Being a trauma surgeon is pretty “hardcore”.
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Exactly! It the point of the book!!
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Yup. It’s absolutely absurd to equate someone in a profession that requires a decade+ of grueling training as being “picked up off the street”. Not to mention, why write the book if all 00s are carbon copies of each other?
I’m super excited to see a physician 00.
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Unlikely. In any case I’d rather it be a callback to Mothra.
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As @Red_Snow has already pointed out, it’s quite possible that 003’s surgeon experience could have been in the military. I would agree with this and find it pretty likely to be the case, or at least it would be something similar to this idea.
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What have I ignored?
I admit ‘‘picked up off the street’’ may not have been the best choice of words. My point was someone who’s an ordinary civilian (albeit a highly qualified and skilled professional in their field) being recruited directly into the elite 00 Section. Though as @Red_Snow pointed out, its possible she is a military surgeon. And yes, even I’m intrigued by the idea of a physician 00, not least because I’m curious to see if she’ll have any conflict between the Hippocratic oath and the license (and often obligation) to kill.
People from all backgrounds and walks of life can be recruited for intelligence work (indeed, that’s often essential). But the 00 Section has typically been depicted as the very elite of the Secret Service - not just ordinary ‘spies’ (or spies of any sort, really) but one-man commando units sent out on the most high-stakes missions. Of course, its possible that Sherwood is reimagining the 00 Section in her rebooted universe as being a program that accepts exceptional individuals from outside the military/intelligence community. In which case, fair enough.
Admittedly, we don’t know a lot and I’m interested to see how this pans out.
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I didn’t get that impression from reading Fleming’s novels. While I don’t think that this is taking place in that same timeline, like Horowitz’s novels do, it does seem as though the author here, from watching the videos they’ve put out, has a healthy respect for Fleming’s work and seems to be attempting to model her novel after something more in line with that as opposed to, say, a Brosnan film, where Bond would of course fit the description of being a one-man commando unit.
Again, without the benefit of having read the novel in quite some time, I don’t recall there being much, if anything, in a novel like Casino Royale that a trauma surgeon couldn’t pull off that a member of the SAS could, provided they knew how to play cards.
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This may be what you are looking for with Kim Sherwood’s writing influences.
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Still have my fingers crossed for 006 being Alec Trevelyan.
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Some reviews. Beware of spoilers! It’s looking good though!
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That site is not reliable, and all of these „reviews“ read like plants.
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In ‘Moonraker’ Bond says ‘I couldn’t have stood being thrown about by that dam Commando chap today.’ - to me that somehow implies Bond
a) doesn’t see himself as a Commando and
b) may be fairly good in self defence, armed and unarmed combat - but the Commando chap SIS keeps in their dungeons beneath HQ is still able to take Bond apart.
In Fleming’s day the Commandos/SAS/SBS/whatever were quite a different thing from today’s outfits. Much was improvised, their personnel came often from very diverse backgrounds and the whole idea only grew with time into the ‘special forces’ we get fed in every book, series or film that’s made today.
But Fleming’s Bond, while having Commandoes throwing him around and teaching him nasty tricks, never really was depicted as being, or having been, one of them.
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The way I see it, Bond is not purely a killer but a spy who finds himself having to kill in the course of his duties. It’s a small distinction to make but I think it’s an important one. I like Bond being competent in self defence but leaning rather heavily on improvisation, much like the films which show him electrocuting Jaws’ teeth or using a fire extinguisher on Peter Franks. That’s where his genius comes to the fore. It allows him to be the underdog in an encounter, but also still likely to win.
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That’s the best thing about Bond: he is NOT a killer. But he is thrown in situations in which he has to defend himself and, well, the world against killers.
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Poor Samantha Weinberg…written out of history for the sake of hyperbole…
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Because lazy journalism generally bugs me, I e-mailed The Times about that error…
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Thank you! It bothers me too!!
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More early reviews. Not sure where where they are from.