“
Solo never fails to keep the reader on the edge of his chair. . . . Boyd is a brilliant storyteller and the interwoven plots and surprises of
Solo are often superior to Fleming’s own narrative stunts.” (
The Daily Beast)
“A light, slick, sinuous adventure. . . . Though Boyd’s iteration of the character owes something to Graham Greene’s moral melancholy, Fleming’s Bond remains recognizable. So does the excellent pacing:
Solo feels so quick that it could already be a movie.” (
USA Today)
“Boyd has immersed himself in the character, the author and his oeuvre and come up with an adventure that’s triumphantly the equal of the great Bond adventures. . . . A brilliant imitation that’s occasionally superior to the prototype.” (
Robert McCrum, The Guardian)
“Boyd brings back the real Bond, triumphantly. . . . A formidable literary achievement. . . . It succeeds wonderfully.” (
The Daily Mail)
“A perfectly judged narrative tempo . . . . The action is expertly plotted. . . .
Solo’s true literary craft lies in the subtlety of its correspondences and also the suspenseful quality that keeps us on our toes until the closing pages. Mission accomplished.” (
The Financial Times)
“Breathtaking. . . . Boyd manages to enrich and refresh a character we thought we knew too well. . . . A terrific twisting thriller. . . . A tremendous Bond story.” (
The Sunday Times)
“A compulsively readable thriller, replicating the cocktail of ingredients that got Fleming’s readers hooked and yet to let the cracks in the fantasy figure show through. A thoroughly rewarding, entertaining and ultimately thought provoking fix.” (
GQ)
“Nearly a century on, Boyd proves that there are plenty of pages left in 007’s passport. I doubt his creator could have done it better.” (
Olen Steinhauer, The New York Times Book Review)
“An exhilarating tightrope of a tale that’s also just retro enough to conjure the original books. . . . Boyd adroitly captures the postcolonial atmosphere of West Africa with a Graham Greene-like eye for detail. . . . Boyd has rendered his Bond perfectly.” (
Valerie Plame, O magazine)
“The prose of Boyd is frankly superior to that of Fleming. . . . A bloody good thriller. A triumph.” (
The Observer)
“
Solo includes faint echoes of Joseph Conrad, whose stories of adventure, intrigue and espionage are deeply infused with a sense of moral inquiry and consequence. . . . A Bond novel but also a Boyd one, with richer and deeper concerns coursing alongside the Flemingesque flourishes that should keep fans satisfied, as well.” (
The Washington Post)
“William Boyd understands his man very well. . . . This is Bond done right.” (
The Atlantic)
“Boyd’s prose is crisp and clean, and the story fairly ricochets through its twists and turns as Bond zips from London to Africa and on to the US. Fans of the original Fleming novels will find much to enjoy.” (
The Irish Times)