About the Author

Charlie Higson is a well-known writer of screenplays and adult thriller novels. He's also a performer and co-creator of The Fast Show. He has written four mega-selling novels about Young Bond - Silverfin, Blood Fever, Double or Die, Hurricane Gold and his fifth, By Royal Command publishes in hardback in September.Kev Walker has been illustrating Young Bond since its debut in 2005. Since he began in 1988 he has worked for 2000AD, Games Workshop, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Dark Horse and Wizards of the Coast.

Reviews

'A page-turning adventure that will get the hairs standing up on the back of your neck' - Sunday Express'Good, gritty and funny ... Very clever, Bond, very clever indeed' - Daily Mail Would have made Ian Fleming proud Daily Telegraph More action, more demented crime and more flesh-crawling deaths than ever before -- - Observer James Bond's action adventures are perfect for a graphic novel, with more AAAAAGHH!, KER-BLOOSH! SMAKK and other onomatopoeia than you can shake a martini glass at. Scotland on Sunday This graphic novel is a feast for the eyes as well as the imagination. Fulham Gazette

'A page-turning adventure that will get the hairs standing up on the back of your neck' - Sunday Express'Good, gritty and funny ... Very clever, Bond, very clever indeed' - Daily Mail Would have made Ian Fleming proud Daily Telegraph More action, more demented crime and more flesh-crawling deaths than ever before -- - Observer James Bond's action adventures are perfect for a graphic novel, with more AAAAAGHH!, KER-BLOOSH! SMAKK and other onomatopoeia than you can shake a martini glass at. Scotland on Sunday This graphic novel is a feast for the eyes as well as the imagination. Fulham Gazette

Unlike its grown-up hero, this first installment in the Young Bond series commissioned by Ian Fleming's estate, is not quite sure what it wants to be. The opener feels just like one for the adult 007, with a spine-tingling scene of a boy grappling with eels and a human (or is it?) eel-like entity. But then the book shifts into a standard English boarding school tale, set in Great Britain between the world wars. Readers follow 13-year-old James through his initiation at Eton and observe him at running and swimming practice where he develops skills that come in handy 200 pages later. The teen bests a bully George Hellebore in a cross-country race, making a mortal enemy of him. Then James is off to Scotland to visit his aunt and Uncle Max, an ex-spy himself. Who should turn up but George, whose father has inherited a nearby castle. Lord Hellebore is an arms merchant with tight security around his property, situated on Loch SilverFin, named for a vicious creature from Scottish lore. When a local boy goes fishing there and never returns (the one from the opening scene), James sneaks in to investigate. Higson's (Getting Rid of Mister Kitchen) pace quickens as the hero wriggles out of one brush with death after another. Many not-for-the-squeamish moments will likely appeal to middle-grade boys. Sadly, there's no hint of the bon vivant James later becomes, but there is a blond, green-eyed beauty named Wilder Lawless who comes to his rescue on horseback. The steed's name? Martini. Ages 10-up. (Apr.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Gr 6-9-The first of a projected series sanctioned by the Ian Fleming estate finds young James at Eton. It's the 1930's and memories of World War I intrude often as James finds a place among friends but attracts the unwanted attention of an older American boy and his very rich father, a Scots lord. Lord Hellebore and his son are bullies with over-the-top ambition for success at all costs. When the term ends, James heads north to his Uncle Max's cottage in Scotland where his Aunt, who has raised him since his parents' death in a climbing accident, has gone to care for her dying brother. The discovery that the frightening Lord Hellbore is the local laird comes just as James meets a cockney boy named Red Kelly who has stowed away on the train, off to help locate his young cousin, Alfie, who has gone missing near the laird's estate at Loch Silver Fin. James and Red team up to solve the mystery of Alfie's disappearance. James's leadership skills are apparent as he recruits a local girl and even young George Hellebore in his quest to undo the vile experiments occurring at the laird's castle. Charlie Higson's novel (Miramax Books, 2005) is skillfully and dramatically read by Nathaniel Parker, who gives every character a distinct voice. Fans of James Bond movies as well as Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider books will be eager to listen to this fine spy thriller.-Jane P. Fenn, Corning-Painted Post West High Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.