Message from A Spy Like Me author Kim Sherwood via Ian Fleming Publications

By: Anders Frejdh

Published:
2024-04-25

Ian Fleming Publications, Kim Sherwood, message

In a personal message from Miss Moneypenny's desk in London, Double Or Nothing and A Spy Like Me author Kim Sherwood addresses all readers of her Double O series. Classification: Gold level (For Your Eyes Only)

The message reads as follows...

“Dear Reader,

Timing is everything. The funniest joke only works if it is well-timed. The extra thirty seconds Ian Fleming (via James Bond) recommends for whisking scrambled eggs is crucial. When it comes to spycraft, timing is essential in all matters of life – and death.

In my second Double O book, A Spy Like Me, a bomb detonates in London. This is the starter pistol for what becomes a race across the globe and against time. To steal the punchy tagline: Six days. Three agents. One chance to find James Bond. A crucial plot element concerns a Breguet montre à tract, otherwise known as a ‘blind man’s watch’ and the agents in my story follow it into the heart of a terrorist plot that could not only cripple the Western world but potentially spell the ruin of the Double O section.

Joseph Dryden, 004, is following the money, tracking the sale of rare artefacts that funnels money to the terrorist organisation. His journey will take him from Greece to Afghanistan to Italy and, finally, to the truth.

Johanna Harwood, 003, has been sidelined following the events of her last mission. But now she has a new mission of her own: find James Bond. She will travel to the ends of the earth to try and achieve her aim.

Conrad Harthrop-Vane, 000, the blue-eyed boy, is dispatched to Oman to track the blind man’s watch and navigate a world of luxury and deception.

Along the way these agents will encounter familiar faces and in this great game of espionage there may be one or two wild cards dealt in…

Time is the overarching metaphor for the whole of A Spy Like Me. Unlike the first part of the trilogy, Double or Nothing (2022), this book is written in present tense. I wanted to communicate a feeling that everything is constantly in motion, and that the characters, like the reader, are reacting to circumstances in ‘the now’. Everything is contingent and the now is all that’s guaranteed – the future is promised to no one. There is an urgency to the story that I hope echoes some of Ian Fleming’s most tense and energetic writing.

Whilst promoting Double or Nothing I said that James Bond is like the sun at the centre of this literary universe, with the other characters the planets and moons orbiting him. To update that analogy, in A Spy Like Me, Bond is at the centre of the clockface, with the heroes and villains of the story the hands of the clock, ticking round him – presumably, inevitably all meeting at 0:07...

I first delivered the manuscript for A Spy Like Me at the end of 2022, right in the midst of promoting Double or Nothing and it has been incredible seeing the response to book one and feeling the anticipation grow for book two. Getting to know the Bond and Fleming community and create some lifelong friendships has meant the world to me. The enthusiasm and affection for this wonderful cultural icon, and my part in it, keeps me going when I am writing into the night. Indeed, when it comes to delivering manuscripts (and book three...) I well know that I do not have ‘all the time in the world’.

I hope you enjoy A Spy Like Me. It continues to be a joy to craft this world and see where my characters are going to adventure to – and see which ones will survive the journey. The gorgeous hardback was released in the US on Tuesday 23rd April and in the UK today, Thursday 25 April.

Buy the US edition here
Buy the UK edition here

Thank you all for reading and see you next time,
Kim

P.S. If you haven't read Double or Nothing yet, UK readers can pick up the Kindle edition for just 99p until the end of April here.

P.P.S. I actually had the chance to drive 003's car recently - which, considering I don't have a licence, was quite an experience! You can read all about how I got on here.”

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#a_spy_like_me

#ian_fleming_publications

#kim_sherwood

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Message from A Spy Like Me author Kim Sherwood via Ian Fleming Publications

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