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Jason A. Miller
4.0 out of 5 stars Bond in Brooklyn
Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2019
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It took over 50 years, 24 (official) movies, 38 (official) novels, and countless other media tie-ins, but James Bond has finally visited my street.

"Trigger Mortis" was the 4th "new" Bond novel, by the 4th different author, since the book series relaunched about a decade ago. Following one-off entries by varied and prolific talents such as Sebastian Faulks, Jeffery Deaver, and William Boyd, the series is now continued by Anthony Horowitz (last seen writing licensed Sherlock Holmes continuation novels). Horowitz has since released a second books, perhaps making him the newest ongoing continuation Bond writer.

This book finds its origin in a TV script proposal written by Ian Fleming, before the movie series took off and made the idea of a TV show a moot point. It's Bond as an auto racer, or, in this case, going undercover to protect a beloved British racecar driver from a possible foreign plot on a legendarily dangerous German track. But first comes an interesting prologue that is such a dead-on Fleming pastiche that, at first, I thought that the prologue, rather than the racecar scenario, had been Fleming's posthumous contribution to the book. The prologue involves a German scientist of questionable loyalty, a von Braun disciple, working on a US Eastern Seaboard rocket project in the 50s, while trying to satisfy his greedy wife. Don't worry, all this ties into the rest of the book later on.

After the German adventure, the second half of the book moves to the US (as did William Boyd's previous book, Solo), where Bond traces both the auto racing scheme and the rocketry scheme first to the mid-Atlantic states, and then on a wild subway ride all the way from Brooklyn's Coney Island to Manhattan's Herald Square.

Not only was I born in, and not only do I still live in, Brooklyn, but, during the subway chase, Bond literally races on motorcycle, in pursuit of an elevated subway, directly past my building. He ends up catching his train at the 4th Avenue/9th Street Station in a death-defying leap. If you live off the F line in Brooklyn, or if you even consult a period (or modern) subway map, you'd quickly see that this journey of Bond's is both physically and geographically impossible. Still, the idea of Bond zooming on a motorbike down Prospect Avenue, through Windsor Terrace and Park Slope, in pursuit of the F train (the least reliably on-time subway train on the entire planet), is a terrific one, even if Horowitz doesn't quite get his geography right. I don't care how many international terrorists are driving that train. No F train is ever going to get all the way from Stillwell Avenue to 34th Street in a proscribed, can't-be-late-by-a-minute, time frame.

Still, that bit aside, Trigger Mortis is probably the most exciting of the first four "new" Bond books. The setup is very traditional, the villain is interesting (particularly his deck of cards), the Bond girl has some interesting secrets, and Bond gets to make some split-second but weighty life-and-death decisions, which Horowitz does a fine job navigating.

I'm looking forward to reading Horowitz's second Bond novel. Just hope he gets his NYC subway maps correct next time.
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Rakish Saunter
5.0 out of 5 stars A great and fun Bond novel, hopefully not the last from Anthony Horowitz
Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2016
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One to add to the burgeoning collection of post-Fleming Bond novels that is a good-to-great one. This is one that allows the reader to see a bit of Bond's off duty or behind the work scenes life, yet doesn't hang there. It allows you to confirm, but not ultimately mind that there are indeed
persons who choose to be on their own, and with no intent to imply they are that way due to others. It's preferred and his job allows him to maintain
that lifestyle, only partially because the demands of the job work better with such a person. The caper he pursues is steeped in apparent early cold war jockeying, but ultimately due to another whacko-minded villain who sees things in a way only through his own twisted head. Bond is set to ensure he doesn't achieve his nut-bag goals.Horowitz captures the essence of his late British compatriot Fleming but doesn't infuse the tale with an over-abundance of "British-isms" in the telling. Like another loner AH invented, Foyle, his Bond shows real humanity versus coldness, but acts dispassionate when it is required.
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Charles A. Turek
5.0 out of 5 stars Best of the recent non-Fleming Bond thrillers.
Reviewed in the United States on April 1, 2018
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Anthony Horowitz is an intelligent guy and one of the best to successfully capture the great Ian Fleming's style while writing a helluva thriller. I'm a Bond fan from back in the late 50s, so it's very hard for me to like a poorly crafted bond story. With that said, I loved this one. On the other hand, even if you never read a Bond in your life, you will enjoy this well-plotted entry into the superspy genre. You may find yourself out hunting for the many other Bond novels that are out there. If so, do yourself a favor and read all the Fleming novels first.
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NLBHorton
4.0 out of 5 stars True Bond
Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2015
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The retro vibe of Trigger Mortis excludes overt sexual escapades shrouded in too much cigarette smoke, but includes the classic Bond car fetish, good-looking women in support roles, and the political rumblings of the time. It also contemporizes issues only quietly addressed fifty years ago, such as homosexuality and lesbianism, and offers a few unique twists with these story elements.

British racing makes an appearance, something Fleming considered but never worked into his stories, as a secondary theme involving an evil Russian driver with murderous intent toward a wholesome British one. The first half of the book is pure Sean-Connery Bond, whereas the second, with such overt physicality, brings to mind Daniel Craig.

