus (Die Another Day), a celloist assassin (The Living Daylights), a casino in Macau (Skyfall) and on and on. Most cloying are characters named after real people who worked on the early films - Johanna Harwood (writer) and Bob Simmons (stuntman). No attempt here, as other Bond writers have done, to keep the books and films separated.
Some updating was to be welcomed and indeed, needed. But Sherwood, as with everything else, is a subtle as a brick through a window. Our new Double-O agents in the central roles are a woman and a Muslim man. M has been shuffled off to semi-retirement and for some unknown reason his former secretary Moneypenny, with no military experience, is now in charge of the Double-O section. Poor Major Boothroyd (Q) has been replaced by a computer, with the credit for that invention not belonging to him but a Mrs Keator (who?) and run by two young upstarts Aisha Asante and Ibrahim Suleiman (both questioning why they serve Her Majesty after the way their ancestors were treated by the Empire). The 3rd new 00 agent - Dryden - tips the whole thing over the edge into parody - he's black, gay, comes from poverty AND deaf! I mean 2 out of the 4 would've sufficed surely? Of the old characters, Felix Leiter survives, presumably thanks to his disability. As for the fate of Bill Tanner - James Bond's best, lifelong friend and a stalwart of novels and films, I'm afraid that was the final, unforgiveable straw as I neared the end of the book. Absolute sacrilege that would have Fleming turning in his grave. Rather than introducing a balanced, diverse world, Sherwood has just spun everything 180 degrees - all white men = bad, all women and minorities = good. Nuanced, this is not.
The first in a planned trilogy, and as a Bond completist, I will probably soldier on to the next one in the hope it improves. If you're looking for a new Bond book to read this year go for Anthony Horowitz's superb and far superior 'With a Mind to Kill'.
Top marks to the cover design team of the hardback - it looks stunning. Unfortunately, never judge a book by it's cover has never rung truer.

[Ceecee · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up

007 is missing possibly dead, the only certain thing is that Rattenfänger PMC ( meaning Ratcatcher /Pied Piper) a private military company have their ratty fingers all over it. So, here is the new generation. There’s 003 Johanna Harwood, 004 Joseph Dryden and 009 Sid (Azar Siddig) Bashir among others. Their names don’t have quite the same ring as “the name is Bond, James Bond “do they? Just the same as Bond though, they do have a license to kill. Will they be “shaken not stirred“ in their latest assignments to protect our national interests? Tech billionaire so Bertram Paradise makes a huge claim, that his company can reverse the climate crisis. Can he or is his claim baloney? The agents task is to get to the truth as Rattenfänger’s sticky fingers seem to be all over this too. In addition, there is an MI6 mole ….Things get mighty hot and dangerous pretty quickly. As the plot unfolds will readers be ‘shaken’ and maybe ‘stirred’?!

It takes some chutzpah to try to take on the Bond mantle, has Kim Sherwood pulled it off? In some ways, yes. I really like that Bond in person may not be in it but he casts a long shadow over the whole thing. The climate change focus is good too, bringing the iconic series into the 21st century and making the theme relevant. It has many of the ingredients we expect with plenty of action and numerous twists and turns with it ending on a very good cliffhanger. There are repeat characters such as Moneypenny, M, Q, (now a supercomputer) and CIA operative Felix Leiter. There are also some terrific settings which add colour and vibrancy to the action and I really enjoy those.

However, in other ways Kim Sherwood misses the mark I found I don’t gel with it in the same way as the Ian Fleming originals. It takes a long time to get going, there’s an awful lot going on as it switches from one OO agent to another which it makes it feel disjointed. There are a dizzying amount of characters which makes my head spin.

Overall, kudos to the author as the major plot line is a good one and it does improve and become more pacey as the book progresses and as you become more familiar with the characters.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to HarperCollins/HarperFiction for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

[Brenda · Rating 2 out of 5]

With an intriguing plot, I thought I'd love this one. But it was difficult to get into after the initial first scenes and there was a lot of description that I ended up skimming through. With the famous 007 missing, and plenty of other 00s on the scene - 003, 004, 008, 009 - the amount of characters were hard to keep up with.

Unfortunately, Double or Nothing by Kim Sherwood wasn't for me.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

[Alan (the Lone Librarian rides again) Teder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Double 00's: Into the James Bond Multiverse*
Review of the HarperCollins Publishers UK hardcover edition (September 1, 2022) [the William Morrow US edition [book:Double or Nothing|61354672] appears to be delayed until April 11, 2023]

[3.5 but bumped up to 4 for its sheer ambition]
The James Bond continuation series has had quite a run since Ian Fleming's first novel Casino Royale in 1953. After the initial canon of 13 novels and 1 collection of novellas, in 70 years it has now reached at least as many as 41 novels. That is if you don't count the movie novelizations and the young James Bond prequels. After the Kingsley Amis one-off of Colonel Sun (James Bond #15, 1968), the series went into hiatus. Rebooted in 1981, it settled into extended runs by James Gardner (Bonds #16 to #29) and Raymond Benson (Bonds #30 to 35). A further group of one-offs followed for Bonds #36 to #38, and then the Anthony Horowitz trilogy (Bonds #39 to #41) brings us mostly up to date. Horowitz's final entry With a Mind to Kill (Bond #41) was published in May 2022.


The UK cover of "Double or Nothing" in a suitable James Bond-like beach setting. Image sourced from a review at The James Bond Dossier.

With Kim Sherwood's Double or Nothing, the 1st of an expected new trilogy, the Ian Fleming estate has taken a risk with the book franchise by allowing James Bond to become a secondary character in his own series. Sherwood instead uses three entirely separate Double 00 agents in place of 007. So we have Johanna Harwood as 003, Joseph Dryden as 004 and Sid Bashir as 009. The setup is that James Bond has been captured or killed and the rest of the Double 00's have to solve the world crises in his place, while also seeking clues as to his fate. Bond does make cameo appearances in the novel, but only in flashback scenes.

