With a Mind to Kill: the action-packed Richard and Judy Book Club Pick (James Bond 007)
£3.80
A murder. A world in crisis. Britain’s greatest spy . . .
‘BRILLIANT’ Richard Osman
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.
Behind the Iron Curtain, a group of former Smersh agents want to use Bond on a perilous mission that will change the balance of world power. He is smuggled into the lion’s den – but whose orders is Bond following, and will he obey them when the moment to strike arrives?
Discover the latest chapter in the world of 007, brought thrillingly to life by Sunday Times bestselling author Anthony Horowitz.
PRAISE FOR ANTHONY HOROWITZ’S JAMES BOND TRILOGY:
‘Daring, exciting . . . superbly plotted’ Sunday Express
‘Gripping . . . and with non-stop action’ i
‘Fast-paced, skilfully written . . . leaves you wanting more’ The Times
‘Ian Fleming would be proud’ Guardian
‘Horowitz excels at action sequences’ Sunday Times
‘Exciting high drama . . . Horowitz stays loyal to the fabulous Fleming formula’ Daily Express
Read more
Additional information
| Publisher | Vintage Digital (26 May 2022) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| File size | 3672 KB |
| Text-to-Speech | Enabled |
| Screen Reader | Supported |
| Enhanced typesetting | Enabled |
| X-Ray | Enabled |
| Word Wise | Enabled |
| Sticky notes | On Kindle Scribe |
| Print length | 267 pages |
| Page numbers source ISBN | 0063078422 |
by Marmaduke
A gift for an avid James Bond fan – he loved it. A great read!
by Jarrod
Horowitz brings flemings Bond back to the cold War. Great read one of the best of all of the post Fleming outings, Gritty, eari, thought provoking realistic fiction.
by pangbourne
Hope I’m not breaking any reviewer’s etiquette here, by giving away part of the plot. …but joke time:
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.
The first guy just turns them down flat and walks off in disgust saying he doesn’t want the job
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.
The third guy, also offered the same task, simply takes the gun, walks into the room, and they hear 6 gunshots, followed by some loud words then a crash a bang a scream and then finally silence.
He walks out and the CIA management, white faced with shock, asks what on earth happened in there?
Well, he said, that gun you gave me only had blanks, so I had to beat the bitch to death with a chair leg.
Horowitz beautifully re-works that joke into the plot. If you haven’t read the book yet you will recognise it instantly.
by Ian Partington
For me this novel was a bit ‘drawn’ out, something that I wouldn’t have expected from this author. I have read quite a few thrillers by Anthony Horowitz, and I will certainly read more but I don’t ‘rank’ this one as one of his best, it was ‘OK’.
by Sam Quixote
To infiltrate and uncover the secret diabolical plans of a new Soviet outfit called Stalnaya Ruka, James Bond must pretend to assassinate M and turn traitor. But once back in the Russians’ hands, will Bond remain mentally sound enough to accomplish his mission or will his KGB brainwashing overpower him?
Anthony Horowitz’s third and final Bond novel, With a Mind to Kill, is unfortunately pretty bad. There aren’t many books by Horowitz that I haven’t enjoyed – if I’d finished them, I’m sure I’d have given Trigger Mortis and Moonflower Murders bad reviews too – but, for whatever reason, whenever he ties his Bond story to an Ian Fleming novel, the results are always disappointing (maybe because Fleming was a crap writer, he’s bringing Horowitz down to his level?). Like Trigger Mortis, the sequel to Goldfinger, which seemed to be a book of car descriptions.
It’s because of reading Goldfinger that I probably won’t read any more Ian Fleming novels so I haven’t read the novel that With a Mind to Kill takes its cue from: The Man with the Golden Gun. Apparently Bond was brainwashed in that novel by the KGB to assassinate M but never did it, and With a Mind to Kill picks up the story two weeks after that book ends, and Horowitz has Bond pretend to actually follow through with that scheme so that he can get in close to the Russians and foil whatever plans they’ve got going.
Which is fine as a premise but the end result is really boring. The book is slow to get moving but the first part at least ends with a decent set piece as Bond escapes his captors on Tower Bridge and leaves Blighty behind for Moscow. Once in Russia though, he meets the obvious requisite love interest in the form of Katya Leonova, an ice queen who can only be thawed by Bond’s penus. Yes, really. The story is set in the 1960s and so is the pulpy level of writing apparently.
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.
I’d expect this kind of lazy writing from older books that at least have the excuse of being “of a different time”, but not from a novel published today (although maybe because it’s set in the ‘60s, Horowitz is trying to stay true to the literary conventions of the time?). It’s just embarrassing to read more than anything.
The rest of the novel plays out at an uninteresting, plodding pace with an underwhelming finale. It reads so workmanlike, like Horowitz was fulfilling a contract obligation, not because he was inspired. Which is a shame as he seems to have a good handle on Bond as a character.
The story and characters are unmemorable, with too few moments that were actually entertaining – With a Mind to Kill is tedious rubbish, and a weak end to Horowitz’s Bond run. If you’ve not read it yet, I recommend Forever and a Day instead of this snoozer of a book.
by michael taylor
Well, let’s get this up front…:- good stuff. I enjoyed most of the “post-Flemings”. None of them are quite Fleming, why would they be? Enjoyed the Gardner books, it kept the character alive – and they were great. Adored Amis (aka Robert Markham ) the best, but it was nearer Flemings era. the Bensons? I enjoyed them too, but a bit 90’s movies maybe?. Faulks? At the risk of being shot down- great. He can do little wrong in my opinion. I enjoyed Deavers attempt too. But this is nearest to the proper stuff. His best Bond. It’ll put you right back there. Reading it on a beach in the Greek islands. Wonderful stuff…
by John
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.
It is quite hard to talk about the story without risking spoilers, so I will avoid. I was unsure half way through as the bits in Moscow were a little slow. However, things picked up, and despite a rather abrupt conclusion in East Berlin, overall I quite enjoyed the story. The one slightly strange thing early on that for some reason bothered me was the timeline. There is seemingly a reference to Nixon as president, although this is set in the early 60s. It really stuck in my mind.
Overall this turns out to be a decent finish to Mr. Horowitz’s trilogy. It is not as good as Forever in a Day, which is his second, but actually occurs before Casino Royale. I see there is another series starting, apparently with Bond as a periphery figure, but the reviews are rather mixed so I might not risk jumping into another alternate series.
by Bookworm
Modern. Fast moving. True to the originals. If you love Bond however you feel it needed a re-boot – this is it.