Forever and a Day by Anthony Horowitz

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#Stands up and applauds#

FOREVER AND A DAY genuinely feels like a lost James Bond
novel.

Fleming in his writings always went forward, but if he had
gone back and slotted in some early adventures, this feels like the kind of
book he’d have produced. There’s the beautiful, mysterious woman who’s swayed
by Bond’s charms; there are two villains, one of whom really does have his villainy
emphasised by his appearance; and there’s a twisty European plot, including a
visit to Monte Carlo for a spot of high stakes gambling. And of course, there’s
treachery and sexual sadism. All of this builds up to not only a nerve-sheddingly
tense conclusion, but also a great restatement of British stiff upper lip
values. Possibly the one obvious Fleming trope that isn’t here is racism,
although that’s probably for the best.

It’s a great ventriloquist act. I did enjoy Horowitz’s
Sherlock Holmes book, THE HOUSE OF SILK, but I was conscious throughout that it
wasn’t really Conan-Doyle. There’s no such distancing here.

Part of the book’s success is attributable to using an old outline that Fleming wrote for television, although that’s undoubtedly downplaying Horowitz’s contribution. As Horowitz has done a magnificent job, not just in the character, but in the genre and the whole milieu. One can almost smell the sea salt of the French coast and taste the cordite when the danger starts.

This is not only a fantastic spy story, it’s a spot-on James Bond novel.

If you’re interested in my own writings, SOMETHING WENT WRONG AND OTHER STRANGE TALES – my frankly must read collection of scary and quirky short stories is available for free now!