Sherwood goes much further than just having three Double 00 protagonists. She draws characters and names, plot tropes, back story and plants 'easter eggs' from the entire 70 years of Bond history. These are not only from the novels, but also from the extended universe of James Bond 007 films. There is a limited attempt to reconcile the time line, but all of the back story references to Bond are of a timeless nature where he is now in his mid-40s even if an actual person living all of the events back to and before 1953 would likely be in his 90s by now.

Some examples here: the Miss Moneypenny in Double or Nothing is now the Head of the Double 00 Section in place of M. This Moneypenny is drawn more from the recent Daniel Craig era of the 007 film world, where Moneypenny herself was once a Double 00. The most recent M is now head of MI-6, but they are not the same as Vice-Admiral Miles Messervy who was the first M that Bond reported to in the original canon. The changing nature of "M" is thus also drawn from the recent films.

There are further shocks to come though. Q , the previous master of gadgetry who provided various devices and weapons to the Double-00's, is now an all-knowing and all-seeing quantum computer. This Q provides intelligence and monitors agent activities. In the case of Joseph Dryden 004 this is even by means of a cybernetic implant. The Secret Services computer is faced by an opposing quantum computer which is in the hands of the suspected mastermind villain Sir Bertram Paradise and a possible aligned mercenary force named Rattenfänger. The main plot involves a climate change scenario which is certainly topical.

For the long-time James Bond fan (I grew up with the original novels in my teenage years) there are plenty of tidbits and references to watch for and enjoy. Various favourite characters from the past make appearances as well (no spoilers here). Other aspects may be more frustrating though. A tic of naming various high-end watches on characters seems like product placement advertising since the watches don't perform any Q like tricks. But there was always an element of brand name fetishization in the original novels as well, so Sherwood isn't that far off the mark. There is a tick-box nature to the Double-00s which perhaps gets into exaggerated diverse territory. So we have female, Muslim, black, homosexual, deaf / physically challenged Double-00s (not all in one character). It sure makes a difference though to have a homosexual love scene in a Double-00 novel.

Trivia and Link
* Yes, I stole the idea for the review lede from the films "Spider-man: Into the Multiverse" and "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness".

This review at The James Bond Dossier gives some background as to why the Ian Fleming estate is looking to diversify its character base, given that the original novels are soon falling into the public domain in every copyright zone, i.e. "Anyone will be able to write their own James Bond novel. Anyone will be able to republish one of the Fleming’s books."

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

So unexpected we got a second book from the Universe of 007 this year 2022 after the last installment of the Horowitz trilogy, and it is the first installment of a newly planned trilogy. This book takes place in the world of 007 but he does not take any active part in the story, no white knight as James Bond.
The world continues after 007 hoes missing, Moneypenny is now the head of the 00 section, a previous 00 is now the new M and Bill Tanner is now still chief of staff.
This is the story of three 00 agents who are facing off against an organisation's that wants terror and a man who wants to save the world in his own way but wants to get rid of the terror organisation's on his back.
There is the aim to reshuffle earth's survival in the face of climate change but all 00 agents have to be cunning and ruthless in the face of an allknowing supercomputer and a mole inside MI6.

This is an interesting novel with the whole woke universe as a 00, a woman, a deaf man and a Muslim. It feels a bit farfetched at times but the writer manages to pull it off. Unlike Fleming her story takes some time to warm up, well after the first half of the book.
He changing perspective from the various 00 agents does more than one occasion muddle the water and makes the story flows less than wanted I am sure.
The occasional tidbits about 007 are fun and are not as overwhelming as the last Brosnan movie vehicle who nearly clubbed you to death with its celebration of 007.
Here you get the feeling that 007 is the springboard for 00 adventures of others agents while keeping 007 and his dissapearance as a hook.
This book is on occasion a bit messy and difficult to follow but still entertaining. I will most probably continue to read the next installment.
This book is more possible than the You g Bond series in which James pulls of stuff that would give Enid Blyton's the five nightmares for life.
This continuation novel shows there is life left in MI6 after Brexit a subject suspiciously avoided in this novel.
Fun for the James Bond fans. 👍

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Double Or Nothing is the first in a trilogy of novels, licenced by Ian Fleming Publications, featuring agents from the Double O section.
Kim Sherwood is a huge James Bond fan & there are plenty of characters from Fleming's original stories in this novel. Some of them, like Bill Tanner & Felix Leiter, fit nicely into the novel while others seem forced into it. Moneypenny is a very odd fit, & her new role at MI6 feels somewhat implausible compared to her role in the Fleming novels.
Sherwood says that writing this book was "the honour of a lifetime" & she was perhaps so overexcited by the project that she tried to cram in far too many in jokes. Naming characters in the story after Bond screenwriter Johanna Harwood & stuntman Bob Simmons felt a little silly to me, but I did like her idea of naming one OO agent after an actor & the character he played in Star Trek Deep Space Nine.
Ian Fleming mentioned plenty of brand names in his novels, but Sherwood seems to have an odd obsession with wristwatches. I lost count of how man she named!
Kin Sherwood's writing is pretty confident & only occasionally becomes cliched. You cannot fault her action sequences & there are plenty of them.
It's certainly an entertaining spy story & perhaps the excessive amount of in jokes only annoyed me as I spotted so many. That's the trouble with being a Bond fan for the last 48 years! Rating this book has been difficult as it's such a mixed bag of good & bad. It's probably 3.5, but I'll round it up to 4. After all you can only have round numbers when it comes to a Double O.

[Terrance Layhew · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I have to claw my way to finishing a book page by page, it’s not a good sign. I’m rating it two stars for the two chapters which I enjoyed enough to forget I was reading Double or Nothing.

It’s tempting to be hyperbolic in my dislike, but I’ll resist from respect for the author. Kim Sherwood is an earnest writer and obviously cares about the Bond mythos.

My problems with this book are chiefly based on my taste and preferences. There’s too much book, it’s 415 pages and three different primary characters it’s shoving in your face.

Most parts are overwritten. Frequently I daydreamed about trimming the fat as I read a page.

James Bond is not in this book, but he’s referred to frequently. The desperation of the book to remind you it exists in the same world as Bond is agonizing. It makes the characters far less believable when each of them swoons at the name of Bond and remember the words he said to them in painful detail.

