Blood Fever [Paperback]

For this old 007 fan, Charlie Higson's first Young Bond novel, SilverFin, was a mixed bag. Clearly a book written for a preteen target audience, it too often seemed to mimic a Harry Potter adventure. I'm happy to report this is NOT the case with Young Bond Book 2: Blood Fever, which takes a confident quantum leap into maturity and gives Bond fans of all ages one of the very best James Bond novels yet written.

The key difference seems to be that SilverFin was written as a children's book (which could still be enjoyed by adults), while Blood Fever appears to have been written with a more mature (even adult) readership in mind. This is a tougher, darker, much more violent book than SilverFin. It even includes a classic Bondian torture scene (but don't panic, parents, the torture is more about endurance than person-to-person sadism). But because Blood Fever chronicles the adventures of a 14 year old, it's still very much a novel young readers will find thrilling--even dangerous. This one may need to be smuggled beneath the sheets and read by flashlight--which is precisely where a James Bond book SHOULD be read. Ian Fleming would be proud.

The villain in Blood Fever, Count Ugo Carnifex, is a true Bond baddie in the most classic sense, with a lair and scheme reflecting every inch of his megalomania. This is the best drawn Bond villain, book or film, we've encountered in some time. Secondary characters are also marvelously conceived, but it's the character of young Bond who stands head and shoulders above all others. The timid, apologetic youngster of SilverFin is long gone. Here, we have a teenage James with all the skills and swagger of Ian Fleming's secret agent. He coolly defies the villain, finds kinship with bandits, and gets visceral excitement by diving off high cliffs and driving fast cars. This Bond is no Harry Potter clone. This is the boy who will become 007 and who could kick the pixy dust out of any character in the Potter universe.

One thing that is still not a part of the Young Bond universe, even in this more mature version, is sex. However, there is some simmering eroticism in how Ugo's decrepit sister leers at handsome young James, and clearly, the animalistic Vendetta has some carnal curiosity. Bond even delivers his first "hard kiss on the mouth" in Blood Fever. But that's as far as Higson takes it. Bond's resistance to his female admirers seems more rooted in chivalry than nervous preadolescence (as in SilverFin), and besides, danger is always too close for such "distractions."

Some Bond fans have resisted the Young Bond series based on concept alone. Even I admitted that SilverFin wouldn't change the minds of the most entrenched fans. However, with Blood Fever, that resistance is now foolish. Bond fans are denying themselves a better Bond adventure than most of the recent James Bond films. There has been much talk lately about bringing Bond back to basics. Well, those basics are being practiced right here in the Young Bond series.

So for you holdouts, my advice would be to take the plunge with Blood Fever. Young or old, this is James Bond at his very best!

With one of the most ardent critics of the Young Bond idea recently stating on a fan-run Web site that author Charlie Higson's second foray into the world of a teenage James Bond was so good that he read it twice. Higson certainly seems to have come a long way since the initial announcement of his assignment was received with an equal mixture of curiosity and horror by the fan community.

Certainly the author seems more settled and sure-footed in his sophomore effort, perhaps due to the plaudits his first Young Bond novel SILVERFIN received from critics and Bond fans alike and the impressive sales that it managed in the United Kingdom. Or the fact that it was nominated by the Mystery Writers of America for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Young Adult Novel of 2005.

The second novel BLOOD FEVER also benefits from what I feel is a more compelling plot. To be honest the first novel with its tale of an American millionaire injecting eel serum into humans seemed a little too much like Fu Manchu for a Bond thriller and was saved in large part by Higson's wonderful prose. Here, he combines that writing style with a plot surrounding an effort by a Sardininan count to resurrect the Holy Roman Empire in a vibrant concoction that includes pirates, art theft, secret societies, seaplanes, intrigue and a mermaid. Well, okay so the lead female character is referred to as a mermaid, but more on her later.

It can be argued that Higson mimics certain trademark components of the movie series. Each novel has what is essentially a pretitles sequence and here we have a very exciting account of pirates overrunning a private yacht off the coast of Greece and the kidnapping of the two female passengers. We then join James at Eton who has become part of a society addicted to danger. Soon the young Bond comes into contact with some shadowy figures and stumbles upon a plot by a group to bring back the former glory of Italy.

One of Higson's many strengths is painting unusual and interesting villains. During his book tour in 2005 to promote his first book he spoke of the difficulty of coming up with such characters and remaining politically correct at the same time. Gone are the days when a physical handicap can be used to describe a villain. Whereas the main villain in SILVERFIN was drawn as a near perfect human specimen, here the main villain has an abject fear of dirt and is constantly witnessed screaming at people (including young Bond) as he attempts to keep himself and the area around him pristine.

There is also an eclectic group of supporting characters, from the stammering friend of James', Perry to the Sardinian teenage rogues of Mauro and Stefano and from James' cousin Victor to the pirate Zoltan. It's certainly a colorful cast of characters and they help elevate this work into one of the more enjoyable teen thrillers of the past decade.

Another particular strength for Higson appears to be his ability to create strong modern female characters despite the stories being set in the 1930s. Here we not only have Amy Goodenough but also Vendetta. Although Amy is clearly meant to be the lead female character, the far more interesting character for me was the young bandit girl Vendetta who is out for revenge for the murder of her brother as well as more than a casual romantic interest for the stand-offish Bond. I would hope that she appears in one of Higson's later novels though I suspect that the English girl Amy has a better chance of appearing later with her brother being a school friend of Bond's.

And Higson seems particularly adept at action scenes - which is a skill that few Bond continuation authors have been able to master. Here we have everything from a rooftop chase to a boxing match between James and the Eton bully. It is here that we see Higson's chief villain employ another trademark trait - ie the need to cheat at sports. Certainly in the movies from Goldfinger at cards and golf to Kamal Khan at blackgammon, some of the best moments in the film series have come from Bond using the villains own tactics against him and this match-up is no exception here. With weights in his gloves each blow from the bully feels like (as James puts it) being hit by a motor car, but it also makes the bully tire faster and eventually unable to protect himself.

On a sidenote, Higson's first outing was censored slightly (and inexplicably) for its U.S. release. And even though it has been reported that there are no cuts included in this novel it's hard to imagine that as the case since this is perhaps even more adult a Young Bond novel than its predecessor.

This novel really is a great read and a real bona fide page-turner. It's been a long time since I could honestly say that a book was one I simply "couldn't put down," but this is definitely the case here. My only real complaint is that although it was 371 pages long I wished it was longer because I was having such a good time reading it.

Charlie Higgins has produced another winner in this second installment of his "Young James Bond" series. His grasp of the character and traditional style make these novels, arguably, the best Bond stories since Ian Fleming's death. Don't let the "young readers" tag fool you; these adventure yarns rank on a par with Harry Potter in terms of rollicking enjoyment for readers of all ages.

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