Whenever I read a James Bond novel, I always wonder which version of 007 I will see. Once I understood the timeline of WITH A MIND TO KILL, which wraps up Anthony Horowitz’s Bond trilogy, I had my answer.

In Ian Fleming’s YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, James Bond receives a traumatic head injury at the hands of archenemy Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the Garden of Death and spends the next year in a Japanese fishing village not knowing who he is. Back in the UK, he is presumed dead, and his obituary is published in The Times. In THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN, Bond returns to London having fallen into the hands of the KGB. They have brainwashed him and pointed him in the direction of MI6 with explicit instructions to assassinate its leader, M. Unbeknownst to the KGB, Bond is intercepted and deprogrammed. He is then sent to Jamaica to take down the Cuban assassin known as “Pistols” Scaramanga, which he manages to pull off.

"The last third of the book is so utterly suspenseful, with the aging and somewhat disillusioned Bond an island unto himself, that his escape from enemy territory will find even the staunchest believer biting his or her fingernails with each passing page."

WITH A MIND TO KILL picks up the action from this point. I now had the answer to my initial question: Roger Moore.

Once he is brought back in after taking down Scaramanga, Bond is informed of a much larger and far more dangerous mission. MI6 recognizes that there may be some benefit in making the KGB believe that the brainwashed 007 was successful in his attempt on M’s life. To this end, they stage a fake state funeral for the head of His Majesty’s Secret Service, and this is how the book opens. Following that widely publicized event, the brain trust of MI6 meets in M’s office, along with Bond, to get him up to speed on what is transpiring in Russia and what they need him to do next.

The KGB, GRU, Smersh and Stasi are forming a deadly foursome, seeking to crush any incursion that might rise up to end the Cold War. MI6 needs these groups to believe that Bond is still a KGB operative as they send him back to Russia to infiltrate them and attempt to learn their plans in the hopes of bringing them down from the inside. In the meantime, MI6 is working to strengthen Bond’s mind from what they know will be attempts made by the KGB scientists to mess with it again in order to prove his loyalty to their cause. This is the deadliest and most important assignment of Bond’s career.

Once the KGB learns of M’s death, they gladly welcome Bond back into the fold. Colonel Boris, the man primarily responsible for his brainwashing, has other plans for him --- but, of course, not before he throws him into the deadly Magic Room to prove that his mind belongs to them. First, there is a staged capture of Bond from the Secret Service where he is in custody for the murder of M. It works perfectly and keeps up the ruse of Bond being a Russian operative. The time he spends there is indeed trippy, and he has ALICE IN WONDERLAND moments as he interacts with former adversaries like Le Chiffre and Scaramanga.

After a week inside the Magic Room, Bond is considered clean and turned over to the young and beautiful Russian loyalist, Katya Leonova. He is immediately placed on the Orient Express with Katya as his handler and guide for a trip to Moscow. At one point, he actually saves her from two attackers, which he later realizes was a ruse to test his loyalty. He tours museums and historical sites as Katya schools him on all things Russian, and they get to know each other a little better.

After Bond survives yet another test of faith, he is given his big mission from the KGB. It involves a visit to Berlin, where he is to assassinate a well-known figure who threatens the very future of Russia and the Cold War.

WITH A MIND TO KILL has everything 007 fans have come to expect, and it may be the finest James Bond novel not written by Ian Fleming. The last third of the book is so utterly suspenseful, with the aging and somewhat disillusioned Bond an island unto himself, that his escape from enemy territory will find even the staunchest believer biting his or her fingernails with each passing page. Horowitz’s trilogy nicely spans the beginning, middle and end of Bond’s career, paying brilliant homage to the greatest spy of all time. For the record, my favorite James Bond will always be Sean Connery.