Anthony Horowitz in the Bond world

Anthony Horowitz before Bond

Anthony Horowitz came to Bond with an established career in mystery and adventure, including the Alex Rider novels and the television series Foyle’s War. Those credits help explain why readers might approach his Bond books with different expectations: some arrive through young-adult adventure, others through period investigation. His three authorised Bond novels are adult continuations of Fleming’s character, however, and should be chosen on that basis rather than assumed to share the audience of Alex Rider.

The useful background is his interest in building a new story around an existing fictional world. With Bond, the task is not simply to repeat familiar names, possessions and phrases. A continuation also has to decide where its agent belongs in relation to earlier events and what remains worth asking about him. Horowitz’s three books make different choices about that relationship. One enters the established career, one looks back to the beginning, and one follows the troubling aftermath of a late Fleming novel.

Three novels, three positions in Bond’s life

For a first reading of Horowitz, we suggest publication order. You can follow the developing set of approaches without trying to rebuild the whole Bond chronology. For a reread alongside Fleming, use the fictional placements instead. In either case, the original novels are the better foundation: read Goldfinger before Trigger Mortis, Casino Royale before returning to the prequel, and The Man with the Golden Gun before With a Mind to Kill. Earlier personal developments make the last of those particularly sensitive to spoilers.

Trigger Mortis: an established Bond and an inherited opening

Trigger Mortis begins with motor-racing danger and returns Pussy Galore from Goldfinger. The publisher places the action in 1957, so this is a period continuation, not Bond updated to the year of publication. Horowitz’s official announcement identifies Fleming’s unused television treatment Murder on Wheels as the inherited material. That is a specific connection between the writers, and it is more accurate than describing the entire new book as a recovered Fleming story.

The racing material belongs within a larger new mission involving Jeopardy Lane and Jai Seong Sin. For a reader, the interesting distinction is between borrowing a starting situation and taking responsibility for the complete novel. We recommend noticing how the inherited element works within Horowitz’s chosen structure rather than trying to label every sentence as “Fleming” or “not Fleming”. The published book remains Horowitz’s continuation, with its own decisions about emphasis, relationships and pace.

This is the most immediately recognisable mid-career entry of the three. Bond is already Bond, and the return of a character from the preceding Fleming adventure creates a direct bridge. Choose it if you want to remain near the world of Goldfinger while moving into a fresh mission. It is less suitable as a way to avoid reading Goldfinger entirely: the returning relationship means a new reader can lose context and learn details about the earlier book before encountering them in Fleming.

Forever and a Day: imagining the first 007 mission

Forever and a Day starts from the death of the previous 007 and sends the new holder of the number into an investigation on the French Riviera. It was published by Jonathan Cape in 2018. The publisher and Horowitz’s announcement confirm the use of original Fleming material, while accounts of the novel identify a casino anecdote among the inherited elements. That should not be expanded into a claim that Fleming planned or wrote this complete origin story.

A prequel asks the reader to distinguish publication history from fictional history. Casino Royale introduced Bond to readers first; Horowitz later imagined an assignment before it. Reading the prequel first is possible, but our recommendation is to let Fleming introduce his own character before meeting another writer’s explanation of the earlier career. That order makes the echoes a form of recognition rather than a set of clues you must memorise before reaching the original book.

The premise is attractive because the number becomes something Bond has to occupy, rather than a label the audience accepts without question. A predecessor’s death creates professional stakes before the character’s reputation has formed. Readers interested in beginnings may find this the strongest point of entry to Horowitz. Readers who prefer an established agent and want fewer backward-looking connections can begin with Trigger Mortis instead. The choice is about the sort of story you want, not about discovering one officially compulsory reading order.

With a Mind to Kill: following Fleming’s unfinished consequences

With a Mind to Kill takes its starting context from The Man with the Golden Gun. In his Los Angeles Public Library interview, Horowitz discusses Bond’s attempted attack on M and the figure of Colonel Boris. Those are connections with published Fleming material. They are different from the unused treatment incorporated into Trigger Mortis. We therefore avoid the convenient but misleading statement that all three novels use previously unpublished Fleming prose in the same way.