Like Icarus, the flaw of this book is it’s ambition. It attempts to throw you into a world full of spies, questions and excitement, but only succeeds in making you feel thrown. Had it started smaller, expanding the world through a single character and building up, I think it could have been better.

[Nick Brett · Rating 3 out of 5]

James Bond is missing and a few 00 agents have been KIA. Three members of the 00 section are tasked with a mission to investigate a billionaire industrialist and work out if there are links to Bond’s disappearance. Lots of familiar faces, M, Monneypenny, Tanner etc and, of course, some new 00 agents.
Not part of the official Bond series (evidenced brilliantly by Anthony Horowitz’s recent With A Mind To Kill), this is more of a companion piece. Very different to a Fleming novels which tend to get straight into the action with throw away women and a cruel and dangerous Bond. Here there is more by way of relationships and interaction alongside the action. One of the 00s is female and has a relationship with another 00 who is Asian. Our other featuring 00 is gay, so a very slight sense that boxes are being ticked to bring the intelligence services into 2022. Lots of fun cameos and nods to Bond history in there too.
Ms Sherwood writes well, occasionally trying a tad too hard (lots of mentioning of the watches people wear) but she gets a lot right too. Once you get your head out of the “it’s a Bond novel” headspace, it’s quite good fun. I suspect that the next one will be even better now that characters are established and, no real spoiler, Bond is still missing.

[Ben Dutton · Rating 4 out of 5]

James Bond is missing, presumed dead. In his absence, we meet three new 00 agents: Johanna Harwood, 003. Joseph Dryden, 004. Sid Bashir, 009. It is not all new figures - Q, M and Moneypenny are all here too, alongside a global menace, action scenes, chases and even romance too. What Kim Sherwood has done with Ian Fleming's intellectual property is subtly redefine it, by focusing on these others in these familiar environments, and has found a way to make the world of Bond live without its hero.

Not that Bond is absent from this novel. His shadow looms large over proceedings, and the decisions these new agents make are compared and contrasted mentally with how we think Bond would handle them. We cannot escape Bond.

Sherwood's writing is precise, rapid, and the action clips along at a fair old place. There are twists and turns, appearances from fan favourites - Felix Leiter! One for the fans of You Only Live Twice which I won't spoil - and, as expected, enough material left hanging to take us into book two.

It must be hard to write a Bond novel - we all know the character, we know the story beats to expect - and not everybody who has tried has succeeded all that well. This, though, is one of the good ones, and one whose sequel I will be tracking down once Sherwood has finished writing it.

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for the ARC.

[Patrick SG · Rating 3 out of 5]

This continues the Bond world, but doesn’t include Bond…at least not directly. He appears in flashback conversations and memories of the current crop of 00s, now run by Moneypenny. She’s not the only character from the Fleming canon to appear. There’s M of course, but I won’t spoil it for readers by revealing others who the book contains or references to past Bond adventures.

There is an appropriately megalomaniacal villain here as well as an organization of evil that rivals SMERSH. There are also appropriately grandiose villains lairs that will lend themselves well to any eventual films.

Modern sensibilities are soothed by appropriate inclusion of climate change as a plot device as well as same sex romance. Times have changed.

I had problems with some of the narrative structure that at time careened off into directions where this reader, at least, couldn’t figure out what was going on within a particular scene. There were also drawn out sequences where one wanted the dialog to end and someone to just be shot.

I’ll likely read the next contribution to this trilogy, but I hope I don’t need to be introduced to an entire new crop of 00s and learn all their foibles and quirks through flashbacks and narrative detours.

[Michael Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

A new spin on a James Bond book that, well, takes James Bond out of the book almost entirely. Instead, we focus on a new generation of 00 agents, guided by an old guard of returning characters. It's all very Star Wars.

And this book, like its protagonists, has a mission, to widen the window of who gets to be a superspy and what issues these books should consider. Our three heroes all break the great white hero mould in one way or several (gender, sexuality, race, ability, background) and the book considers the forms and manners of violence that were likely invisible or under-considered by previous generations of authors.

Its laudable and succeeds in making these books modern, relevant and different from what's gone before. Ironically, it does much more to that end than the simple act of removing James Bond does – we've all read or watched plenty of thrillers are just Bond without Bond.

The villain is more recognisable: a Moore-era megalomaniac for the era of climate crisis and disaster capitalism. I mean it as a compliment when I say he could have stepped out of an Alex Rider novel.

Ironically, some of the book's highlights are those moments when it pauses to look back on Bond himself, and his place in the modern world. Self-reflexivity is almost the default for James Bond these days (and he was always a reflective sort – a poet even, as someone here notes), but Sherwood utilises those concerns about the character (his bravado, his loneliness, his position as a champion of a lost empire) in the construction of a real mystery around his disappearance.

Double or Nothing isn't a perfect book, though, and my four stars are really rounded up by 3.5. Those interweaving narratives are not always as gripping as each other and parts of the conclusion feel hurried. There were times I was willing the pages to flip by faster so I could get back to the good stuff and others when I was sure I must have missed a couple so quickly had events moved on.

Recommended if you want a new and different take on Bond, while still getting your action and intrigue slickly delivered.

[KEVIN · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't think I've ever read a book that misuses its source material in such a wanton fashion. Double or Nothing is an embarrassment that shames the legacy of Ian Fleming; sacrificing character and storytelling for working in all the cringe tropes of modern woke writing. In short, it's a boring virtue signaling inclusive pandering mess.
Firstly, it's not a James Bond book. James Bond never appears so don't be fooled by the old 'bait and switch' ploy. It's a story for modern readers about present day OO spies .... sigh. A diverse and inclusive group that includes a black gay male, a non-threatening ethnic male and of course an irritating girl boss who is superior to everyone else. They all have emotional issues and come across as not so much ruthless secret agents as mopy, fragile, weepy, emotional wet rags.
They are nothing like the James Bond in the Fleming books. He was a character that we were not really supposed to know intimately, he was more of an archetype who was compelling precisely because of what we didn't know about him. It gave him a mystique that teased little bits of information but always left you wanting more. The more layers of narrative complexity and inclusive, diverse, backstories that they try to heap on the OO's in this book - the more they pollute the simple elegance of the original books. Fleming fans don't want their secret agents to be saddled with a bunch of insipid colleagues. James Bond was a loner by choice because he didn't need other people to validate his existence.
To sum up; Ian Fleming publications has managed to fumble the ball in the worst way possible. If you've got any love for the Fleming Bond books at all your best bet is to re-read those and give this train-wreck a wide berth. Believe me it is not worth your time.
Ian Fleming must be spinning so fast in his grave right now that he could be legally classified as a particle accelerator.

