Book Review: FOREVER AND A DAY (A James Bond Novel)

FOREVER AND A DAY
HARPCOLLINS – @HarperCollins @HarperBooks

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

AUTHOR: Anthony Horowitz – @AnthonyHorowitz
ISBN: 978-0-06-287280-7; hardcover – 6 in (w) x 9 in (h); (November 6, 2018)
304pp, B&W, $26.99 U.S.

“James Bond” is a fictional British Secret Service agent created by Ian Fleming, a British writer and novelist.  Fleming introduced James Bond in the 1953 novel, Casino Royale, and featured the character in 14 books – 12 novels and two short story collections.  Of course, most people know Bond because of the long-running James Bond-007 film series, which began with the 1962 film, Dr. No.

After Fleming's death, a number of authors continued to produce James Bond novels, including Trigger Mortis (2015) from author Anthony Horowitz.  Horowitz returns with a new Bond novel, Forever and a Day.  It is a prequel to Casino Royale and recounts the birth of James Bond as a “Double-0” agent and the formation of his identity.

Forever and a Day opens sometime in the early 1950s (1952?).  We find ourselves in the office of M, the head of the “Double-0” section of the Secret Intelligence Service.  His “Chief of Staff,” Bill Tanner is giving M information on the apparent murder of Agent 007, whose body was found in the water of the basin of La Joliette, in Marseilles, France.

Several mysterious figures seem to float in the periphery of this murder scene.  There is Jean-Paul Scipio, a Corsican crime boss.  He owns the chemical company, “Ferrix Chimiques,” but he is also known for his involvement in the heroin trade.  There is Irwin Wolfe, who is a major player in the creation of photographic film stock for movies via his company, “Wolfe Europe.”

There is a CIA agent, Reade Griffith, who also seems to be investigating 007's murder.  Most intriguing of all is Joanne Brochet a.k.a. “Sixtine” a.k.a. “Madame 16.”  She is a former British Special Operations agent who disappeared and then reappeared as some kind of free agent and go-between.  Sixtine looks out for herself rather than for any nation.

Into this intrigue arrives James Bond.  Fresh off an assassination, Bond is called before M, who makes the young agent and World War II veteran the new 007 and then sends him to France to find out who killed his predecessor and why?  Now, Bond must discover if any of the four previously-mentioned individuals is the ally or the enemy who killed the first 007.  It’s time for James Bond to earn his “Double-0” designation, which is a license to kill.

I have only read one of the fourteen James Bond books that Ian Fleming wrote and that was Dr. No (1958), the sixth book in the series.  I think that I have read two or three Bond short stories, although I cannot recall which ones (the result of four+ decades of reading prose fiction).

I found Dr. No to be a spy novel as much as it was a secret agent story.  I see spy novels as related to mystery-suspense and detective novels.  I think of secret agent fiction to be more action oriented – in some instances.  In Dr. No, Bond was secret agent with a detective's skills, and the book was a thriller with some “action scenes.”

Forever and a Day reminds me of Dr. No.  Yes, there is a fast, loud, and violent car chase scene that is straight out of the recent James Bond films which are often fast and loud with hyper actions scenes.  However, in Forever and a Day, Anthony Horowitz mixes secret agent, spy, and detective to create a novel with a measured pace that focuses on the development of Bond's character and personality in the context of being a “Double-0” agent.  Horowitz also gives us one of the best “Bond girl” relationships I have ever experienced as a Bond fan, although “Sixtine” is not anybody's “girl.”

I am a fan of Anthony Horowitz.  This is the third of his novels that I have read (although Trigger Mortis is not one of them), and I love his British television series, “Foyle's War.”  I am not going to claim that Forever and a Day is a great novel, but it is a good real that recalls the pre-film franchise, literary James Bond.  I enjoyed Forever and a Day enough to hope that Horowitz returns to Bond again.

7.5 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2018 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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Book Review: THE WORD IS MURDER

THE WORD IS MURDER
HARPCOLLINS – @HarperCollins @HarperBooks

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

AUTHOR: Anthony Horowitz
ISBN: 978-0-06-267678-8; hardcover (June 5, 2018)
400pp, B&W, $27.99 U.S.

The Word is Murder is a 2018 detective novel from bestselling author, Anthony Horowitz (The House of Silk, Moriarty: A Novel).  Horowitz is also known for creating the acclaimed British television series, “Foyle's War.”  In this new novel, Horowitz unites a fictional version of himself with a taciturn former London detective in a kind of crazy Holmes-Watson-like team.

The Word is Murder opens in London on a bright, spring morning.  Wealthy Londoner, Diana Cowper, arrives at Cornwallis & Sons, a funeral home, to plan her funeral.  Six hours later, Diana is found dead, strangled with a curtain cord in her own home.  Unable to solve the case, London police turn to a “consulting detective,” disgraced detective inspector (DI) Daniel Hawthorne, a brilliant, but eccentric investigator who rubs people the wrong way with his arrogance and insults.

For this case, Hawthorne wants his activities documented, and he needs a ghost writer.  He turns to Anthony Horowitz, bestselling author and creator of acclaimed British television series, such as “Foyle's War.”  Horowitz had previously hired Hawthorne as a consult on his TV series, but he does not like the pushy former cop.

