Young Bond: Shoot to Kill
After being expelled from Eton, fifteen-year-old James Bond is sent to a new school, Dartington Hall, for all of twelve days. On arrival, he is given one of five places on a school trip to Hollywood, as a guest of studio mogul, Anton Kostler. Before they leave for America, one of James’s fellow pupils shows him a film of the torture and murder of several people, apparently linked to Kostler’s studio.
So begins the first of Steve Cole’s novels in the Young Bond series. Blackmail, murder and a plot for world domination follow, along with a fair amount of quite graphic violence, a zeppelin and the obligatory car chases. The setting, 1930s Hollywood, is for the most part well done, though there are a couple of anachronisms, such as Bond’s close encounter with a Corvette during a car chase – the Corvette was not introduced until the 1950s. There is a likeable, feisty Bond girl in the shape of Boudicca ‘Boody’ Pryce, and a few nods to Fleming’s books; James pretends to be the son of Hoagy Carmichael, who Fleming based Bond on, and the prologue is titled You Asked For It, Casino Royale’s original US title.
Steve Cole’s book takes over where Charlie Higson’s fifth and final book in the series left off. Higson was always going to be a tough act to follow, but Steve Cole has done a good job of it. Shoot to Kill moves along at a good pace and there is plenty of action to keep readers of 13+ engrossed. The graphic violence makes this unsuitable for younger readers.