[Ståle Gismervik · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well... it ended up as nothing. When I have decided on reading a book, I will read it till the end, regardless. Unfortunately, this was uninteresting and boring and I had to push myself through it. All in this book could be said in less than 100 pages without losing anything.

It seems the author is obsessed with watches or heavily sponsored.

I didn't know Bond would not turn up and waited patiently page after page, but there are just uninteresting 00s in this book.

I'm not sure I'll bother with the next two books.

[Neil Randall · Rating 2 out of 5]

I suppose there time had to come when the 00s had to face the climate change gang, and get woke with the diversity of the characters in the 00s. Black, gay, female Asian etc etc.

Sadly no matter how diverse the characters they do nothing to enliven the story, this novel just drags along. After an interesting start the reader gets bogged down with far too many characters to keep track of.

Each evening I picked this one up I had to go back a chapter to get back into the confusing story line.

The premise of it is that the often mention 007 Bond, James Bond is missing and not likely to return anytime soon. So we are introduced to another 4 MI6 agents from the "00" team, odd that no 00 seems to go beyond the number 10?

The god like worship that all of MI6 Bond has is a bit irritating, they talk of him like he is MI6 not just another agent getting the job done.

Anyway if you are a pure Bond fan give this a miss, it has action at the begining and end but just rambles on for the main part, with the author filling space with totally uninteresting info about nothing really.

I gave it two stars for the fast pace action withing the ending. But as mentioned the story just rambles along, the fast pace you are used to in Bond novels are few and far between.

I don't think I'll bother with the next two in the trilogy.

[F.R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Ian Flaming James Bond novels go out of print in fifteen years or so, which probably explains this book’s existence. After all, if you can license a whole series of adventures with other double O agents; they will stay in copyright much longer.

Unfortunately- as admirably diverse as they are - there is no character here who equals James Bond. Indeed the book only really comes alive when Bond is referred to.

So I can see what they want to do, but it takes more than simply willing it into existence to create a character so long lasting.

[William · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried with this one, I really did, I was really looking forward to it but very early on it's quite obvious that this is very badly written fan fiction, and I use the term "fan" loosely because even though the author claims to be a huge Bond fan you would never have guessed by reading this rubbish.

[Ahren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally published on The Neopologist

The Obligatory Preamble
James Bond novels have been in a bit of a stagnant place since the end of Raymond Benson’s run in the early 2000’s. And even then, of the 6 original novels Benson wrote, only High Time to Kill was truly good. After Benson’s run, the Fleming estate passed the authoring duties around rather than throwing their lot in with one voice. We got a throwback to the James Bond of the 1960’s with Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks followed by an ultra-modern re-imagining of 007 with Carte Blanche by Jeffery Deaver (my review). I surmise that, of the two, Devil May Care was the more successful novel because what proceeded was the abandonment of modern Bond and 4 more throwback novels over the following decade.

Meanwhile in the world of comics; Dynamite Entertainment started a run of James Bond stories in 2015 that showed that the world of 007 can be successfully modernized with series after series brilliantly adapting old storylines and characters and creating many new ones. They finely demonstrated that there is a path for James Bond to exist in the modern present.

The 007 movies, novels, and now the graphic novels have bared little in common but titles and character names since the 80’s. But interestingly, we currently find all three mediums at a convergent thematic crossroads. The end of Daniel Craig’s run of James Bond films culminated with the unambiguous demise of Bond in No Time to Die, the latest run from Dynamite Entertainment; 007: For King & Country where 007 disappears and is presumed dead by MI6 and now Kim Sherwood’s Double or Nothing which wears it’s premise on its jacket “JAMES BOND IS MISSING” all seem to beg the same question: what does the world of 007 look like without James Bond?

The Actual Review
It’s tradition at the end of an actor’s run as James Bond for speculation to begin about who will be cast in the role next and how to update the series with the times. Whether it’s an elderly Roger Moore suggesting a young Cuba Gooding Jr. or a Jinx-centered Die Another Day spin-off starring Halle Berry. As Judi Dench’s M so succinctly summed it up in 1995’s GoldenEye: “[James Bond is] a sexist, misogynist dinosaur. A relic of the Cold War…” James Bond has always paradoxically remained timeless and frozen in time; in perpetual need of an update.

So it was this perennial fervor that had me chuckling in the opening pages of Double or Nothing where Sherwood seems to delight in creating a refreshingly diverse cast of characters. What if James Bond was a woman? What if James Bond was Black? What if James Bond was gay? What if James Bond was Pakistani? What if James Bond was deaf? Sherwood simply answers: “Yes”. And so part of the initial fun of Double or Nothing is seeing where all these new pieces fit on the old game board.

Aside from new characters, Sherwood also masterfully walks the tightrope of including classic characters we know and love, like M, Q, Tanner and Moneypenny and updating them smartly. Although, I must admit the update to Q, while logical and fitting, took effort to adjust to.

The overarching plot to Double or Nothing is appropriately zeitgeist-y, involving an eccentric billionaire, climate-change and artificial intelligence. It’s enough to propel the characters forward and, while not preachy, Sherwood doesn’t shy away from using her new platform to subtly say a few pointed things about socio-economics, race, and gender politics. Very refreshing after the last few cringe-tastic Fleming novels I’ve recently read.

