Colonel Sun by Kingsley Amis (writing as Robert Markham) was the first post-Fleming Bond novel. I am not on top of the inside scoop here; presumably someone thought that Amis didn’t do a good job—Amis himself disparaged the work—because he only wrote the one.

Written in 1968, Colonel Sun opens with the kidnapping of M (an idea that may have been the source for the similar events of The World is Not Enough), and Bond’s desperate attempt to find him. The titular Colonel Sun is a Chinese agent specializing in torture. He especially loves torturing the British. This is sick stuff, worthy of Fleming’s gruesome imagination. A lot of the things that happen are new territory for Bond, and yet work in Fleming’s ouvre; the adventure takes place in the Greek islands, the Bond girl, Ariadne Alexandrou, is a Greek Communist working for the Russians, and so multiple sides are at play; the Russian agents, the Chinese agents, the British, and a Greek nationalist who is Ariadne’s uncle.

The plot is tightly constructed and the characters are interesting.

Perhaps the least effective portion of the book is Bond’s encounter with the main villain. After a book’s worth of build-up, it’s all a bit of a let down as Amis delicately looks away. However, with that reservation, the book is definitely recommended.