Forever and a Day
Anthony Horowitz
Thriller
Anthony Horowitz is one of the better mystery writers working today, so I was mildly curious to see what he could do with the James Bond form. Forever and a Day is in the continuity of the written Bond, not the filmic one, and the written Bond is a more interesting character altogether. (Also, it's a good James Bond title.)
Well . . . it's not bad. It's not especially memorable, though. As an origin story for 007, it has the problem that Daniel Craig's movie version of Casino Royale does the same thing, only better. Often it puts Bond in a curiously passive role, with his love interest Sixtine taking the initiative.. The construction is a bit loose: there's a scene where Bond and Sixtine reconnoiter the enemy base, for example, for no reason whatsoever. And the big reveal--while it really does read like something Ian Fleming might have used around 1960--isn't all that shocking to a modern reader. Even Bond's character is underdeveloped.
On the other hand, the writing is smooth, the scene is alluring, the villain is very good in a very Bondian fashion, and the final chapter is outstanding. Forever and a Day isn't a book for everyone, but there are many worse ways to pass an afternoon.
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