Horowitz is only the most recent in a long line of authors telling Bond tales. But he’s done one of the best jobs of staying true to the stylistic and high-velocity works by Fleming. As he did with Moriarty, his excellent foray into the world of Sherlock Holmes, Horowitz proves to be equally gifted when extending the adventures of beloved characters as when creating original material.
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David W. Nesbitt
5.0 out of 5 stars This is as close to Fleming we are likely to get!
Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2017
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This was probably the best non Fleming Bond novel I've read - and I've read them all!

I did think the book cover was a little misleading with 'original material by Ian Fleming'. It turns out only a few hundred words are his. However a great deal of the plot is, apparently, as it came from a proposed Bond TV series that went in the trash when they decided to film Dr No as a movie. And it's also true that there are several other short Fleming writings from this that probably will show up reasonably soon.

I highly recommend this book for any James Bond fan (or anyone curious about him) - I would rate this a very high 9.25 to 9.75 - it's nearly perfect guys!
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Amazon Customer
1.0 out of 5 stars James Bond in a blah adventure with Doctor Meh
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 20, 2018
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I like a good pastiche, so it's a shame this isn't one.
On a surface level it's not badly written. It wouldn't put me off buying more at a daily deal price. It just doesn't fire me up to race through the writer's back catalogue at top dollar.
For me the real problem, as with the Holmes pastiche, is understanding that there's a joke but not quite getting it.
The writing is about on par with the imitation of Conan Doyle in the writer's Holmes books. It's not amazing, and it's easy to find other writers who have done the same trick as well or better. It's loaded with Ian Fleming's trademark brand snobbery and the one clever trick is presenting the original writer's casual, out of date attitude to women through Bond's internal monologue.
As with the Holmes books there are a couple of modern day elements the writer can't resist folding in, that end up splitting the mixture. The more empowered female sidekick comes with the times. There's also a bolt on appearance of an arbitrary gay character that isn't much more than a fourth wall break to criticise the bad old days.
The heavy clunkers come at the end.
There's a difference between knowing about the trope of the villain's monologue, and applying it with the right light touch of nod and wink. Two chapters of reported speech info dumping his life story and plan isn't it.
There's also a valiant attempt to describing a very extended Speed style movie set piece that's a worked example of how they don't really work on the page.
I'm not saying avoid this. There's a whole nineties catalogue of far worse Bond novels. Just pitch your expectations at the right level.
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Graham Mummery
4.0 out of 5 stars One of the bigger successes of attempts to write new Bond
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 13, 2018
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I bought this book on Kindle for holiday reading. The Bond books of Ian Fleming are amongst my favourite "comfort" reading having a pace and freshness that I find less in other writers of the same genre.

The legacy of Fleming and Bond continues in the films. The fact that Fleming's heirs have commissioned a large number of books, by various writers, does attest to something that remains. There is a thirst for "things Bond," attesting to the fact that there is something mythic about the character. Of the books written by other authors, none for me quite captures exactly the flavour and style of the originals. But equally none to my mind lets it down, as is the case here.

In reading this novel there is some material from Fleming that the author, Anthony Horrowitz, has had access to, as he explains in an afterword. This turns out to be a plot Fleming made a draft of for a TV series about Bond which never surfaced. It thus is of interest in this novel to see it used. It also adds a degree of continuity between these sequels and the originals. This is also added as the author has placed the action in the nineteen fifties when the original novels were written. It also takes place soon after the events described in Fleming's Goldfinger. There are a few follow ups from that adventure, not least the appearance of the character Pussy Galore. We are offered a possible example of how Bond's relationships with women ends- a subject by and large not touched upon by Fleming.

It is here where perhaps I see the follow up working less well. Horrowitz is successful in the characters of Bond, M, the main villain and others, but less successful with Pussy. There is an attempt to make Bond's attitude to women slightly more in tune with contemporary values. But again some of this lack's Fleming's insouciance even if some nowadays find it less acceptable (and it wasn't necessarily the norm in the fifties either), and I'm not sure this is completely successful.

These quibbles may just be because Horrowitz is writing in another author's shoes. There are many successes here also. "Trigger Mortis" is a pacy read with a convincing villain and plenty of the fast paced action of the originals, and a convincing plot in Bondian terms (though it does have some echoes of the villain's plans in "Moonraker" and "Dr No"). This is one of the bigger successes of attempts to write new Bond. Bond lovers will surely enjoy this.
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John
3.0 out of 5 stars Post Goldfinger hangover cure
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 12, 2018
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An interesting addition to the Bond universe that is set between two of the original books. Horowitz's writing is pretty solid, and his attempt to follow Fleming's style is not too bad, if not quite the real thing. Using some of the original Fleming material doubtless helped stylistically, but it seems a tiny bit too forced.
Coming hot on the heals of Goldfinger, Bond is living with Pussy Galore in London, working 9-5 (or thereabouts). However, he is soon thrust into a new case involving SMERSH, and it involves car racing. Having learned to drive an F1 car in a staggeringly short time, Bond heads of to race a Russian agent and foil another poorly conceived plot for world domination.
Not a terrible book, but not up their with the real Bond classics
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Richard_92
4.0 out of 5 stars Bond is Back!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 11, 2015
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https://rwh92.wordpress.com/2015/09/11/trigger-mortis/

Thrilling racing around the forbidding Nürburgring racing track, rocket launches at Wallops Island and the tense finale that occurs in the labyrinthine railway network beneath New York City, which all contribute to a bloody brilliant Bond novel. There is of course, the inclusion of inevitably beautiful and tempting women, coupled with another aspect that is trademark Bond material, a diabolical enemy who is intent on causing destruction and loss of life. Trigger Mortis is a fantastic novel by Anthony Horowitz who has combined all those elements with the return of the dastardly organisation SMERSH to create an intoxicating story that would make Ian Fleming proud.

