Edgar Chaps

What does it mean to be the temporary caretaker of an important intellectual property? What new inroads can be made with characters and their worlds that fans are intimately familiar with? Such was the challenge accepted by English author Kim Sherwood when Ian Fleming Publications Ltd agreed to give her the opportunity to write not one, not two, but a trio of novels set in a new, modern James Bond timeline. The result is as surprising as it was satisfying.

Brave New World

The term “crown jewels” refers to something of high value, be it monetary, cultural, or otherwise. In the case of the literary James Bond, one supposes it’s more appropriate to refer to the golden gun. In the case of Sherwood’s output, said bullion pistol was split into a tightly-knit trilogy. Double or Nothing sprung into action in 2022, followed by A Spy Like Me in 2024, and concluded recently with Hurricane Room in May 2026.

So what? What is considered special about a 007 trilogy? For starters, there haven’t been many women authors hired to pen Bond stories. In fact, the only other time was Samantha Weinberg, creator of a short series called The Moneypenny Diaries published in the mid-2000s.

Secondly, this new series, each entry stamped with the added moniker of “A Double 0 Novel,” does not, in fact, concentrate on the famous 007. Nay, in the first two novels, Bond has gone missing in action. Is he dead? Has he gone into hiding? Has he abandoned MI6? It’s not clear, although, knowing the character, there is surely a plausible explanation, to say nothing that James Bond will surely return before the trilogy’s final page. 

As such, Sherwood gave herself the herculean task of creating three stories in which the very reason readers buy these books is absent. What’s more, the Ian Fleming estate signed off on the project. Rather bold, to say the least. 

Knock on Sherwood

The author hadn’t even published that much previously. Her main claim to fame was her debut novel titled Testament, published in 2019. To be fair, the work garnered attention and saw her collect awards, such as the Harper’s Bazaar Big Book of the Year.

As a self-described long-time Bond fan, this trilogy would be an entirely different challenge. Expand the Bond world, set it in modern day, and make almost no use of the famed 007 until the third book (mild spoilers). Yes, he is referenced and, once or twice, appears in flashbacks, but other than that, the first two novels must get the reader to fall in love with new 00 agents.

With cheeky nods to the overarching history of 007 (books, movies, real people behind the scenes), two of the heroes are named Johanna Harwood (003) and Joseph Dryden (004). A third is Sid Bashir, or 009. Without getting too deep into spoilers, some elements are turned on their heads. Most of the characters fans know from the Fleming novels are either present or, at one time, worked for MI6, and Sherwood honours them in some unexpected ways. 

Sherwood’s Double 0 team feels three-dimensional and complicated. They have lives, sort of. They certainly possess their own agency and feelings. Not that that’s a bad thing. As cruel as Fleming’s Bond could be, as much as he functioned like a blunt instrument, there were passages in the latter novels – most notably in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and You Only Live Twice – where Fleming cannot help but inject vulnerability and humanity into his super spy.

There are definitely modern touches and flair added to this new crop of 00s. England, especially London, is a remarkably diverse society these days, and that reality translates to the team Moneypenny leads. Oh, another mild spoiler. Faithful Moneypenny is no longer M’s personal assistant but the main case manager, or agent handler, of the Double 0 section.

Bonding Over Adventure

Even without Bond present, familiar ingredients are essential.

This is no small task. Should the first book fail, at least artistically, then there is nary any hope for the subsequent two entries. The marriage between the new and the familiar must be near-perfect (demanding perfection only leads to disappointment). 

That isn’t the only balancing act Sherwood conducts. Because she spreads the action amongst several 00s, not to mention Moneypenny and the new M dealing with their own challenges, the plot is stretched about as wide as it can without tearing at the seams. Therein lies part of the magic: most of what happens and most of the characters readers spend time with are rather engaging. 

Special mention to 003 and 004 (Harwood and Dryden), who have quite complicated yet grounded backstories that speak to who they are when the first novel begins and why they’ve chosen this challenging, nay, deadly life mission.

It must be said that Sherwood is gifted at writing action sequences. Be it fisticuffs, vehicular chases, sniper rifle battles, shootouts and chases in exploding enemy compounds, each action beat carries the hutzpah one expects from a Bond book. Or a Bond-adjacent book. You know what I mean.

Megalomaniacal villains, treachery, gadgets, blood and bruises, a world travelogue, including extremely remote yet beautiful locations, it’s all here. Some Google image searches of the places visited in Hurricane Room reveal how inspired Sherwood was to lend it a special quality.

Can’t Win Them All

Three books, totalling just shy of 1,100 words, and an ensemble piece, there is room for a faux pas or two. 

I’d argue the main culprit here is 2024’s A Spy Like Me. Fun, replete with action, new characters introduced (including another new Double 0) and Fleming favourites revisited. The plot is fine but convoluted. What’s more, each Double 0 makes contact with brand new allies and antagonists. This, in theory, should be expected, but it’s different in a standalone Bond adventure since only 007serves as the focal point.

In the case of A Spy Like Me, there is too much happening. Too many characters are off on too many side quests. There is even a sequence in which a newly introduced ally goes off on her own mission to help a Double 0. Full disclosure: said supporting player returns in the third book, and I needed a page or two to recall who she was. In a nutshell, the second novel is somewhat bloated.

That’s not to say Double or Nothing and Hurricane Room are flawless, but the first book has an inherent tightness required of a first entry (don’t blow your entire load all at once). The third, while a potential candidate for similar criticisms as the middle entry, has the requisite momentum of a final chapter racing against the clock down the home stretch, so it’s more forgivable. 

Well Done, Double 0

Sherwood’s Double 0 trilogy is a fascinating, if imperfect, example of what can happen when a talented author is given the reins to an IP they adore. 

Her prose is delightful (she’s a university lecturer on creative writing), her knack for sending the protagonists to locations of great beauty and danger is commendable, and her characterizations lend the world of Bond an extra jolt of three-dimensionality that, while sometimes present in the Fleming novels, adds more dynamism in this trilogy.

It’s interesting to me that, from an artistic perspective, the two most successful authors to recently sign on for Fleming estate projects have been Sherwood and Anthony Horowitz, the latter keeping his 007 in the Fleming timeline. The common denominator is that they both wrote three books. One is a trilogy in the purest sense, while the other is looser, yet functioned as one thematically. Does this mean that authors should be given time to flex their 00 muscles by being given multi-book deals? It’s an interesting idea, especially when considering how the Sebastien Faulks (Devil May Care, 2008), Jefferey Deaver (Carte Blanche, 2011), and William Boyd (Solo, 2013) entries, all standalone, have been forgotten in the sands of time.

Certainly, Sherwood’s gamble was greater. Almost no Bond featured at all, whilst promising a connected three-story arc. Triple or nothing sounds more appropriate. Like Bond at the baccarat table, there are some tense moments and close calls. Still, Sherwood leaves the table with her winnings, ready to enjoy the night away from the scent and smoke and sweat of the casino that are so nauseating at three in the morning.