In Double or Nothing there’s a little less jet-setting and glamor and a little more tactical spec-ops. It seems a more accurate reflection of the real world and certainly the direction of the spy-craft genre. Sherwood’s writing vacillates easily and appropriately from Tom Clancy-esque statistics-spouting technical descriptions to evocative borderline-poetic prose.

I was trepidatious that a large cast of characters and intersecting plot lines would overwhelm the story, but it all works and makes for a story richer than just one man’s adventure. Reading this novel and considering the development of the 00 section, something we’ve only ever caught glimpses of in the periphery, left me muttering “Why didn’t they do this sooner?” several times. The reveal and cliffhanger ending has me on the edge of my seat for the next entry in this planned trilogy. Fantastic work by Kim Sherwood.

[Nachtfalter · Rating 1 out of 5]

»Doppelt oder nichts« von Kim Sherwood ist der erste James Bond Roman, den ich gelesen habe. Ich mag die Filme (auch wenn ich mir ihrer Schwächen bewusst bin) und dachte, ein Buch von einer Autorin mit queerer Perspektive auf die Welt der Doppelnull-Leute, würde frischen Wind in die Thematik bringen.

Das Buch erschien 2022 und wurde 2023 von Roswitha Giesen für den Cross Cult Verlag ins Deutsche übersetzt. Ich habe das Original nicht gelesen, meine Meinung betrifft daher ausschließlich die deutsche Version.

Ich habe von dem Buch Spannung, Action und Intrigen erwartet. Was ich aber zuerst bekommen habe, war eine übergroße Schrift, die das Buch künstlich auf 500 Seiten aufbläst.

Den Lesenden werden drei Doppelnullen vorgestellt: Johanna Harwood (003), Joseph Dryden (004) und Sid Bashir (009). Wobei »vorstellen« hier wohl das falsche Wort ist. Während wir zu Bashir wenigstens ein paar Infos bekommen, bleibt Harwood bis zuletzt eine blasse langweilige Protagonistin, deren einziger Charakterzug es ist, eine Beziehung mit Bond und Bashir gehabt zu haben (wahrscheinlich nicht gleichzeitig, weil das wäre spannend gewesen und Spannung will das Buch unbedingt vermeiden). Selbst Qs Gehilfen Aisha und Ibrahim, die nicht viel Platz in dem Roman einnehmen, werden besser und detailreicher vorgestellt als 003. Einzig Dryden wird als Figur wirklich ausgearbeitet. Er ist schwul, Schwarz und hat eine Hörbehinderung. Der Autorin gelingt es tatsächlich, alles davon sinnvoll und klug in diesem Roman unterzubringen und Drydens Erzählstrang ist deutlich besser als der von Harwood und Bashir.

Nach den ersten 50 Seiten hab ich mich gefragt, ob ich in einem Spionageroman bin oder in einer Telenovela. Es ist ein großes, wer hat wann mit wem welche Art von Beziehung gehabt. Dazu kommen leider sehr plumpe Beschreibungen männlicher Körper und eine Menge Wortwiederholungen. Diese lassen im Verlauf des Buches auch nicht nach und zeigen sich besonders, wenn etwas aus der Vergangenheit erzählt wird und ständig das Wort »hatte« aufkommt.

Knapp bei Seite 100 bekommen wir dann ein paar mehr Infos über Harwood, als sie einem Lügendetektortest unterzogen wird ... echt jetzt, MI6 ... Lügendetektor? Euer Ernst???

Beschreibungen von Orten bekommt die Autorin aber sehr gut hin. So hat man recht schnell einen guten Eindruck von der Umgebung, in der sich die Agentinnen und Agenten befinden. Doch das allein rettet den Roman leider nicht.

Zwischen drin bekommen wir dann auch noch einen Handlungsstrang von Mrs. Moneypenny, die ebenfalls Ermittlungen durchführt. Die fangen meist ganz spannend an, verlaufen sich dann aber in langatmigen Dialogen und führen irgendwie zu nichts. Grundsätzlich trägt der auktoriale Erzählstil nicht dazu bei, dass man irgendwie eine Bindung zu den Figuren aufbaut. Alle bleiben fremd und distanziert. Selbst in Situationen größter Gefahr kann man kaum mit den Figuren mitfiebern.

Unfreiwillig komisch wird es dann, wenn die Agenten irgendwelche Dinge in den kleinsten Spiegeln der Welt sehen. Bashir kauft auf einem Flohmarkt einen Zahnarztspiegel und sieht darin das komplette Geschehen hinter sich. Harewood sieht in der Spiegelung eines Serviettenspenders ganze Handlungsstränge. Es ist okay, wenn so was einmal passiert, aber diese und ähnliche Dinge passieren mehrmals und nehmen der ohnehin schon action-armen Handlung komplett die Ernsthaftigkeit.

Zwischendrin wird noch ein Doppelagentenplot aufgemacht und die Frage in den Raum gestellt, ob Harwood für den Feind arbeitet. Als dann rauskommt, dass es vermeintlich so ist, benimmt sich Bashir wie ein bockiges kleines Kind und beleidigt sie als Schlampe. Später kommt raus, dass Harwood eine Dreifachagentin ist, doch als Bashir in ihren Armen stirbt, fragt er noch immer, ob sie der Maulwurf war. Und das soll dann die große Liebesgeschichte in diesem Buch sein.

Wenn doch mal Spannung aufkommt, wird diese von seitenlangen Beschreibungen unterbrochen. Als über drei Seiten hinweg ein Auto beschrieben wird, während eigentlich eine spannende Verfolgungsjagd stattfindet, hab ich mich schon gefragt, ob gleich Ralf Schuhmacher kommt und fragt, ob ich ein Auto abgeben will. Das wäre wenigstens mal ein Twist gewesen. Peinlich wird es dann eher, wenn Harwood nicht mal weiß, mit welchen neuen Gimmicks ihr Auto von der Q-Abteilung ausgestattet wurde und sie einfach Knöpfe drückt, um zu sehen, was passiert. An diesem Punkt im letzten Drittel des Buches hab ich nur noch weitergelesen, um zu sehen, wie absurd es noch wird. Mein Highlight im Finale war ein mehrseitiger Monolog von Bashir über das Überraschungsmoment bei einem Angriff, während diese Erklärung aufkommende Spannung mal wieder im Keim erstickt hat.

