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If you’ve read the first two novels of Kim Sherwood’s Double O trilogy, but are unsure about committing to a 3rd…have no fear, the payoff is real. Sherwood serves up style, danger and attention to detail of which Fleming would greatly approve.
Spoiler Alert. This is the 3rd book! We are discussing plot and characters.
The first book, Double or Nothing, was commissioned by Ian Fleming Publications and was published in 2022…A Spy Like Me in 2024 and Hurricane Room in 2026. Let us applaud this consistency.
I am writing this from a large office pod with a lakeside view… It is a chilly day, the best kind for contemplation. I’m perfectly cozy in my pullover and matching N.Peal cap. The perfect view of the lake and hills is slightly spoiled by 3 unsightly turbines, but they’re meant to save the planet so I tolerate them. As though I have a choice…
I fear that “tolerate” is the word that many Bond fans would have for Kim Sherwood’s first two continuation novels in the Bond book franchise. They start out as a challenging reimagining of what we hold to be core. This is done by making M so despicable that he makes No Time To Die‘s M look like a Boy Scout, and by making Bill Tanner a traitor. To say that I was frustrated by these decisions in the earlier works would be an understatement. Incensed is the word.
Bond has returned, he’s been through it. He’s not himself, slightly shaken…I’ll avoid the obvious joke. Harwood and Bond spend their time trying to decide if they can trust each other and if they are still in love. Can all be forgiven? Yes, to all… But what do you do with those who destroyed Bond? Rattenfänger and Colonel Mora are now trying to destroy the world.
Now, by making 007 sickeningly romantic…it is easy to see a world where us die-hards would say that we “tolerate” her work. That would be a mistake and to the detriment of the reader. I only write about what I endorse and draw parallels to that which I don’t. Hurricane Room so perfectly weaves the 3 stories together that the sum of the trilogy is greater than you would expect from the outset. James Bond fans are often fans of Star Wars, and this feels like the hope and excitement we had for that franchise after The Force Awakens, before everything went the wrong direction. As trilogies normally get weaker as they go, it’s refreshing when one starts out with a solid foundation and then reaches greater heights. This series does, with a thundering crescendo.
Digging specifically into characters. Colonel Mora is standard fare, more despicable and effective than the usual villain, but nothing you haven’t seen before. 000 Conrad Harthrop-Vane feels inevitable, insurmountably tough and sly in a way that may even usurp 007. He makes for a phenomenal main villain, and repeatedly pivoting his use between main villain and henchman is genius.
004’s Joseph Dryden is a ridiculously ingenious expression of what a modern spy would look like, someone in the service alongside 007 who exists more in a world that observes the technology of Die Another Day than the grounded views of Dr No.
The star of the show, Johanna Harwood, is at her best in this book. Far more compelling than in Double or Nothing, though the character became more interesting in A Spy Like Me. Still not perfect…but neither is Bond and we love him more for it. I genuinely can’t imagine how the franchise, literary or cinematic, does not look to include a version of this character in further stories. She is not a Bond girl, she is a lead in her own right. Badass in the way that Nomi is in NTTD.
If there is a valid criticism of the book, it is Bond’s romanticism, and that we see his greatest heroism solely in an emotional sense. He does his fair share of badassery. Though this also draws a parallel to what people don’t like about NTTD. Sentimentality. The usual agitators will dislike this immensely. I like that it exists; for the fandom to live on, more voices and participants are required.
You’ll note that I am mentioning NTTD a lot here. That’s because the franchise is at a crossroads. How do they come back? Are we sticking with a Bond more true to the old ways, à la Charlie Higson or William Boyd? Are we exploring a more quirky John Gardner style Bond in a Saab? Let us pray this doesn’t happen. Across Sherwood’s first two books there are real stakes; we suffer real loss and gut punches. The final book follows suit. This is what is needed.
An expansion of the Bond universe is in order… with more compelling characters. In the continuation novels, the literary coloniser bad guy trope has met its ultimate expression in Jeffery Deaver’s Carte Blanche (2011) and William Boyd’s Solo (2013). It’s time for the next thing. On screen, we’ve had our gone-rogue agents with Alec Trevelyan. Silva. Harthrop-Vane would be a welcome addition on screen. As for the others, we’ve never seen 003 Johanna Harwood because she’s a new creation of Sherwood’s. Dryden has only existed to take a bullet from Craig in Casino Royale, and this Moneypenny and Q are a far cry from the ones we love, but that’s not why we pay to sit in the theatre. Give me Kim Sherwood’s trilogy, especially Hurricane Room, on screen any day!
As incensed as I was by some of the creative decisions taken early in the series… This book is one of my standouts across all of the Bond books, including Fleming’s. All is forgiven.
M for Masterclass.
The Double O Trilogy
All three, in order, from Bookshop.org.
Hear it from Kim
Check out Kim’s interview with Murder By the Book. It adds great context behind her inspiration and how she landed the gig.