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Following the events detailed in Double Or Nothing, Moneypenny and her remaining collection of Double 0 agents continue to pursue Rattenfänger, the presumed party responsible for the disappearance of James Bond. A single clue had been discovered that could indicate his continued existence, and these highly skilled spies are determined to solve this mystery and bring the perpetrators to justice. Or just kill them. It kind of depends on the moment.
A pattern has been found linking acts of terror to the sale of ancient artifacts, so the team disperses all over the world to follow various thin threads that may lead to the center of the evil web. As usual, each player can only be trusted so far, but it is difficult for even these experienced operatives to always know where the line exists. Thus, a handful of investigations end up with a corpse or two, and sometimes precious little intel has been gained in return.
And just what is a spy to do when it is clear that a fellow spy is not as trustworthy as everyone believes? How does someone with a license to kill respond to this kind of betrayal? Questions, questions, questions, and no easy answers. So much confusion, angst, regret, and consideration of one’s life choices. It’s a wonder that any of these people can even sleep.
A Spy Like Me, the second volume of a three-part narrative, is much more complex than its predecessor. In fact, it was downright boring in a few spots. There are way too many characters to keep track of, and in our modern literary world of short chapters, it seems as though the plot is jumping around in a haphazard fashion. It also seems like everybody in world knows what a Double 0 agent represents, including in social circles. Seriously? We politely chat over filet of sole about how deadly one of the table guests really is? I do not know about others that have followed the literary James Bond over the decades, but I found myself considering my own life choices at times during this read.
I remarked in my previous review that plenty of characters from former Bond novels made appearances, and that there were not many remaining for the future. I was only partially correct; there were still some really obscure individuals from the original Fleming tales left to utilize, and many of them appeared here. One in particular has piqued my curiosity, and I now patiently await the third installment to see which end of a gun that person ends up on.
Rated: High. Profanity includes 15 instances of strong language, 40 moderate usages, and 4 Deity-based exclamations. Five separate crude terms managed to appear, and there were two intimate encounters with superficial descriptions. Violence includes a body count of well above 30, not counting the loss of lives from a pair of bombings.
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