Ganz zum Schluss erfahren wir dann schnell noch, wer der Maulwurf im MI6 war und bekommen einen Hinweis auf Bond. Beides liest sich, als hätte die Autorin es schnell noch reingeschrieben, ohne vorher irgendwelche Hinweise zu geben.

Am Ende bleiben die Figuren leblos, kein Innenleben, kaum Emotionen, nur Hüllen, die von der Autorin durch den Plot geschoben werden. Mehr als interessante Schauplätze hat das Buch leider nicht zu bieten.

[Gary · Rating 3 out of 5]

SPOILER WARNING! Given the advertised premise of this series, "Bond is missing and the other 00s must find him" I was predisposed to dislike this book. A Bond book without Bond, how stupid I thought. Nonetheless I was genuinely curious and strive to be openminded. Overall I *did* quite enjoy it and it was a fast read, however it had some serious and avoidable problems. 1. The prose is overly "flowery" and some of the similes and metaphors are nonsensical, a notable example of which is when a tiger's footfalls (pawfalls?) are likened to ammunition(!?) Anyone who has watched tigers prowling up close in a zoo will be familiar with this "noise" - there isn't one. Conversely the next loudest noise to the discharge of firearms in a shooting range is the clatter of brass on the floor. 2. It doesn't seem to be able to decide, what "type" of Bond story it wants to be, i.e. how grounded. The majority of it is clearly contemporary and yet Q is now a (bizarrely large) quantum computer (a bad idea robbing us of character interplay) as is the "brain" of the antagonist. The sub-plot (almost co-plot) is eco-centric, as was Jeffrey Deaver's "Carte Blanche" and yet the latter did a much better job of understanding its level of grounding and maintaining it. 3. It is riddled with entirely avoidable technical errors, notable examples include Glock safeties being "flicked off" (Glocks don't have frame mounted safeties, the safety such as it is, is on the trigger and is depressed as part of the pull - I own two). The chamber in which Q is housed is supposedly kept at absolute zero (-273.15 C) which partially relates back to the indecisive grounding of point 2, absolute zero is unattainable as the amount of work required increases the closer you get, it would therefore require an infinite amount of work to achieve. The hand positions that Harwood is described as maintaining during pursuit driving would not afford good control of the vehicle. They are inconsistent with performance driving techniques (inc. The Met's TPAC - Tactical Pursuit And Containment - the most likely training that SIS officer's would receive) as taught as part of the RAC MSA's competition license course. In the engine room of the yacht near the climax of the plot, diesel tanks rupture and the diesel is immediately ignited by a spark from a bare cable and causes a near-instantaneous conflagration, diesel is difficult and slow to ignite when unpressurized and slow burning (https://youtu.be/7soVqyGq4i4). If this conflagration plot device were required, why not simply change the fuel? I recognize that I have some specialist insight into some of these topics, but I'm not alone in that regard with at least some and such errors break the required suspension of disbelief and are avoidable with (better) research, review and editing. 4. I am (as far as I know and my friends *don't* tell me), devoid of bigotry, married to a POC, with friends of every persuasion and yet the author's methods of ensuring representation are clumsy and read like a checklist that pulls one out of the story. I applaud representation, but it must be possible to achieve in a more subtle and less intrusive manner. 5. Bill Tanner turns traitor and commits suicide? Not a chance and an unforgivable senseless killing of an established character, the plot device could *easily* have been achieved with any newly-introduced character, silly and pointless. 6. Lastly, "pulling the taffy" (to quote the American idiom) - 007 is not recovered at the end of the book. I knew this from the marketing when the trilogy was announced. Based on the 422 pages, we're looking at either 1,200 pages to find him or perhaps approximately 800 to find him and another 400 of vengeance with Bond and the team? Either way this concept would better have been wrapped up in this first volume and the other two (no doubt mandated by Ian Fleming Publications) used as Bond-and-the-team books. Admittedly lot of criticism for a book that I did enjoy overall and probably because it's Bond I shall likely read the next two volumes, it's just a pity that it wasn't better edited or the concept tackled by a more experienced (better?) author perhaps as the additional edits could have earned it one or even two of the missing stars. I look forward to seeing how volume two is.

Peace of mind disclaimer. :-) All opinions are obviously my own, yours will likely be very different (as they should be) and that's great. I offer the above in case it helps anybody decide whether or not they want to invest their time and/or money in reading the book. I shall not engage in debate of any of it.

[Bella Azam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This started well, the storyline was interesting in the beginning but it went downhill by halfway. I wished it was more action packed bcus its A SPY BOOK, I WAS HOPING FOR THIS.

Double or nothing by Kim Sherwood #bookreview

Being a spy is so fascinating yet its a very dangerous job. I mean who doesnt like to disguise, putting up many facades/mask, get to be equipped with many high tech device all in order to complete demanding missions yet stakes are high and risky. I love spies, am a huge fan of 'totally spies' and 'kim possible' (yup i grew up watching these shows ✨️✨️) while James Bond is such an iconic character that i bet everyone know

with sherwood's double or nothing, this is the first book in a trilogy series spin off from the originals by Ian Fleming featured brand new characters while still in the James Bond 007 universe. With cameo by Bond in passing shadows or flashbacks, in here we followed three titular characters: 003 Johanna Harwood, 004 Joseph Dryden and 009 Sid Bashir as they try to save the world. With unknown possibility of 007 being dead had made the other agents to step up to take over his place with some suspicious activity regarding global warming crisis, this book take you on a different adventure

writing wise, this can take a while to get used to with so many changes in narratives between characters with no distinct voices on their own. The plot is interesting with issues like climate change being raised but the pacing is slow at times that it takes so much time for a build up. Though the cliffhanger and twists are good so they can keep you to read more. I do think it could be better but for a first book, it wasnt bad though i was hoping for more actions. I mean i need more ACTIONS since its SPY book, i was expecting more

Thank you @times.reads and @putrifariza for the review copy in an exchange for an honest review

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first in a series set in what I guess we should call the Bond Expanded Universe. 007 is offstage but integral to the plot and frequently mentioned. The story focuses on three 00 agents and on the staff back at headquarters (some of whom will be familiar, in name at least, while others are new).

