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With a Mind to Kill is a James Bond novel published in 2022. It is the third and final Bond novel by Anthony Horowitz, completing a loose trilogy that includes Trigger Mortis and Forever And A Day. So overall it’s a bit of a mixed bag. The writing is certainly well up to standard, fast-paced and exciting in all the right places. When I started reading it seemed like it might be the best of the Horowitz trilogy. Perhaps it was being caught two weeks behind and under pressure to read and review the book, but for me it sometimes falls short as a James Bond novel. Before traveling from Leningrad to Moscow by train, Bond reminisces about his encounter with Red Grant aboard the Orient Express. Horowitz completes his James Bond trilogy—begun in Trigger Mortis (2015) and Forever and a Day (2018)—by providing what would be the nonpareil British spy’s final adventure if only all those other earlier scribes hadn’t preceded him at the feast. My only real criticsim is the author's constant references to a huge amount of previous Bond adventures by Ian Fleming. Some of these are essential to the story, but many are unnecessary & somewhat laboured. Other Bond continuation novelist like John Gardner & Raymond Benson had the same problem. These endless references to 007's past did irritate me at times, but the last four chapters of With A Mind To Kill are so sublime that (once again!) I'll forgive him.
To be clear, Horowitz is in no way the first author anointed by the Fleming estate to continue the adventures of James Bond in book form. That tradition started in 1968 when Kingsley Amis wrote the 007 book Colonel Sun under the pen name “Robert Markham,” just four years after his friend’s death in 1964. But for Bond fans, all the “continuation” books are interesting, and the committed 007 completist will find strong entries like John Gardner’s License Renewed (1981) or William Boyd’s Solo (2013). Hope I'm not breaking any reviewer's etiquette here, by giving away part of the plot. ...but joke time: Meanwhile, Bond is returning from Jamaica and his encounter with Scaramanga ( The Man with the Golden Gun). He is aware of a world that is changing all too rapidly around him. The old certainties of the post-years have gone. The intelligence services are no long trusted. He is beginning to wonder if his "license to kill" may even be valid any more. Bond is still very Bond, but he is older and jaded and, maybe for the first time, overconfident. There are plenty of typical Bond moments to enjoy but there is a definite theme of a man out of his depth and at the end of his career. Can he pull it together in time to not only survive intact but complete his mission, or is this the end of the line for 007?
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While being subjected to physical and psychological torture in the "magic room" by Colonel Boris, Bond hallucinates people and events from previous novels, including Scaramanga, Rosa Klebb, and the poisonous centipede that Dr. No once sent to kill him. Whether deliberately or subconsciously there are elements of The Ipcress File here, but as that's a classic 60's spy story I can forgive him. As he ponders his own future, Bond is given his next assignment: discover what Stalnaya Ruska is planning and prevent it from happening. To do this, he will have to make the Russians believe he is a double agent and travel behind the Iron Curtain.
Although Horowitz may not have the detailed descriptive talent of Ian Fleming his characters are spot on. Katya Leonova is a wonderful creation & worthy of any Fleming novel, as are many of the characters throughout this novel. Once again, Horowitz slips this story in after another of the originals (as he did with Trigger Mortice). We are not in the early 60s, and after returning from Jamaica and his confrontation with Scaramanga (The Man with the Golden Gun) we start with M's funeral, and Bond is accused of murder. In Moscow, former KGB and Smersh agents are plotting, and the architect of From Russia with Love – General G. is once again involved. The second guy is given the same task, he looks very unhappy, but goes into the room to find his wife, but he just can't bring himself to do it and walks out with his arm around her, both in tears, apologising to the CIA management that he's not their man. Bookends: In the first Bond novel Casino Royale Bond contemplates resigning from the Secret Service after his torture at Le Chiffre's hands while his friend Mathis tries to convince him not to. In this novel, which serves as a coda to Fleming's canon, Bond recalls that conversation with Mathis, revisits his decision to resign from the Service, and this time round is determined to see it through. With a stronger story than his previous two, this is easily Anthony Horowitz’s best Bond novel; making it, for me, the best of all the non-Fleming Bond’s that I've read. It flows logically and ends terrifically, better in fact than many of Fleming’s originals. I don’t think endings were his thing. One of my favourites, Dr No, was a wonderfully atmospheric book, but I think Fleming was laughing over a gin on the veranda of Goldeneye in coming up with the great Dr’s demise!