Reluctantly, Horowitz agrees to follow Hawthorne, from one place to another, as he investigates Mrs. Cowper's murder.  Thus, Horowitz soon finds himself at the center of a story he cannot control and is forced to silently follow the brusque, temperamental, and annoying Hawthorne.  Complicating matters further, the case of Diana Cowper's murder is filled with twists and turns, which do prove to be irresistible to Horowitz.  But this unusual partnership will place Horowitz in great peril, working with a man who may have his own dark secrets.

I read Anthony Horowitz's 2014 mystery, Moriarty: A Novel.  I thought the novel was brilliantly written, but I hated the resolution.  I gave Moriarty a grade of “B,” although I probably would have given it at least an “A,” if the ending had not irritated me so much.

I think that The Word is Murder is also brilliantly written and structured, but I absolutely love this book's final three chapters.  There are so many twists and turns and more twists and turns, and I do want to be careful about spoiling anything.  However, I can attest to the fact that this novel is a hugely entertaining piece of meta-fiction in which Horowitz creates a captivating fictional version of himself, a kind of modern-day Dr. Watson.  The Horowitz of The Word is Murder seems like a perfectly reasonable and relate-able man.  As the first-person narrator and storyteller, he is a delightful guiding companion for readers.

As a Sherlock Holmes-like character, Daniel Hawthorne is also fascinating, especially because Horowitz does not give us much about the personal Hawthorne.  Of course, we can only rely on fictional Horowitz to tell us about Hawthorne.  This detective may pry into everyone's business, but he does not like people to pry into his.  So I found myself desperate to know more about Hawthorne simply because he is worth discovering.

As a work of crime fiction and as detective fiction, The Word is Murder is playful and experimental, even when it is being brutal and shockingly violent.  I would not mind a sequel, but I think that a sequel might ruin the original spirit of The Word is Murder.  Let's not worry about that, however; let us enjoy a truly original mystery novel.

8.5 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2018 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Book Review: MORIARTY: A Novel

MORIARTY: A NOVEL
HARPERCOLLINS – @HarperCollins

AUTHOR: Anthony Horowitz
ISBN: 978-0-06-237718-0; hardcover (December 2014)
304pp, B&W, $26.99 U.S.

Moriarty: A Novel is a 2014 crime thriller and detective novel from Anthony Horowitz, the author of the modern Sherlock Holmes novel, The House of Silk.  Horowitz is also known for creating the acclaimed British television series, “Foyle's War.”  In Moriarty, two men chase a mysterious figure who is determined to be the new crime lord of London.

This novel is set in the world of Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary detective, Sherlock Holmes.  The story begins (more or less) in April 1891, after Sherlock Holmes and Professor James Moriarty take their infamous plunge down the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland.  That event apparently left both men dead, or so the public believes.

Known as “the Napoleon of Crime,” Moriarty only appeared in one Sherlock Holmes story written by Arthur Conan Doyle.  This story, “The Final Problem,” was first published in Strand Magazine in December 1893.  Since this was the story that depicted the incidents around the Reichenbach Falls, it was Moriarty's first and last appearance (as far as Doyle's writing goes).

In Moriarty, two men arrive in the Swiss village of Meiringen, near the Reichenbach Falls, to view the drowned corpse of Moriarty.  One of them is Inspector Athelney Jones, a detective from Scotland Yard.  [Jones is a character originally created by Doyle and first appeared in The Sign of Four (1890), Doyle's second novel featuring Sherlock Holmes.]  The other man is Frederick Chase, an American and a senior investigator with the Pinkerton Detective Agency.

Chase tells Jones that Moriarty's death has left a convenient vacancy in London's criminal underworld.  While there is no shortage of candidates to take Moriarty's place, the one most likely to succeed is a particularly fiendish criminal mastermind from America.  He is Clarence Devereux, and Chase has... um... chased him across the Atlantic Ocean.  The problem is that, other than a few loyal lieutenants, no one knows what Devereux looks like.

Athelney Jones, who is also a devoted student of Sherlock Holmes, joins forces Chase to find a man who may be more dangerous than Moriarty.  Their investigation takes them all over Victorian London – from elegant neighborhoods to squalid districts and even into shadowy streets and lairs.  Devereux proves to be an elusive and dangerous man, and while Jones and Chase are capable men, they must also content with the fearsome reputation of Moriarty, whose shadow hangs over their investigation.

Don't turn away, dear reader.  Moriarty: A Novel is not another pastiche of Arthur Conan Doyle-written Sherlock Holmes stories – well, not entirely.  The novel starts slow, but simmers during the four chapters that set up the central mystery.  Then, the narrative explodes in Chapter 5 at Café Royal in London.  From that point, I chased this story through a series of big reveals, before contending with the shocking last third of the novel.

Yes, Moriarty is a good read.  That said, it's too clever or maybe a little too cute.  I think some of the story's surprises change the novel.  It is mostly an engrossing crime thriller; then, it becomes something that is, at best, a re-imagining of Holmes or, at worse, a pastiche of Doyle's Holmes stories.  I won't say that some surprises ruin the novel.  Rather, the novel seems to be one thing, before the author, Anthony Horowitz, changes its fundamental nature.

So, most of the novel is exceptionally entertaining.  The rest of it strikes an odd note.  Still, I want to see where Horowitz takes his ideas and concepts, so I recommend that you read this now for what may very well come later.  Fans of Sherlock Holmes and of Victorian mysteries will want to find Moriarty: A Novel.

B

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.