In the bang-up second volume of Sherwood's Double O trilogy (after Double or Nothing), James Bond is still missing in action--and that's the least of MI6's worries. After a bombing in London nearly kills Dodger Macintyre, Agent 008, the quantum AI program known as Q determines that exorbitant auctions at Sotheby's often presage such terrorist attacks by six days, with the winning bids funneled to Rattafänger, the ruthless military contractor suspected of kidnapping 007, in a potential money laundering scheme. Double O head Moneypenny recruits cat burglar Rachel Wolff to infiltrate the facility where the last suspicious haul originated and relay any notable discoveries. Meanwhile, Johanna Harwood--Agent 003--embarks on a determined mission to rescue Bond, despite being deemed psychologically unfit for duty after her fiancé's death. As she searches, she comes to fear a mole within MI6 may be hindering her progress. Sherwood delivers all the hallmarks of a Bond novel, including a complex plot replete with double-crossing and exotic settings, plenty of Easter eggs for Ian Fleming fans, crackling prose ("He begins to edge up the mountainside, keeping to the bushes, his steps light as wishes"), and a jaw-dropping conclusion. Readers will be on tenterhooks until the final installment. Agent: Viola Hayden, Curtis Brown U.K. (Apr.)

In Sherwood's Double or Nothing (2022), James Bond went missing, leaving MI6 scrambling to neutralize a terrorist threat without its best 00 agent. In this sequel, agents 000 and 004 are following the money trail, trying to find out who's financing the terrorist organization, while 003--the brilliant Johanna Harwood--has been placed on extended medical leave after experiencing a personal tragedy in the previous book. Sitting around doing nothing isn't Johanna's style, however, so she embarks on an entirely unsanctioned personal mission: to find James Bond. This modern-day approach to the world of Bond takes familiar characters and story elements and does new and rather wonderful things with them. Moneypenny is here, for example, but she's running the Double 0 agents, and the character of Q has been seriously re-designed. This familiar-but-new world of Bond is precisely detailed and beautifully imagined, and Bond fans will certainly love the book even if their favorite super-spy is not the focus of the story.