Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Colonel Sun by Kingsley Amis

I have been searching for a copy of this book for a long time. You can't find it in the bookstores and I don't think any more editions have been published. Fortunately my good friend Mr. Caldwell had a yellowing paperback copy that he lent me.

Colonel Sun is a James Bond (007) novel that was published in 1968, shortly after Ian Fleming's death. Amis wrote very closely in the style of Fleming and captured the James Bond character very well.

Colonel Sun is a villain who captures M (Bond's boss) with the goal of killing high level Soviet officials and making it look like a British Secret Service operation.

The story moves a bit slowly at times but incorporates the usual Bond themes: a beautiful damsel in distress, violence, a dangerous and seemingly invincible thug that Bond must overcome, exotic locales and sex.

This was the only Bond novel by Amis. Seems a shame as he would have been a fitting successor to Fleming.

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