With a Mind to Kill: the action-packed Richard and Judy Book Club Pick (James Bond 007)

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acted with restraint and so refreshingly the antithesis of the diet of police forensic porn mostly served up to us these days. 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. But once back in the Russians’ hands, will Bond remain mentally sound enough to accomplish his mission or will his KGB brainwashing overpower him? Bestseller author Anthony Horowitz’s third and final James Bond novel picks up after the final Ian Fleming novel, The Man with the Golden Gun, in which the Russians captured Bond, brainwashed him, and programmed him to kill M, the head of the British secret service. Once in Moscow he tours museums and historical sites as Katya schools him on all things Russian, all the while each of them are getting to know the other a little bit better.

One of the most impressive things about this book is how well he portraits the Russian country, the people, the atmosphere in the city. When Bain retreats to a remote cabin for some privacy, he is taken hostage by an escaped prisoner bent on revenge.Detective Chief Inspector Noel Bain looks back fondly to the days when policing involved chasing villains, playing rugby and drinking beer.

Continuity Nod: Since the novel is at least partly intended to be a Grand Finale of sorts to the literary Bond's story, there are understandably numerous references and allusions to the events of Fleming's previous novels. Bain uncovers a family saga of blackmail, abuse, and revenge and also copes with disturbing news from his daughter, Hannah. The Russians oblige by snatching Bond from police custody and sending him to Leningrad, where he falls under the “care” of Colonel Boris, a mind control expert, and Katya Leonova, an icy, Communist technocrat. The publishers kindly sent me a review copy earlier in the year, but – thanks mainly, I suspect, to the Spanish postal service – it never arrived. In Fleming’s books Bond’s meals are often described in mouth-watering detail, and here seems to be a lost opportunity when Bond eats his numerous Russian meals.

At one point, he actually saves her from two attackers, which he later realizes was a ruse to test his loyalty.