Double or Die by Charlie Higson

Published by Penguin Books

Price £6.99

The 3rd in the young Bond series.

I feel Charlie Higson is just getting into his stride now and is handling both character and setting superbly well. This is fast paced with plenty of clues to crack throughout the plot. We see James deal with villains and danger with a cool ruthlessness which readers of his adult adventures will recognise.

The story is set in the dangerous underworld of a world of illegal gambling dens and Cambridge spies in 1930s London. It opens in Highgate Cemetery, where an Eton professor is kidnapped at gunpoint. A suspicious letter crammed with cryptic clues arrives at Eton, where James Bond and his crossword enthusiast friends set to work on it. James takes a series of dangerous gambles during a perilous journey across London. Although he is violently attacked, he cracks the code but then has just 48 hours to save the professor from the dark forces that threaten to destroy them both.  

I think this is a brilliant, absorbing and exciting read and I am looking forward to the next one already.