Anthony Horowitz Trigger Mortis paperback cover

It has been announced that the paperback edition of Anthony Horowitz’s novel Trigger Mortis, the latest James Bond book, will go on sale in the UK on 19th May, 2016, and will be issued with a superb new piece of artwork on the front cover. It is being published by the Orion Publishing Group.

The Horowitz 007 novel was released in hardback by Orion last September, 2015, and was widely praised by both critics and fans, remaining in the bestseller lists for a long period of time. Many reviewers noted how close to Ian Fleming’s writing style the novel was, while also still retaining the distinctive Horowitz touches.

The highly entertaining and well-paced plot placed James Bond in 1957, shortly after the events at Fort Knox as described in Ian Fleming’s novel Goldfinger. It also saw the return of a classic Fleming character, Pussy Galore, together with the notorious and ruthless Soviet counter-intelligence organisation, SMERSH. The story took in the the highly competitive world of sports-car racing, and was also set in the context of the Cold War and the Soviet-American ‘Space Race’ of the period, as the United States prepared for a critical rocket launch.

And, in a major but very welcome surprise for James Bond novel aficionados, Trigger Mortis was the first post-Fleming James Bond novel to feature and synthesise some previously unseen work by 007’s creator. Horowitz was able to use some unused material by Fleming, a treatment held in the archives of the Ian Fleming estate, entitled Murder on Wheels. This had originally been put together by Bond’s creator to form part of a proposed 007 television series, a show that never went ahead.

Horowitz, who was born in London in 1955, is the author of the very popular Alex Rider children’s spy novels, and was also responsible for the hit British TV series Foyle’s War, which starred Michael Kitchen (Bill Tanner from Goldeneye and The World Is Not Enough). The wartime detective series won a BAFTA award.

More recently, Horowitz was commissioned by the estate of Arthur Conan Doyle to write the first official full-length Sherlock Holmes book sonce the original Conan Doyle stories. This was published in 2011 as The House of Silk, and was rapidly followed by a sequel called Moriarty. Both novels were bestsellers.

But it is also clear that the 007 book was a project especially close to his heart. When Horowitz was commissioned to write the latest James Bond novel, he stated a short while later: ‘It is no secret that Ian Fleming’s extraordinary character has had a profound influence on my life, so when the estate approach me to write a new James Bond novel how could I possibly refuse?’

In January, 2014, Anthony Horowitz was awarded an OBE for his services to literature.

Trigger Mortis, paperback edition, UK publication date: 19th May, 2016 (Orion).

Anthony Horowitz

 

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