Rank The Rest Of The Continuation Authors' Main Henchmen

Books Other Continuation Authors
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This week’s ranking deals with the rest of the continuation authors’ main henchmen. Once again, those authors eligible to be considered are Kingsley Amis, Christopher Wood, Sebastian Faulks, Jeffrey Deaver, William Boyd, Anthony Horowitz, and characters from Charlie Higson’s On His Majesty’s Secret Service. Other authors available to be used, if you wish, are Samantha Weinberg, Kim Sherwood, Vaseem Khan, and characters from Raymond Benson’s Felix Leiter novel, The Hook And The Eye.

So, how do you rank them? I rank them as:

  1. Zbigniew Krycsiwiki aka Jaws – JAMES BOND, THE SPY WHO LOVED ME – (Christopher Wood) – The very best James Bond henchman. He may be even scarier in this novelization than in the film. Nice backstory added for him here. Only negative is that he appears to die at the end, but apparently he survives into the next adventure.

  2. De Graaf – COLONEL SUN – (Kingsley Amis) – De Graaf has no real “gimmick” to help him stick out from the crowd, and yet, I really like him. He’s smart, able to adjust and make decisions on the fly, and is a dangerous opponent.

  3. Pham Sinh Quoc aka Chagrin – DEVIL MAY CARE – (Sebastian Faulks) – A sadistic henchman who uses chopsticks to cause permanent injury to his victims’ hearing–if not death itself. He also has a unique look as well. A henchman you love to hate.

  4. Kobus Breed – SOLO – (William Boyd) – A detestable henchman in the best possible way. He may be the most unlikable henchman of the series who is always ready to do something to make people hate him or fear him–especially when it serves his purposes. I didn’t like his seemingly ambiguous end/departure, though I don’t see how he could have survived (and with this only being a one-shot for Boyd, what was the point for the ambiguity?)

  5. Niall Dunne aka The Irishman – CARTE BLANCHE – (Jeffrey Deaver) – Another henchman I really like. A gangly sort who is strategically brilliant and I love how perfectly he sets up his plans and traps and how Bond goes about wrecking those plans like a bull in a china shop. The perfect yin and yang dichotomy. Dunne actually comes across pretty sympathetically in this story–not so much evil as coldly calculating.

  6. Chang – JAMES BOND AND MOONRAKER – (Christopher Wood) – Chang is not a whole lot different in this story than he is in the film. A definite threat but with limited screen/page time.

  7. Lyle aka Canner – ON HIS MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE – (Charlie Higson) – This guy is probably the most egotistical henchman on this list and may even be throughout the series. Another unlikable guy (in a good way) who is a very dangerous threat. I like his skillset in that he is a former cage fighter to go along with his mercenary background.

  8. Ivan Aranov – WITH A MIND TO KILL – (Anthony Horowitz) – Aranov really only appears in one scene, but it is a memorably good one. A physical threat, and I love how Bond initially reveals himself as a double agent but manages to dispatch Aranov in a way to keep his MI6 undercover assignment intact.

  9. ??? – THE HOOK AND THE EYE – (Raymond Benson) – Due to the novel’s recent release, I’ll elaborate more on this character in the hidden details so as to avoid any potential spoilers.

Summary

Marko – This large man has an affinity for dynamite. He shows up periodically but doesn’t come across quite as threatening and scary as it seems like he should have. Still, we see more of him than anyone else on the rest of the list so he lands here.

  1. Harry Johnson – TRIGGER MORTIS – (Anthony Horowitz) – Another henchman who has limited page time. I like his introduction. He is smart and capable, but his brief usage drops him to here.

  2. Michel – THE MONEYPENNY DIARIES: FINAL FLING – (Samantha Weinberg) – Another smart, capable henchman, but he, too, has limited page time, which lands him in this spot.

  3. Carlo & Simone – FOREVER AND A DAY – (Anthony Horowitz) – These two are notable only in that they are hardly described. In fact, they are so little described that we don’t know which one is which and Bond even says as much. Their best scene is their first one where they participate in Bond’s torture. But other than that, they don’t do much.

  4. 2 Gil’s Cuban Security Policemen – THE MONEYPENNY DIARIES: GUARDIAN ANGEL – (Samantha Weinberg) – Not much mentioned about these two. They seem capable and that’s about all we know.

  5. 4 Bond Moscow Escort Guards – THE MONEYPENNY DIARIES: SECRET SERVANT – (Samantha Weinberg) – These guys keep Bond in captivity moving about Moscow during his brainwashing stint in the Soviet Union. They only get a brief mention and nothing else. All we know about them is their name title so they land at the bottom of my list.

So how do you rank them?

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