The classic climax comes as Bond attempts a sneaky, desperate invasion of Hellebore's fortress on the Loch, where the mad villain is experimenting with genetic disruption in an attempt to impress no less than Adolph Hitler. Cinematic without a startling change in direction, the assault on Hellebore's lair includes man-eating eels, a mad scientist, a cruel henchman and even a few brief encounters with a spunky girl named Wilder Lawless, a future Bond girl if there ever was one, riding a horse named - what else? - Martini.
Charlie Higson has long been an acclaimed comedy writer in Britain, having written several previous comic novels like King of the Ants and starring in The Fast Show but it's still remarkable to watch him find his voice. It's obvious that he has a great fondness for the character but has managed to draw a more human portrait of Bond without falling into the trap of throwing out the "Shaken Not Stirred" line or throwing out other clichés, which would have been easy to do with a character that's been in the public eye for more than 50 years. He also, especially in SilverFin's back half, managed to write a book that's immensely readable for everyone from 10-year-olds on up without clumsily chasing around the Harry Potter audience like so many publishers were doing for the last few years.
SilverFin is bang-up writing, revisiting a character without reinventing him and putting a whole new spin on the high-stakes adventures of the world's most famous spy. It's the long road to her Majesty's Secret Service and to my surprise, it couldn't be more bracing. Welcome back, Mr. Bond.
SilverFin is bang-up writing, revisiting a character without reinventing him and putting a whole new spin on the high-stakes adventures of the world's most famous spy. It's the long road to her Majesty's Secret Service and to my surprise, it couldn't be more bracing. Welcome back, Mr. Bond.
