Solo in Espionage Aficionados

Sep 27, 2013 Mark rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: english-writer, james-bond, 2013, continuation-from-original-writer, spies

The book opens with a chapter where Bond looks back on the first time where he as a young soldier in the aftermath of the invasion in Normandy (1944)for the first time faces death. And is actually fine reading and shows a promise for the book.
Then 007 gets shipped of the Africa where he is supposed to end a civil war by taking out the leader of one of the parties involved. It all goes of course horrible wrong and Bond ends up being terrible hurt. The 2nd part of the book is Bond going "solo" on ...more

15 likes · Like · see review

Oct 21, 2013 Jeffrey Westhoff rated it it was ok

Shelves: espionage

William Boyd named this book "Solo" because halfway through James Bond goes off on a solitary mission of vengeance, but the title could just as well refer to the spy's ruminative mood. This is very much a novel where James Bond is alone with his thoughts. All other characters -- including the so-called villain and leading lady -- are minor ones.

This works well during the opening chapters as Bond, who has turned 45 as the story begins, confronts middle age. Once Bond gets his assignment, though, William Boyd named this book "Solo" because halfway through James Bond goes off on a solitary mission of vengeance, but the title could just as well refer to the spy's ruminative mood. This is very much a novel where James Bond is alone with his thoughts. All other characters -- including the so-called villain and leading lady -- are minor ones.

This works well during the opening chapters as Bond, who has turned 45 as the story begins, confronts middle age. Once Bond gets his assignment, though, Boyd's tactic grows more wearisome by the chapter. While Boyd has a firm grasp on Bond as a character, he doesn't have any grasp at all on the other traditional elements of a Bond novel, especially the plotting.

The pacing is leisurely, because Bond is always thinking those deep thoughts, and the plotting is haphazard. The year is 1969, and Bond is sent to a fictional West African nation (a mistake, as Bond stories should be fantasies set in the real world) to stop a civil war. His orders from M are vague, and consequently so is everything that follows. The bad guys' motivations are never clear, events occur at random and key characters are killed for no apparent reason. Many jokes have been made about the villain delivering a long speech explaining his scheme in the Ian Fleming books and films they inspired, but if ever a story could have used such a scene, it's "Solo." Moreover, it could have used a villain.

Boyd has done his homework regarding the Fleming canon, and die-hard fans won't find much to nit-pick about, as we did with Sebastian Faulks' woeful "Devil May Care." Boyd's version of M is altogether too convivial, but otherwise this is a faithful continuation of Fleming's series. Well, except for one other thing. Boyd tones down Bond's cigarette intake but exaggerates his drinking to the point of parody. Bond seems to down one whisky and soda per page. If he takes a break from that particular poison, it is only to consume his familiar vodka martini or a bottle -- yes, an entire bottle -- of scotch. Bond's liver should have gone into arrest before the book's conclusion.

Following Faulks' "Devil May Care" and Jeffery Deaver's "Carte Blanche," "Solo" is the third disappointing continuation novel in a row. Yet I do like Boyd's effort best. He has written a Bond tale that is more character study than anything else, and I appreciate his intent. He should have written a short story, but he was contracted to write a novel. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Oct 14, 2013 Phyllis Duncan) rated it really liked it

I haven't read a James Bond book since Ian Fleming's last, but I saw William Boyd interviewed on CBS and decided to give it a try. It's very much in the Fleming style, and I enjoyed it very much. There was a minor gaffe in referring to a location by its present day name instead of its 1969 name, but an enjoyable novel for Bond fans. ...more

Like · see review

Apr 16, 2014 Tim Adler rated it it was amazing

I cannot tell you what an unalloyed pleasure SOLO is. Reading it, I felt like hugging myself, it was that good. Boyd really gets the Fleming idiom.

This is the best Bond continuation novel since Kingsley Amis's COLONEL SUN; Sebastian Faulks, you felt, wasn't taking the enterprise seriously, while Jeffrey Deaver's CARTE BLANCHE, although as intricately plotted as any of his other books, somehow had the life sucked out of it.

My one caveat is that Bond's vocabulary is a lot bigger than Fleming wou ...more

Like · see review

Dec 12, 2019 Steve Goble rated it liked it

Shelves: mysteries-and-espionage

I liked the fact that this book was set in the 1960’s, reminiscent of the Fleming books. The African setting was interesting, too. I had some issues with the ending, but I will not go into detail here.

Like · see review