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Double or Die

The third schoolboy supersleuth adventure

Charlie Higson | Author,

First published in 2007

Paperback, Audiobook

OVERVIEW

Kidnapping. Violence. Explosions. Murder. No ordinary weekend. But then, James Bond is no ordinary boy…

In a North London cemetery a professor is kidnapped at gunpoint. A suspicious letter crammed with cryptic clues arrives at Eton. To decipher the deadly mystery, James Bond must take a series of dangerous gambles. Once the code is cracked, he has just forty-eight hours to save the professor from the dark forces that threaten to destroy them both. And, if the professor can’t escape, it’s not only James’ future under threat. It’s the rest of the world’s.

PREVIEW

REVIEWS

‘A superbly wrought old-fashioned adventure about a kidnapped English boffin who leaves a twisting trail of cryptic clues in a letter, cranked up with heart-stopping action and climaxes and terrifying villains and people having their ears blown off. The novel barely stops to draw breath’

The Guardian

‘A surprisingly clever third entry in the series’

Alternative 007

‘As entertaining as its two predecessors, and is none the worse for its more down to earth locations. The baddies are ruthless and downright nasty, our heroes are plucky and resourceful and the girls are just as tough as the lads. This is a romp every bit as enjoyable and inventive as Fleming’s originals’

Crime Review

‘This is writing for children of the highest order’

The Spectator

‘Double-oh so good’

The Sunday Times

‘Unputdownable? Yes’

Newsround

CHARACTERS

Illustration of James Bond from the Young Bond book series. James is shown in his school running kit covered in mud doing a cross country run.

JAMES BOND IN DOUBLE OR DIE

After a gruelling series of events in Sardinia over the summer holidays, James has returned to the monotony of school life at Eton. However, the mysterious disappearance of a school master soon presents the opportunity for adventure and excitement he craves.

Perry Mandelville is a character from the Young Bond book series. Perry is shown here as a young man with blonde hair and white skin.

PERRY MANDEVILLE

Slightly older than James, Perry is the risk-taking, reckless, ever loyal head of the Danger Society, Eton’s secret club for James and his daredevil friends.

‘He was a big, gangling lad who was always in a state of fidgety excitement. He talked very fast, his mouth running ahead of his brain, so that his words tumbled over each other and fell out in a stammer. “Filthy day” he said. “Roll on Christmas, God rest ye m-merry gentlem-men and all that, I’ve had enough of school for one year, all this studying is m-making m-my brain ache. What did you want to talk to m-me about?”’

Alexis Fairburn, born Alexei Fyodorov is a character from Double Or Die, the Young Bond book. In this picture he is depicted as a white man with wild brown hair and a teachers jacket.

ALEXIS FAIRBURN

Alexis is the beak who runs the Eton Crossword Society, so beloved of James’s messmate Pritpal. Brilliant but absent minded and eccentric, the sudden announcement of his departure from school causes little surprise or concern to his fellow tutors, but Pritpal and James are immediately suspicious of his peculiar letter of resignation.

‘His heartbeat skipped and he felt a tingling in his scalp. He had lived a dull and secluded life with very little danger and nothing to disrupt the even flow of his days. He was experiencing a new emotion now, excitement. In a way, he was even enjoying it. He still had his brain. He must use it somehow to escape from his predicament. He was confident that he would think of something. There wasn’t a problem in the world that couldn’t be solved with brainpower.’

Illustration of Sir John Charnage, from Double Or Die. Sir John is depicted as a white man with dark hair.

SIR JOHN CHARNAGE

A wealthy friend of Alexis Fairburn’s from his days as a Cambridge University undergraduate, Sir John is heavily involved in the underworld of illegal gambling. His debonair exterior disguises more sinister motives.

‘”Bravo” said Charnage, raising an eyebrow. He was wearing a smoking jacket with a cravat loosely tied around his neck. He had a cigarette clamped between his teeth and held a glass of brandy in one hand. His other hand held his ivory-topped cane. He ran a finger along his thin moustache and looked at the boys with his sleepy brown eyes.’

Kelly Kelly is a character from Charlie Higson's Young Bond book Double or Die. Kitty is shown here as a young blonde girl with white skin and is holding a spiked bat as a weapon.

KELLY KELLY

The little sister of Red Kelly (James’s friend from his adventures at Loch Silverfin), Kelly Kelly is tough and wily, commanding respect of her fellow street-urchins as leader of the Monstrous Regiment.

‘In the centre was the ringleader. A girl of about of about James’s age. She had large brown eyes, set far apart in her broad heart-shaped face, and a wide, full mouth that seemed stuck in a mocking smile. Her hair was deep, dark red, and it flopped.’

Colonel Irina Sedova, codenamed Babushka, is a character from two Young Bond novels. Irina is shown here as a stocky white woman with a full Soviet military uniform and grey blonde hair.

COLONEL IRINA SEDOVA

Despite her plain, peasant like appearance, the Colonel is a ruthless killer used to giving orders at the highest level within the Soviet machine.

‘”And who’s the woman?” asked James. “Is she one of them?”
“She’s running the whole thing for Menzhinsky” said Fairburn. “Colonel Irina Sedova, but they call her Babushka, the Grandmother. She might look harmless but she’s the worst of the lot.”’