A Tarnished Gold Ingot - Hurricane Gold by Charlie Higson, A Book Review

Charlie Higson has done a remarkable job with his 'Young Bond' series. The fourth book in the set, 'Hurricane Gold' follows James Bond as he ventures to the tropics. Caught in a hurricane, he and his hosts are embroiled in a series of events that shall take them far.

The book. Duh.

This book, while very entertaining, was more than a small annoyance at times. As with pretty much all the Bond books, it was slow to start and marginally uninteresting, however characters were developed well in the first few chapters. Unfortunately, the plot was a little shaky, and some unlikely car chases and near-misses simply worked to remove more enjoyment. As has been said previously, it was very entertaining to read, though with little point to it.

The final third of the book made up for this, though. Finding themselves on a remote island for insanely rich criminals, James and his latest female interest - this time named 'Precious' (never naming my kids that) - must plan their escape through the 'Rat Run' - a deadly assault course arena, where the prize for winning is freedom and the punishment for failure is death. Even so, this seemed fairly hollow: there was a fairly unsatisfactory ending to the whole thing that left you wondering "Oh. Is that it?"

All in all, a bit of a piece of tarnished gold: there is worth in this book, and much enjoyment may be gleaned from it, but you must first either ignore or clean away the dirt. I believe Higson may have forgotten to polish his work. In short, read this if you enjoyed the other 'Young Bond' books or if you like a good adventure, but look elsewhere if you like everything to be tied off.
Rating: 6/10

This review was taken from Penguin Book's 'Spinebreakers' website, where the author goes by a slightly different name. To view the original review, click here. For more information on Spinebreakers and how to become one, click here.