His villainous arch-enemies may have tried to kill him off many times, but he always escaped to live another day. Now, 60 years after Commander Bond of the British Secret Service was introduced to the world in Ian Fleming’s superb thriller Casino Royale, he has been given yet another incarnation. This morning sees the publication of Solo, a new James Bond novel written by the Scots-born novelist William Boyd, the seventh author to have tried to bring Fleming’s spy back to life. But what is so extraordinary is that 61-year-old Boyd’s attempt is the first to have succeeded. Back to his best: Geoffrey Wansell praises William Boyd's new book Solo as a return to form for James Bond (portrayed here by Daniel Craig) after a string of 'second-raters' in the 007 series
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William Boyd's new book Solo features a heavy-smoking, hard-drinking James Bond set in the Sixties
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The author 'triumphantly' brings back 'the real Bond'
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Boyd is the seventh author to tackle 007 since Ian Fleming's death in 1964
Ian Fleming
Fleming
Ian Fleming
@placeholder was a master craftsman who lived and breathed the world of Bond, and he was of a very different age.
Ian Fleming
Fleming
Ian Fleming
Boyd is not afraid to make Bond as politically incorrect as @placeholder created him.
James Bond
James Bond
James Bond
These may not be politically correct thoughts, but they are an authentic part of the personality of Fleming’s @placeholder, a man driven by a fierce desire to take revenge for the treachery that always seems to surround him.
Ian Fleming
Fleming
Ian Fleming
Treachery is one of @placeholder’s favourite themes — and one which Boyd returns to in Solo.
William Boyd
Boyd
William Boyd
William Boyd
Boyd
Treachery is one of Fleming’s favourite themes — and one which @placeholder returns to in Solo.