Out of all the James Bond novels not by Ian Fleming this is, in my opinion, by far the best. But before I look at the book I'd like to point out that Robert Markham is a pen name used by literary writer, Kinglsey Amis who was an unlikely enthusiast of Fleming's work. The book originally came out in 1968 which was only two years after the final Fleming work, the short story collection, Octopussy and The Living Daylights.
The story is set around Bond's attempts to rescue his kidnapped boss, M - the kidnapping scene at the beginning of the book is especially thrilling and slightly more descriptive in the violence than Fleming ever attempted. Bond is almost snatched himself but manages to escape before collapsing in the wood around M's property. As the book progresses we learn of Red Chinese, Colonel Sun who want to lure Bond with his chief as bait in order to kill both men and leave their bodies at the scene of an atrocity so that they, and the entire British intelligence, will be implicated.
"An elbow-jab that just missed the groin brought the top of Bond's body forward. Before he could recover, ten fingers that felt like steel bolts had sunk into the ganglia at the base of his neck.The muscles of the upper arms seemed to turn into thin streams of cold mud. Again he tried to bring his heel back and up, but this time his legs were grabbed from the front and held. A wrench, a heave and Bond hit the floor."
Markham/Amis doesn't attempt to mimic Fleming but rather to capture the essence of his style and for the most part he manages this task. The book does sag a little in the middle but then so too did several of Fleming's Bonds. The later Bond continuations from John Gardner, Raymond Benson and Sebastein Faulks all have their high points but this is the book that belongs most securely amongst the original canon. And is a must read for any serious fan of the James Bond novels.
The book is curr
ently out of print - criminally so in my opinion - but second hand copies are fairly easy to come across. The book was serialised in cartoon strip format by the Daily Express in 1969 and this collection is currently available in graphic novel format from Titan Books. The strip is well worth reading but in addition to the excellent original novel rather than in place of.
2 comments:
When this book was first published the opinion was that the plot was unacceptable. M kidnapped? Fleming would never have allowed that to happen. Remember this was back in 1969. I think that a critic of the time stated that it was unacceptable.
Years onward and reading it again - and putting bias aside - it is a good book.
But the kidnapping might explain why this particular book hasn't had a reprint.
Ray - I'd love to read those earlier books. Course M was finally kidnapped in the Bond movie, The World is not Enough.
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