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  • Published: 26 September 2013
  • ISBN: 9781448155163
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 352

Solo

A James Bond Novel




The bestselling new James Bond novel written by William Boyd (‘English fiction's master storyteller’ The Times)

*The Sunday Times Bestseller*

It is 1969 and James Bond is about to go solo, recklessly motivated by revenge.

A seasoned veteran of the service, 007 is sent to single-handedly stop a civil war in the small West African nation of Zanzarim. Aided by a beautiful accomplice and hindered by the local militia, he undergoes a scarring experience which compels him to ignore M’s orders in pursuit of his own brand of justice. Bond’s renegade action leads him to Washington, D.C., where he discovers a web of intrigue and witnesses fresh horrors.

Even if Bond succeeds in exacting his revenge, a man with two faces will come to stalk his every waking moment.

  • Published: 26 September 2013
  • ISBN: 9781448155163
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 352

About the author

William Boyd

William Boyd is the author of one work of non-fiction, three collections of short stories and thirteen novels, including the bestselling historical spy thriller Restless – winner of the Costa Novel of the Year – and Any Human Heart, in which the character of Ian Fleming features. Among his other awards are the Whitbread First Novel Prize, the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Prix Jean Monnet. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and an Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In 2005, he was awarded the CBE.

Born in Ghana in 1952, William Boyd spent much of his early life in West Africa. He now divides his time between the south-west of France and Chelsea, where he lives a stone’s throw from James Bond’s London address.

Also by William Boyd

See all

Praise for Solo

This is well-plotted, exciting stuff and Boyd has a great sense of time and place. His boozy, maturer, more fallible Bond is totally believable. Mission accomplished, Mr Boyd.

Natasha Harding, Sun

Boyd was a smart choice for a Bond thriller. The action clips along. There are welcome literary flourishes and a dense plot.

Richard Fitzpatrick, Irish Examiner

Written with aplomb, Boyd’s Bond novel is a terrific twisting thriller.

Sunday Times

Anyone wishing this autumn to enjoy the Cold War with the assurance of a happy ending should seek out William Boyd’s new James Bond novel, Solo, in which 007 is dispatched to West Africa and the fictitious country of Zanzarim, where he finds himself in the midst of a civil war.

Stephen McGinty, Scotsman

A fantastic read, which I ripped through in the time it would take to watch Skyfall, as it happens, and I found it significantly more enjoyable.

The Times

A terrific twisting thriller

Sunday Times

William Boyd brings back the real Bond, triumphantly

Daily Mail

A triumph. Bond is back

Observer

Works brilliantly well

Mail on Sunday

Superb

Scotsman

The late Ian Fleming would surely have approved

Daily Mail

Brilliant

Spectator

Keeps us on our toes until the closing pages

Financial Times

Terrific… A tremendous Bond story

Sunday Times

Exciting stuff… Mission accomplished, Mr Boyd

Sun

Manages to enrich and refresh a character we thought we knew too well. Solo is a terrific twisting thriller – just when you smugly think you have spotted a huge hole in the plot, Boyd turns it breathtakingly around.

David Mills, Sunday Times

Since the death of Ian Fleming, plenty of writers have tried their hand at perpetuating the career of James Bond, with mixed results. Boyd’s Solo is undoubtedly one of the best.

Mail on Sunday

A triumphant thriller worthy of Bond’s creator Ian Fleming.

Daily Express

I found myself wondering if Boyd had outdone Fleming.

Nicholas Lezard, Guardian

[Boyd is] an ideal writer of James Bond novels, and this one, his first, is very good

William Leith, Evening Standard

Perfectly judged homage

Mail on Sunday

A brand new James Bond adventure combining all the glamour and excitement of Fleming’s original novels with the masterful storytelling of William Boyd

Western Morning News

A very good piece of literary ventriloquism, with a great baddie

Heathrow Express

Perfectly judged homage

Mail on Sunday

Fleming’s James Bond lives again in this perfectly judged homage

Mail on Sunday