James Bond (Anthony Horowitz) Books in Order

Anthony Horowitz’s James Bond novels are continuation stories that aim to feel like classic 007, fast, stylish, and very much rooted in the Cold War mood. They’re written with the cooperation of the Ian Fleming estate, and they use Fleming’s world as a foundation rather than treating Bond like a modern superhero.

The first of Horowitz’s Bond books, Trigger Mortis, drops you into the aftermath of Goldfinger. Bond is back at work, facing a scheme with high stakes and a villain who feels like they walked out of the era’s headlines. The pacing is pure Bond: a briefing, a glamorous setting, a trap, and then a race to stop something much bigger than a personal grudge.

Then Forever and a Day goes backward to Bond’s earliest days as 007. It’s a prequel that shows Bond before the legend fully hardens, on a mission that forces him to improvise and learn what the job will cost him. It’s still action-forward, but there’s a little more attention to how Bond becomes Bond.

Bond is always working two cases at once, the one on the page and the one inside his head.

Horowitz keeps the familiar office world in view, too. M, Moneypenny, and the routines of the Service are part of the texture, along with the travel, the food, the cars, and the small details that make Bond feel specific rather than generic. The result is a story that feels “of the period” without needing you to do homework.

With With a Mind to Kill, Horowitz returns to the later part of Fleming’s timeline. The story plays with Bond’s place inside the Service and the question of loyalty, while keeping the signature ingredients, sharp set pieces, global travel, and a ticking-clock plot.

These books lean into the era’s style, which means vintage settings, old-school espionage, and some attitudes that come with the territory. Horowitz keeps the writing brisk and the action clean, so the stories still feel like modern thrillers even when the world around Bond looks mid-century.

You can read the novels in the order Horowitz published them, or choose based on what you want. Start with Forever and a Day if you want Bond’s early days, or start with Trigger Mortis if you want a straight continuation from the classic run. Either way, you’ll get a familiar version of Bond, with Horowitz’s tight plotting driving the engine.