Double or Die (Young Bond): Amazon.co.uk: Charlie Higson: Books

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Product Description

Product Description
A special Waterstone's edition of the third thrilling Young Bond adventure.

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First Sentence
James Bond was sitting in the passenger seat of his Bamford and Martin tourer wrapped in a heavy winter overcoat, his face masked with goggles and scarf. Read the first page

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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover

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Customer Reviews

24 Reviews

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

Average Customer Review

4.2 out of 5 stars (24 customer reviews)

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Young Bond gets smart, 28 Jan 2007

By	John Cox (Hollywood, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Double or Die (Young Bond) (Paperback)

Charlie Higson's Double or Die is the pivot on which the Young Bond series turns. Double or Die both pulls from past books and points to the future. Where SilverFin infused Bond with his fearless instinct and Blood Fever developed his brawn, Double or Die works his mind (and ours). This Young Bond novel is psychologically more complex than its predecessors. Indeed, with its many scenes set in tombs and tunnels, Double or Die drips with Freudian undercurrents.

Thematically, Double or Die is an adventure of the mind. Bond and his band of friends must decrypt puzzles and clues contained within a mysterious cipher sent by a kidnapped professor. Higson plays the motif throughout as references to skulls and the brain abound. Where Blood Fever was bright and expansive, Double or Die is dark and contained. While this could make it a lesser Bondian adventure for some, the smaller scale allows Higson to work in greater texture and detail, making Double or Die the most vivid and visual of all the Young Bond novels to date. It's also the Young Bond novel that showcases its 1930s setting the best as Higson peppers the book with delightful period slang and long forgotten brand names.

The body count in Double or Die is lower than Blood Fever, but Higson doesn't skimp on the gore, especially during the terrific climax on the London Docklands and inside an abandon pneumatic railway (wonderful Bondian locations both). The fact that the henchmen comes away from each encounter with Young Bond missing another body part is grisly good fun and pure Bond. Higson adds a surprising postscript to this book that is unlike anything that has yet appeared in a Young Bond novel. I will leave it to the reader to discover it, and decide whether it belongs in the Young Bond universe.

Absence of a Bond Girl (or any female for that matter) is missed during the first two thirds of the book, but the arrival of the perfectly named Kelly Kelly and her "Monstrous Regiment" (a sort of cockney street urchin version of Pussy Galore's Flying Circus) is a highlight of the final third. Higson again toys with romance, but one gets a sense he's nervous about offending the sensibilities of his youngest male readers. At the risk of getting a schoolyard beating, I'm hoping for a more developed romance at some point in the Young Bond series.

The measure of any James Bond continuation novel, and novelist, is how they compare with Fleming. Charlie Higson matched Fleming last year with the excellent Blood Fever. Now, with the complex and thrilling Double or Die, Higson appears to be steering the Young Bond series toward even higher literary achievement.

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pure reading pleasure!, 5 Jan 2007

By	Patricia Hill "triciahill" (Hanwell, London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Double or Die (Young Bond) (Paperback)

As a 41-year-old mother of two, I am not exactly this book's target audience, but I thought it was pretty close to perfect. I've read the other two Young Bond books, but the author has really hit his stride with this one. It's exciting and cleverly plotted, with more than enough action to satisfy every boy (and surely every girl) who reads it and also enough hints at how Bond ends up the man we know from the Fleming books to intrigue adults. I gulped it down in two sittings and now envy all those who have yet to enjoy escaping into it. Surely no one with a pulse would fail to enjoy it.

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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Double as good as the last two, 5 Mar 2007

By	Soul Eater...ME!! (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Double or Die (Young Bond) (Paperback)

DOUBLE OR DIE is in my opinion, the best book in the series so far. Charlie Higson is improving every book and if the improvement between BLOOD FEVER and DOUBLE OR DIE is anything to go by, I cannot wait to read the fourth in the series.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Double or Die, SilverFin and Blood Fever
The books were really good and they were good value for money. I love the young James Bond books - Fran aged 11

I was really impressed with the quick service - the... Read more

Published 3 months ago by Mrs. Rachel Lynch

4.0 out of 5 stars Young James Bond by Charlie Higson
This is a great series. I think this as as good as Silverfin and Hurricane Gold, I did not care for 'By Royal Command' much, it was boring in places. Read more

Published 8 months ago by Kevin Walker

3.0 out of 5 stars Young James Bond.
Not the best young Bond, but still a good read, infact probably the worst in the series.
Young James Bond meets up with an old friend in London, he gets broken bones,... Read more

Published 9 months ago by Sid Lynch

5.0 out of 5 stars it's brilliant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
it's brilliant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Buy it, buy it, buy it now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Perfect for anbody who lke mystery and adventure rolled into one.

Published 10 months ago by Mrs. C. Crawford

2.0 out of 5 stars depressing
It's a perfectly okay book, but why oh why does one of Britain's greatest heroes suddenly have to have gone to Eton? Haven't they got enough heroes?

Published 10 months ago by Mr Gladstone

3.0 out of 5 stars A good book not as good as Blood Fever or Silverfin
Another great book by Charlie Higson. These are a great read for adults and alike. Not just young adult.
The story is fast, no sex or fowl language. Read more

Published 11 months ago by Ian Young

2.0 out of 5 stars Double or Die
I thoughtthat this book had way to much talking and that the front cover is nothing of what you think it is. Read more

Published 12 months ago by Mr. P. KELMAN

4.0 out of 5 stars A cracking read
I read this by accident when my son brought it home from the school library. I opened it out of curiosity, and didn't close it again until i had finished it. Read more

Published 12 months ago by Saffron

1.0 out of 5 stars Oh no not again
Sad state we are in when we use a classic story like James Bond and somone writes this rubbish. Its another copy of Harry Potter.

Published 17 months ago by Lance Warren

4.0 out of 5 stars Great- but can YOU work it out?
I really enjoyed this book. It was the best, in my opinion, in the series, but I have one critisicm. Read more

Published on 1 Jul 2007 by Julie

› See all 24 customer reviews...

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	80% buy the item featured on this page: Double or Die (Young Bond) 4.2 out of 5 stars (24)
	6% buy Blood Fever (Young Bond S.) 3.9 out of 5 stars (38) �4.26
	6% buy SilverFin: A James Bond Adventure (Young Bond) 3.6 out of 5 stars (36) �4.24
	5% buy By Royal Command (Young Bond) 3.8 out of 5 stars (19) �4.31


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Double or Die (Young Bond) [Special Limited Edition] (Hardcover)

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