With a Mind to Kill by Anthony Horowitz Review

To infiltrate and uncover the secret diabolical plans of a new Soviet outfit called Stalnaya Ruka, James Bond must pretend to assassinate M and turn traitor. But once back in the Russians’ hands, will Bond remain mentally sound enough to accomplish his mission or will his KGB brainwashing overpower him?

Anthony Horowitz’s third and final Bond novel, With a Mind to Kill, is unfortunately pretty bad. There aren’t many books by Horowitz that I haven’t enjoyed - if I’d finished them, I’m sure I’d have given Trigger Mortis and Moonflower Murders bad reviews too - but, for whatever reason, whenever he ties his Bond story to an Ian Fleming novel, the results are always disappointing (maybe because Fleming was a crap writer, he’s bringing Horowitz down to his level?). Like Trigger Mortis, the sequel to Goldfinger, which seemed to be a book of car descriptions.

It’s because of reading Goldfinger that I probably won’t read any more Ian Fleming novels so I haven’t read the novel that With a Mind to Kill takes its cue from: The Man with the Golden Gun. 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.

Which is fine as a premise but the end result is really boring. The book is slow to get moving but the first part at least ends with a decent set piece as Bond escapes his captors on Tower Bridge and leaves Blighty behind for Moscow. Once in Russia though, he meets the obvious requisite love interest in the form of Katya Leonova, an ice queen who can only be thawed by Bond’s penus. Yes, really. The story is set in the 1960s and so is the pulpy level of writing apparently.

A significant chunk of the novel is taken up with Bond and Katya on a seemingly never-ending first date that develops predictably and is never once compelling. What’s worse is that Horowitz’s usually strong characterisation seems to regress considerably to portray Katya as the worst kind of stereotypical damsel-in-distress. She goes from being an independent, intelligent woman to a simpering, clingy bimbo in no time, existing only to be used by Bond, and Horowitz too, when the narrative suits.

I’d expect this kind of lazy writing from older books that at least have the excuse of being “of a different time”, but not from a novel published today (although maybe because it’s set in the ‘60s, Horowitz is trying to stay true to the literary conventions of the time?). It’s just embarrassing to read more than anything.

The rest of the novel plays out at an uninteresting, plodding pace with an underwhelming finale. It reads so workmanlike, like Horowitz was fulfilling a contract obligation, not because he was inspired. Which is a shame as he seems to have a good handle on Bond as a character.

The story and characters are unmemorable, with too few moments that were actually entertaining - With a Mind to Kill is tedious rubbish, and a weak end to Horowitz’s Bond run. If you’ve not read it yet, I recommend Forever and a Day instead of this snoozer of a book.