I found the tone and narrative a perfect update of Fleming, with just the right levels of violence, technology and weirdness, and, of course, a great deal of product placement. The action scenes were really well done, especially the car chases, and I ended up heavily invested in the plot and the characters (particularly the one who shares my surname).

My one gripe: I loved all the references to previous Bond adventures, but they tended to be overexplained. Let those of us who are going to get them, get them with just the one clue and feel clever, and move on for those readers who are less obsessive about Fleming's back catalogue.

Finally, a warning: James Bond is (we hope) sacred and off limits, but anyone else is fair game...

[Lance Kirby · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first book of the new OO series where MI6 has trained new agents I was looking forward to see if it did the original Bond books justice but I found it a slow paced read and it wasn’t what I expected I’m unsure weather to try the other books but if your a bond fan you should give it a read and judge for your self

[Carey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Over complicated plot, unnecessary descriptions, politics laid on with a trowel. Eventually had to give up. Poor.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up to 004.

Author and life-long 007 fan Kim Sherwood's mission begins with a hunt for a missing James Bond and introduces a host of new Double Os – pulling the agency kicking and screaming into the 2020s with a, perhaps, box ticking exercise. But the author does also tick the appropriate boxes you’d expect from a Bond-related adventure.

Top tech gadgetry? Tick.
Car chases (including electric)? Tick.
Explosions, gunfire and fist fights? Tick.
Characters intent on saving the world but actually world domination on their agenda? Tick.
Possible Double Agents? Tick.

As a complete Bond literary novice (I’ve not read any of the original books) it’s difficult to say whether nobody does it better than Ian Fleming himself – but fair play to the author for accepting this seemingly mission impossible. Kim does a diamond job with a licence to thrill a whole new generation of readers of the spy genre. And she completes the assignment admirably after a slow burn of a start and perhaps too many characters to keep track of, even with a Q tracking device employed.

That being said, if you’re a Bond fan then – despite his absence – there’s enough thrills and action here to keep you fully satisfied until the next book or movie, whichever comes first.

Of course it wouldn’t be Bond without its cast of infamous characters like M, Q and Moneypenny – and the author has a golden eye when it comes to what readers may want and need from this novel. There’s easter eggs, wisecracks worthy of the man himself and clever nods to the franchise throughout – all in all, it’s a 004 read.

This is billed as the first of a planned trilogy so James Bond may well yet return. Never say never again.

My thanks to publisher Harper Collins UK and Net Galley for this ARC.

[Jane Schwarz · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this new storyline in the MI6 saga, a number of Double O's have been killed or disappeared. Sir Emery Ware, M, has moved up to Chief of MI6. Moneypenny is now the Section Chief and has been recruiting new talent. And Bond is missing after an aborted mission.
M has Sid Bashir, 009, on a secret assignment to ferret out a traitor in the agent ranks. Moneypenny has Joseph Dryden, 004, to infiltrate a tech billionaire's security team to find out whether the cloud seeding quantum computer is a savior or destroyer of the planet. Johanna Harwood, 003, has her own agenda that involves the mercenary assassins, Rattenfanger.
A fast moving spy thriller that involves the Double O's, with new and old faces working together to help save the world from mad men, again.
Thank you NetGalley and Harper Collins for this e-galley of "Double or Nothing".

[Alan Diener · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's taken me over 6 months to read 60 pages. I'm not going to waste any more time on it and just cut my losses. As others have noted, it is quite hard to follow - constantly switching between codenames, first, and last names of the characters. As well as mid-chapter flashbacks and strange tangents. Not to mention being as subtle as a brick. Hopefully, the next Bond author is readable. I'll wait until then to read another Bond novel.

[Tommy Verhaegen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dit boek is bedoeld als de opvolging van de beroemde James Bond boeken die oorspronkelijk door Ian Fleming geschreven werden.
Bond wordt vermist en niet minder dan 3 andere 00's worden op zijn spoor gezet. Ondertussen is er ook een superrijke gek van plan om de wereld te laten vergaan. Het thema is volledig in lijn met de Bond boeken, de uitwerking is dat niet. Er is een flinke scheut woke-saus overgegoten om in de smaak te vallen bij de culturele linkse bobo's.

Ook de cover doet direct terugdenken aan de oude Bond boeken maar wel met een fris kleurtje. De subtitel James Bond is vermist is, alhoewel technisch correct, eigenlijk misleidend. Dit vormt slechts een zijlijn waar in verhouding heel weinig aandacht aan besteed wordt. Al is het de bedoeling om nog boeken in deze reeks uit te brengen en dat wordt de opsporing van James waarschijnlijk verder gezet.

De 3 00's en vooral Moneypenny geven een diepe inkijk in hun privé-leven en gedachten. Dat dat nogal verknipt is, hoeft niet te verwonderen gezien hun beroep en ervaringen. Om het zo maar vlakaf en onopgesmukt uitgesmeerd te zien doet wel even slikken.
De rol van de agenten is eigenlijk die van James Bond maar dan over 3 personen gesplitst. Dat geeft meer mogelijkheden qua locaties en interacties. Wat het verschil met 007 moet benadrukken. Ze krijgen elk een andere rol toebedeeld en die is per 00 nog complex genoeg. Kim Sherwood houdt het niet bij oppervlakkige aktie, ze geeft elke agent een achtergrond en een rugzakje. De lezer krijgt de kans om mee te leven en gaandeweg de agenten beter te leren kennen. Sommige delen, zoals de flashbacks, zijn louter informatief en verduidelijken keuzes en karaktertrekken, andere zetten de lezer dan weer telkens voor verrassingen en dwingen hem/haar om de verwachtingen te herzien.