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Mythology Gag: At one point, Bond considers settling down in Jamaica if he ever resigns from the Secret Service...which is precisely what his cinematic counterpart did in No Time to Die. Well, he said, that gun you gave me only had blanks, so I had to beat the bitch to death with a chair leg. With a Mind to Kill (WaMtK) is Anthony Horowitz's final book in his James Bond trilogy which was commissioned by the Ian Fleming Estate. It follows a mid-career Bond in Trigger Mortis (2015) and a pre-007 Bond in Forever and a Day (2018). In terms of chronology, the latter is a prequel to Fleming's original Casino Royale (James Bond #1 - 1953) and the former follows after Goldfinger (James Bond #7 - 1959). The CIA were going through a selection process to find their top assassin, someone who must be obedient but ruthless. The three shortlisted candidates are given one final task, they are handed a gun and told to go into a room where they will find their wife, and to prove their absolute dedication to the CIA and the US they must kill her.
At the end of the last Fleming book The man with the Golden Gun we get the return of the oldish 007 more or less. The James Bond before he met his wife Teresa. It’s almost uncanny how well Mr. Horowitz summons Bond’s mindset . . . Yet this Bond also feels the winds of change: 'He had his licence to kill. But was it possible that in this new, more questioning age, that licence might have expired?' A drop of retro pleasures, a pinch of things to come; shaken, not stirred."— Wall Street Journal Horowitz's Bond] is once again in safe hands, not departing much from Fleming's entertaining formula... Horowitz's light touch and smooth plotting create something close to the ideal holiday read. Irish ExaminerSo well written and has the depth that sometimes Fleming didn’t bother with. The 60s Cold War setting works perfectly and there is that sense that Bond is struggling with the idea that his career may be coming to an end and wants to prove himself. But there also an understanding that it is his 00 status that defines him and he can’t imagine a different future. The new James Bond story will start with M’s funeral. One man is missing from the graveside: the traitor who pulled the trigger and who is now in custody, accused of M’s murder – James Bond. It is M's funeral. One man is missing from the graveside: the traitor who pulled the trigger and who is now in custody, accused of M's murder—James Bond.
This is set a couple of weeks after Fleming’s “Man with the Golder Gun”, Bond is recovering from brainwashing and an intense ordeal, and he is very much a damaged man. But a mission arises that may be vital to the safety of the Western world and, despite not being ready, Bond volunteers to put himself in the hands of the Russians, acting if the brainwashing is still in place. The novel is set in 1964, immediately after The Man with the Golden Gun, the final novel written by Bond creator Ian Fleming. After recovering from his near-fatal encounter with Francisco Scaramanga at the end of that novel, Bond undertakes a dangerous undercover mission behind the Iron Curtain in a bid to infiltrate a group of former SMERSH agents planning an operation that will change the balance of world power. Along the way, he must wrestle with his inner demons, and deal with the fallout of the brainwashing he'd suffered the last time he was in Soviet hands. A significant chunk of the novel is taken up with Bond and Katya on a seemingly never-ending first date that develops predictably and is never once compelling. What’s worse is that Horowitz’s usually strong characterisation seems to regress considerably to portray Katya as the worst kind of stereotypical damsel-in-distress. She goes from being an independent, intelligent woman to a simpering, clingy bimbo in no time, existing only to be used by Bond, and Horowitz too, when the narrative suits. Bond was being abused and he thoughts of quitting. He should quit. Let someone else who hasn’t suffered so much to carry on this work. Being good at his work should make him feel appreciate and treasured as a good employee. It’s almost uncanny how well Mr. Horowitz summons Bond’s mindset . . . Yet this Bond also feels the winds of change: 'He had his licence to kill. But was it possible that in this new, more questioning age, that licence might have expired?' A drop of retro pleasures, a pinch of things to come; shaken, not stirred." — Wall Street Journal
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When it is not worth it. Or at least no one convince him that it is all worth it. It is a form of exploitation. I am glad that he wants to quit and I hope he did at the end of this book. The sense of well being come from not only not being harmed. The sense of wellbeing come from accepting the risk and the harm and feel it is all worth it. On the other hand there is some terrific action. Early on Bond is forced to flee after being captured. The writing is genuinely exciting. Later on there is more action, Bond forced to fight for his life and continue his mission. And the finale when he must return to the west. In these moments the book is hard to put down. But I don’t really buy Bond’s mission and all the mind control. It worked in The Man With The Golden Gun because Fleming didn’t elaborate too much. While Horowitz has researched mind control methods I just didn’t believe it.
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