Horowitz has written so faithfully that this could quite easily be a lost Ian Fleming work that has been discovered and released. The writing style is absolutely on point in every chapter, paragraph, sentence and word. He has described everything from a bottle of wine to race car in fascinating detail which is a hallmark of Fleming. Even the outdated, politically incorrect phrases that feature in Fleming’s novels are included here, but they are included and handled in a seemingly less offensive way to conform to modern sensibilities. Though Trigger Mortis is very much in keep with the 1950s Bond books, Horowitz has managed to handle sensitive words to a modern audience deftly while maintaining the attitudes held by many of the time.

The Bond Girls. Bond has 3 Bond Girls to contend with in Trigger Mortis, and all three of them exude traits such as smartness, quick-wittiness and none are taken for fools. Pussy Galore who is introduced at the start after following on from events in Goldfinger which are explained briefly but effectively. Though she only features briefly at the start as Bond’s live-in girlfriend, she is still caught in some terrifying action and departs on her own terms. Number 2 is Logan Fairfax, the highly capable motor car driver that teaches Bond about driving the Maserati that he’ll be driving at the Nürburgring in a few days time. She is competent and sure of herself in her work and personal life and in Logan, Bond has met a woman who can more than hold her own. But the most important Bond girl in Trigger Mortis is Jeopardy Lane, who was a fantastic inclusion as a female interest for Bond who has the remarkable ability to get away from Bond. She is masterfully characterised by Horowitz to prove that she is just as talented, capable and skilled as the British Secret Agent. Bond’s patronising carnal attitude to women that is idiosyncratic of Bond in all of Fleming’s novels is again in full swing, however his ego is given a bit of a hit with Logan and Jeopardy both proving to be headstrong, proficient and smart women that more than prove a match for James. It would be refreshing to see a character like Jeopardy Lane included in the upcoming Bond films as I enjoyed the camaraderie, competitiveness and chemistry between her and Bond.

The villain is the unfeeling Korean Jai Seung Sin, whose interests align with SMERSH who are intent on winning the Space Race while Sin wants revenge on America. Sin and SMERSH combine to ensure that the American’s programme suffers a setback that will set their space programme back decades while also delivering a hammer blow to the American people. Sin’s motives are different to SMERSH’s, but he acts on his with equal ferocity and planning. He reveals to Bond, the heartbreak and psychological torture he endures during the Korean War, which has shaped Sin into the man that will deliver an equally merciless act in revenge for the traumas the American Army caused him and his countrymen. Another key facet of Sin’s character is the devious card game he has manipulated from a Korean deck of cards in order to determine the manner of death that the unfortunate victim is about to suffer, a sure sign of a Bond villain.

The novel flows brilliantly, especially events at the Nürburgring and Sin’s various buildings. Horowitz has perfectly imitated Fleming’s exquisite eye for detail in all manner of things from food and wine, to motoring, weaponry and Space Age technology. Action sequences in the novel exude the perfect balance of tension and excitement which make the novel such a thrilling and compelling read, but he also intersperses it with changes of scenery which provides some relief but also makes the reader hungry for whatever is next.

Bond fans can rejoice as Horowitz has stepped forward as Fleming’s heir to Bond, and we can hope that he continues on from this successful attempt to bring a 1950s Bond to a 21st century audience. A great read, fully deserving the 4 out of 5 stars.
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spaceodds
4.0 out of 5 stars First, Holmes and now 007. Horowitz scores again
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 9, 2015
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After the dissappointing Devil May Care, and the flawed but brave and worthwhile effort of Solo, Bond is back, and this time he is on a mission that is written with such thrills and a pace that zooms through like the Mazaratti Bond drives.

When I heard that Horowitz was the next in line to write another Bond pastiche, I could not have been more happier. If he could give a well written dark adventure for Holmes in The House of Silk, what could he do for 007? Well not only has he given 007 a rip roaring adventure yarn, but he has given him the cynicism that Fleming so lovingly wrote. Unlike Faulks, and Boyd, who set their novels post Man With The Golden Gun, Horowitz's novel takes place straight after Goldfinger and is squarely set during the litereal Bond's heyday of the mid to late 1950s. The energy that Bond displays is perfectly balanced between his edge and his self-doubt and gives a glimpse to a fracturing psyche that will take its toll twelve years later in Boyd's Solo.

Overall Trigger Mortis is a great Fleming pastiche that would've made the great man so proud that he would have never think of killing him off.
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