Ever wonder why James Bond orders his martinis shaken and
not stirred? Anthony Horowitz’s new Bond novel tells us about Bond before he
was 007, and Kerry Hammond is here to tell us her review of the book.
Forever And A Day is the second in the James Bond series
that author Anthony Horowitz has continued in the spirit and memory of Ian
Fleming. The book was published on November 6 in Hardcover by Harper.
I need to start this review off with a confession. I have
never read a James Bond novel. I’ve watched many of the movies and have
probably seen at least one film featuring each of the Bond actors. But I have
never picked up an Ian Fleming book, never known the Bond of the page versus
the Bond on screen.
I was an Anthony Horowitz follower before I even knew it. As
a longtime Midsomer Murders fan, I was enjoying his work before I knew his
name. Then, when my book club chose Magpie Murders as its September read, I
fell in love with Horowitz’s work and knew that I had to try his 007 novels.
I didn’t start with the first in the new series, though. That
would be too predictable. I started with the second book and was immediately
drawn in. Horowitz is the kind of writer who just knows how to tell a good
story. Again, I don’t have the reference of comparison to a Fleming novel, so I
can’t comment on the similarities or differences. What I can comment on is how
entertaining the book was.
Forever And A Day is written as the prequel to the very
first Bond novel, Casino Royale. In it, we learn about 007 before he was 007.
It’s a precursor to the series and gives backstory—based on outlines Fleming
wrote for a TV series—into the character and his motivations. There’s also a
lot of action scenes, a love story, and cool cars and fancy spy operations.
To complete my research,
I have since purchased Casino Royale, and
plan to start the series at the beginning. It’s often said that the book is
better than the movie, and that’s not a cliché, it’s a fact. I look
forward to finding out what I have been missing.
This book was provided to Mystery Playground by the
publisher. The review was fair and completely independent.
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