The premise places Bond’s loyalties and judgement under pressure, with an apparent funeral and an accusation against him. This guide does not resolve that opening mystery. The uncertainty is part of the reason to read the book, and summarising the apparent situation as an uncontested death would misrepresent the narrative. Use the individual guide’s spoiler section if you want more discussion after reading. Beforehand, the useful preparation is the late Fleming sequence, especially You Only Live Twice and The Man with the Golden Gun.

We rank this novel highly because the continuation has a clear character question to pursue: what follows when Bond’s mind has been turned into an instrument against him? That is an opinion about the premise and its place in the sequence. A reader looking for a breezier adventure may prefer either earlier Horowitz novel. The important point is that the third book offers a different emphasis, rather than merely completing a numbered set of interchangeable missions.

What “using Fleming material” does and does not mean

There are several ways for a continuation to draw on an original writer. It can incorporate unused material, follow a previously published event, bring back a character, or work within an established setting and period. Those relationships should be described individually. Calling all of them “based on Fleming” can be harmless shorthand, but it becomes confusing when a reader wants to know how much of a book is newly written or where its premise came from.

For these novels, identify the connection at the level the evidence supports. Trigger Mortis uses Murder on Wheels; Forever and a Day uses original Fleming material within Horowitz’s prequel; With a Mind to Kill takes the brainwashing aftermath of The Man with the Golden Gun further. None should be marketed here as an unpublished complete Fleming novel. The books have named authors and publication histories, and those facts are more useful than a vague suggestion that an estate commission erases the distinction between writers.

Choosing a route through the trilogy

If you have just finished Goldfinger, Trigger Mortis is the immediate companion. If you are curious about Bond before Casino Royale, read the original and then Forever and a Day. If the late novels’ damage and recovery interest you, save With a Mind to Kill until you have their context. These routes allow you to use a continuation to pursue an interest you already have rather than forcing every reader through the same completionist exercise.

For the three books alone, publication order is our default recommendation. For the whole Fleming-and-Horowitz project, keep a written list of which chronology you are following so that the different positions do not become confusing. It is perfectly reasonable to read Horowitz separately after finishing Fleming. You will still recognise the connections, and you avoid turning a first reading into a complicated schedule of interruptions. The individual book pages provide print and audiobook choices without requiring you to buy a matching set.

Editions, audio and related reading

The first-publication years in this guide identify the works, not every edition currently on sale. A later paperback can have a different publication date and ISBN without being a different novel. Follow the individual guides for the listed Waterstones editions and Audible UK recordings, and check the retailer’s format before purchase. The three audiobooks also use different narrators, so listeners should not assume that “the trilogy” implies one continuous performance by the same actor.

For comparison, Colonel Sun shows an earlier authorised writer taking over Bond, while Carte Blanche demonstrates a different choice about period and continuity. Our continuation ranking explains why we favour particular entry points. Horowitz’s close placement around Fleming is one approach among several, not a rule that every later Bond author must follow.

Frequently asked questions

How many James Bond novels has Anthony Horowitz written?

The three novels covered here are Trigger Mortis (2015), Forever and a Day (2018) and With a Mind to Kill (2022).

What is the best reading order for Horowitz’s Bond books?

We recommend publication order for a first read. In fictional order, Forever and a Day comes before Casino Royale, Trigger Mortis after Goldfinger, and With a Mind to Kill after The Man with the Golden Gun.

Did Fleming write parts of all three novels?

Do not treat their connections as identical. The first two use original Fleming material; With a Mind to Kill develops the published brainwashing aftermath of The Man with the Golden Gun.

Are these Alex Rider books?

No. They are adult James Bond continuations, even though Horowitz is also the author of Alex Rider.