Het boek is zeer vlot te lezen, al mag er soms wel wat gegoogeld worden. Kim Sherwood schuwt de hypes noch de hypotheses die waarschijnlijk nooit werkelijkheid zullen worden. Buiten deze brede achtergrondkennis over klimaathysterie (die voor waar en apocalytpisch wordt aangenomen), quantum computers (waar de schrijfster heel wat jaren in de toekomst vertoeft), big data en master of the universe miljardairs, is en blijft het een thriller met een aantal al dan niet gemeende romantische scenes. De spanning bestaat uit martelscenes die bij de echte Bond verhalen impliciet waren en hier expliciet getekend worden. De romantiek is eerder pure seks, iets wat bij Bond ook altijd net verborgen bleef.

De 3 simultane locaties en geheime agenten duidt dan weer op het mondiale karakter van de superrijken.
Het is enigszins rommeling maar dat is het gevolg van de keuze van Kim Sherwood om de focus te leggen op het denkproces van de protagonisten. Dat is niet rechtlijnig. Zoals de karakters leren door ervaring doet de lezer dat ook. En dat is geen lijnrecht parcours.

Het woke thema is prominent aanwezig. Zoals ergens in het verhaal gezegd wordt: door leugens vaak met veel nadruk te herhalen gaan mensen dat als de waarheid zien. James Bond is hier enkel een platte commerciële truk om een grotere verkoop te realiseren en van de franchise om wij de woke-beweging aan te sluiten. Toch is de link nooit veraf en laat dat ruimte om James Bond op het einde van de reeks terug ten tonele te voeren. Of, zoals ik verwacht, sneller bij gebrek aan het verwachte succes van de nieuwe formule.

Ondanks de kwaliteiten van dit boek denk ik eerder dat Kim Sherwood de perfecte kandidaat is om het James Bond-universum de doodsteek te geven. Ik kan enkel de échte Bond-fans aanraden om te stoppen na het laatste echte Bond verhaal, ook al zijn die laatste verhalen al lang niet meer door Fleming zelf geschreven.
Dit is al helemaal niet het ultieme boek voor James Bond-fans.

[Arien · Rating 4 out of 5]

✨”No traficamos con la muerte. La muerte nos trafica a nosotros.”✨

Espías, intrigas y mucha acción!

De qué va?
👉🏻 Seguimos a una nueva generación de espías ingleses, los agentes del MI6 con licencia para matar.
👉🏻 James Bond ha desaparecido y parece que el mundo está en peligro, pero los nuevos 00 no van a rendirse…

Puntos clave:
👉🏻 Acción, thriller, espías, mundo 007, lujo, intrigas, misterio, rep LGTB.
👉🏻 Inicio trilogía, tercera persona, varios puntos de vista, saltos temporales, 400 páginas.

Lo que más me ha gustado:
👉🏻 El mundo del espionaje. Con todas sus intrigas, traiciones, giros y dobles caras.
👉🏻 La trama principal es muy atractiva, el mundo está en peligro, y algunas secundarias también muy interesantes.
👉🏻 Los personajes están bien construidos y son bastante ambiguos, el sello claro de un espía.
👉🏻 La autora hace un juego de los saltos temporales buenísimo. A veces aportan información, otras confunden más, pero nunca dejan indiferente.
👉🏻 La sensación de que el libro, los personajes y la autora están jugando contigo como lector.
👉🏻 Ha sido como estar leyendo una película repleta de acción.
👉🏻 Los chismes y cacharros de espías 😍

A tener en cuenta:
⚠️ Hay escenas de pelea, violencia y muerte.
⚠️ Está construido para generar confusión y sorpresa.

Lo recomiendo?
👉🏻 Si sois fans de los libros y las películas de espías, este os va a encantar.
👉🏻 Es un comienzo de trilogía muy interesante, que refleja a la perfección el mundo del espionaje.
👉🏻 Si buscas una lectura trepidante llena de acción, es la tuya!

[Leesladder_edwin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Double or Nothing is een soort spin-off van de boeken rondom James Bond. Een nieuwe lichting MI6 agenten is opgeleid om in de voetsporen van James Bond te treden. Tot zover het goede nieuws…

Hoewel Kim Sherwood laat zien dat ze goed kan schrijven, heeft ze in dit boek de plank misgeslagen. Niet zo zeer het bedachte plot. Want dat een superrijke schurk de wereld wil veroveren, klinkt over de top maar is wel iets dat je in een James Bond boek kan verwachten. En ook de door de 00’s gebruikte technische snufjes zijn van deze tijd en passen in diezelfde lijn.
Het grote bezwaar is dat het een warrig verhaal is geworden dat van de hak op de tak springt. Er lijkt maar wat te gebeuren en gebeurtenissen lijken uit de lucht te komen vallen. De veelvoorkomende, ellenlange zinnen helpen ook niet mee en halen de vaart volledig uit het verhaal. De echte spanning komt hierdoor nooit volledig tot uiting. En als er dan al een spannende scène is, dan wordt die onderbroken door de gedachten van één van de hoofdpersonen en is de spanning alweer vervlogen.

Het open einde laat ruimte voor een tweede deel, dat inmiddels ook al is verschenen. Ik laat deze echter na dit voor mij teleurstellende boek aan me voorbij gaan…

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the start of a new trilogy based on the James Bond novels. Unlike the Anthony Horowitz novel which I read earlier this year, this is more of a spin off series, rather than a continuation of the Bond novels. , Bond isn’t actually present in this novel but, he is constantly referenced. He has gone missing and the focus is now on 3 newer MI6 agents Johanna Harwood 003, Joseph Dryden 004 and Sid Bashir 009. I can’t help thinking about the film franchise and how there’s constant speculation about who should play Bond next – should they be a POC, should they be female etc. They’d do well to learn from this and have Bond being Bond and introducing new characters which break from the white male stereotype.

Some of the characters – M, Q, Moneypenny and Felix, who we’ve come to know and love over the years are still around, although, not in exactly the same format as in previous years/books.

The opening of this book got straight into the action, introducing new characters and setting us up for the rest of the novel. There are times when it isn’t as fast paced as I’d have liked but we have twists and turns throughout and the focus on climate change makes this a very modern version of a classic series.