With a Mind to Kill out in May 2022

A lovely cover. Reminds me of QOS, when Bond is on his way to visit Mathis at his villa.

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Amazingly, the US cover isn’t terrible. It’s actually pretty good.

Still think I prefer the UK cover, but at least this time out the US readers won’t have to be served an embarrassing alternative cover as we so often are for these continuation novels.

Ok, humour me, this is just for fun…

Compare this part of Forever And A Day’s cover:

With this screengrab below from the opening titles of episode 1, season 2 of the excellent Dan Stevens fantasy series Legion:

Are mysterious forces trying to tip us off that Stevens will be Bond 7…?

But seriously, of course not (probably :wink: )

“Horowitz takes care to disclaim responsibility for any old-school views that might have leaked out through the use of this material (‘many of the attitudes expressed are Fleming’s, not mine’), and Sixtine herself is certainly a post-#MeToo Bond playmate. After his first clumsy pass at her, she schools him thus: ‘I want to make it clear that you are never to touch me again without asking.’”

:roll_eyes:

For those in the US, unless this is a huge error, I just ordered the UK version from the US store with a May 31 delivery date…

hmm, I’ll have to look again.

It seems like they changed the US release date. Which would be nice. Not sure why we had to wait til Fall for it.

BUT that’s the U.K. cover…

The ebook version isn’t available…

Looking at publisher info (the 2 releases have different publishers), that is definitely the U.K. edition Amazon is selling. The U.S. edition is still listed for Nov 6th, along with the e-book.

Not sure how I feel about some of the details I’ve read.

Summary

“Shaken, not stirred” not being Bond’s own idea, for one.

But I’m not discouraged. Still looking forward to the book.

It does sound a bit knowing and retrospectively arch.

Will obviously still buy it, though.

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“Forever and a Day is still an enjoyably compact thriller, with an absolutely killer last line.”

Surveying the death and carnage around them, M turned to 007 and throwing her best Michael Caine impression said “007, you were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!”

It had been a long day, and Bond hadn’t had a drink since early the night before. He was tired, bloodied and bruised and had got the job done. Turning on his heel he walked out of the room.

M wasn’t sure, but thought she heard 007 say “Yippie ki-yay MotherFuc…” as the door closed behind him.

(h/t to Chumbah)

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Reviews:

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I’m unable to read the review from The Times, but the first review was very complimentary. We’re never going to agree with every narrative decision, but I have faith in Anthony that he’ll deliver another good Bond novel.

If the reviews keep being as positive as the first, then Anthony Horowitz maybe the Martin Campbell of 007 continuation authors. History may repeat itself in different ways, particularly with James Bond, what happens to him and his place in the world.

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Frankly, don’t put too much faith in reviews either way, the good and the bad.

This continuation business is a tricky task and many fans will look at it from a specific direction. While mainstream readers and reviewers look for something else entirely.

I didn’t like Horowitz’ first go and probably will not pick up his second for some time. But if it floats your boat, if you enjoyed Trigger Mortis, by all means let not negative reviews cloud your own enjoyment.

Horowitz was hired to deliver a particular mixture, something not quite pastiche but also something that tallied flush with the bits and pieces from Fleming. Many readers liked it the first time and that’s all one can ask for.

I had my issues with Trigger Mortis, especially the pacing of the first half, and I haven’t read a continuation novel yet that I absolutely enjoyed - Colonel Sun still is my favorite of those.

But I finished the last Murakami, I’m not really in the mood for the new Stephen King (“Sleeping Beauties” is also waiting on my kindle for the right moment), and right now I would love to read a Bond novel - so I will give this one a chance.

Oh Sleeping Beauties is fantastic. Better than i expected it to be.

Good to hear! I´ll get on it, I think, right after the Horowitz.