Book Review: Hurricane Room
JAMES BOND IS ALIVE.
That’s not a spoiler as it's there on the cover. But in what state will he be after being imprisoned for so long by the enemy?
Please note this review does not contain any spoilers, besides the one on the cover!
Kim Sherwood’s Double O series has erroneously been thought of as Bond book series without Bond himself. But he’s actually been there all along, never straying far from the characters' thoughts. And in book 3, he's physically back in the room.
The brilliant thing is, having Bond 'back' doesn't detract from the other characters at all. I had come to love the new Double Os so much in books 1 and 2 that I feared they would be upstaged by 007's return in the finale. And while the scenes in Hurricane Room with Bond returning to life were some of the most emotional, no one else's story was less than gripping.
The book’s title refers back to a concept introduced by Fleming in From Russia, With Love. In a memorable scene, Bond’s plane transporting him to Istanbul encounters turbulence. Already on edge because of the mission, Bond uses a coping strategy to keep his cool: he retreats into his mental safe space, which he thinks of as a hurricane room, like the basement hideaways you find in countries affected by tropical storms. He holds on there until he feels in control again. The Hurricane Room concept was revived by Sherwood right at the start of the first Double O book, Double or Nothing, as a technique passed along by Bond to the next generation of Double Os. Here, however, Sherwood extends the idea to poetic and stirring effect; the hurricane room in Bond’s head has become not only a refuge - but also a prison.
The emotional core of Hurricane Room is Bond escaping his mental prison and returning to life. He’s been held by the enemy for so long that he’s almost forgotten who he is. For much of the book, he’s trapped in this liminal space. Sherwood generates so much excitement by giving us flashes of the Bond we know and love, a little like watching Daniel Craig in Casino Royale becoming Bond, bit by bit. But here Bond is having to recover himself, finding the fragments of who he once was just so he can get by, with a little help from his friends - the other Double Os that is. It’s a supremely moving conceit which will not fail to move fans of the character. Although it’s never really in doubt that Bond will somehow end up assisting his fellow licence to kill-holders in saving the world, the more interesting question that is the beating heart of the whole book is: will he or won’t he be able to save himself?
Fans of Sherwood’s books - including her Bond novels and beyond - know she has Fleming-like talent for transmuting her own real life experiences into her writing. The effect is to hit the reader with regular, sometimes unexpected, acid thwacks of empathy. Her characters, however fantastical, feel like real people. It’s startling to recognise so much of ourselves in her characters, no matter how different to us they may seem to be initially. Sherwood is very open - in Hurricane Room’s acknowledgements - about the personal circumstances, including multiple bereavements, that affected her during the writing of this book. With all of that going on, I can’t help feeling that the book functioned as something of a hurricane room for Kim herself at times. Despite this being a novel set in the outlandish world of 007, this is a deeply personal book.
Even if you don’t view the book through this meta-autobiographical lens, the denouement is still spectacularly satisfying. With 40 pages remaining, I did think to myself, “how on earth is she going to ‘stick the landing?’” With so many characters and plot threads, it’s a miracle she pulls it off. On my second reading, I was able to appreciate the ingenuity of her plotting to get us to this point. On the first, I was too busy breathlessly turning the pages.
Like the best Bond storytellers for the screen, Sherwood has mastered the art of telegraphing action. Think of those cinematic tricks deployed in the Bond films to keep the pace up, whole continents being traversed in a couple of cuts, whole worlds conjured with some natty production design and sharp cinematography. Now imagine the prose equivalent.
Not a word is wasted across 347 taut pages.
As Hitchcock famously asserted: “drama is life with the boring bits cut out”. In Hurricane Room, there is simply never a dull bit, let alone a whole sentence. There were several times I paused to marvel at how Sherwood had somehow managed to shift location, mood and our focus within a couple of clauses while remaining completely coherent. While I enjoy every Bond continuation author, no one has come closer to Fleming in this stylistic department than Sherwood. The effect is thrilling, particularly for those of us who appreciate the Bond books for their stylistic flair as much as their stories.
And what a story we have here. This is a truly globe-trotting adventure where the stakes have never felt higher. If Hurricane Room was ever to be put on screen, it would be the most expensive Bond movie ever made - by a significant margin. The set pieces are colossal, with the finale making a hollowed-out volcano seem rather mundane by comparison. Location-wise, we’re treated to every kind of environment imaginable. Based on the evidence presented here, I hope - for the sake of me and my fellow British taxpayers - that 00 agents are enrolled into some kind of Air Miles scheme.
Even more than the distance covered, time is a massively important feature of this book. Double or Nothing flirted with flashbacks and A Spy Like Me wasfocused around ticking clocks, of the literal and metaphorical varieties. From a narrative point of view, Hurricane Room is by far the most ambitious Bond book of all time, flashing between time periods and perspectives to exhilarating - and sometimes devastating - effect.
Be warned: not everyone makes it to the end. Sherwood is ruthless when she has good reasons for killing her characters. But those who do survive get perfect codas. I really hope some of these characters have a life beyond the world of these three books, but if they don’t, at least we had all this time with them.
Double or Nothing
Coverage including review, interview with Kim and cocktail recipe: https://www.licencetoqueer.com/blog/double-or-nothing-pb
A Spy Like Me
Review of A Spy Like Me: https://www.licencetoqueer.com/blog/book-review-a-spy-like-me
Launch event (podcast recording of Q&A, recorded at DUKES Hotel, London) https://www.licencetoqueer.com/blog/poziyewcx26ep2ulz787su7mwblnop
Classified chats with Kim https://youtu.be/qnPHcd9xGSU?si=dFNpqj_i2R6MxNNE
Travelling with James Bond
This chat between Kim and me in front of a live audience is cited in the acknowledgments of Hurricane Room as an inspiration for part of the novel. When you’ve read the book, you’ll understand why!
