Quantum of Menace

Major Boothroyd aka Q has been 'let go' by MI6. Whilst contemplating his future he is drawn back to his hometown by a posthumous letter from his childhood friend. Q then finds himself investigating a murder involving cutting edge technology and the Albanian mafia whilst trying to confront his childhood demons. Can a man who was always a backroom player survive out in the action?
I really do not like JamesBond - there I've said it! I find the films gratuitous and the books politically concerning but I loved this. Khan is a wonderful writer who has taken the best elements of his crime writing, intelligence and wit, and applied them to a new character in a stale setting. This fizzes with excitement. Q is a character with flaws, there's a show more lot of political and workplace points made, the plot is suitably complex, the ending satisfyingly simple. A great read. show less

Q, the weapons and gadgets guru from MI6, has been sacked in a round of office politics. At a loose end he receives a letter from his childhood friend asking him to investigate his death as a murder. Q returns to his hometown after many years and becomes involved in a complex murder and conspiracy as well as becoming entwined in lots of loose ends with people from his past.

Although this is a James Bond spin-off and there are many familiar tropes from that franchise, this is not at all what I expected. There is very little action, adventure or peril (relatively speaking). The murder plot is handled more like a Poirot tale than anything else - motive, opportunity and the application of the 'little grey cells'. The coming home plot is show more rather more downbeat - what happens when the only thing you have, your work, is taken away? How do you reconnect with people from your past when your and their opinions have become set in stone, even though these are wrong?

I enjoyed this book and the interpersonal relationships are handled well and realistically. I was just expecting more wham and bam. show less

Book 1, Signed