“Pay attention, 007…”

For decades, Major Boothroyd – Q – had been head of the research and development arm of MI6 – Q Branch – arming their agents for their missions to put the world to rights, no matter what method they used. In particular, arming the Double 0 agents. In particular, agent 007. You might have heard of him.

But Q has been retired by the new M, the head of MI6, and is struggling to find his place in the world when he receives a letter from his childhood best friend, Pete Napier. A scientist working on creating the ultimate quantum computer. A scientist who has been found drowned in the river in Q’s old hometown.

Convinced that his friend wouldn’t have killed himself – or died by accident – Q decides it’s time to finally go home. But there are ghosts to bury there – and people who are more than happy to bury him…

Let’s face it, no one in their right mind would actually want to be James Bond – it’s far too dangerous and heaven knows where some of those women have been – but Q? The brains behind the operation. Well, that’s a different matter.

Time for some fascinating trivia – Q never appears in the books. He and Q branch do get mentioned, but it’s the films where he actually appears. It’s later novels by John Gardner and Raymond Benson who decide that Major Boothroyd from the Dr No novel is, in fact, Q, although the character is played by someone other than Desmond Llewelyn, the actor most associated with the role of Q. And he’s stated that Major Boothroyd was a different character, not just a change of actor. Oh, and in other official works, there are a bunch of other Qs. So it looks to me like Vaseem Khan, when asked to write a Q novel – well, from this, the first in a series of Q novels – had a pretty free hand with the character.

So this Q has retired while still having good years left in him, has buried himself in MI6 and now finds himself a little lost, He’s adopted a dog – named Bastard as that’s all his previous abusive owner used to shout at him – but when he hears from his old friend, he is determined to sort things out. As he investigates, we learn more about the man who is/was Q, apart from his first name. At the end of the day, he’s a good man, but not exactly equipped to deal with criminal gangs and international conspiracies. Or an ex-girlfriend from decades ago.

Shall we start with the minor issue? I did think that too many people were happy to call our hero “Q” to avoid revealing his name. It is a title from a secret government agency, after all, and there’s a new Q now (and I did like the bit when they meet that the new Q practically hero-worships the old one. Quite right too).

That’s it, that’s the moan. The rest of the book – well, all of it really – is fantastic. I’ve seen it described as a cross between international spy caper and village whodunnit, and you know what, it is. And it works. It really works.

The story feels real and current, with its characters who have history in areas of conflict, such as Syria, to the threat posed by someone creating the ultimate quantum computer. We aren’t talking satellites with laser beams here, we’re talking about a threat that is utterly convincing and, I’ll be honest, a tad scary.

“He imagined trying to explain quantum mechanics to Bond. Bond would want to know if he could use it to blow someone’s head off at fifty paces. Or undo a bra.”

Q is a brilliant character, along with the entire cast, to be honest. I liked the police team (one of whom is Q’s one true love, possibly) and the players in the mystery all felt like real people. Khan even manages to humanise, through Q’s eyes, Bond as we hear stories of their past encounters. The Bond we see through Q’s recollections is at least 90% Connery, in case you were wondering. I’m slightly surprised that the Fleming estate allowed Khan to insert… something… into Q’s backstory at MI6, but it could add a drop of tension the next time he runs into Bond. If he ever dared tell him…

The mystery element is very well done – not massively clued, but very satisfying, especially one particular reveal. I’d recommend not reading any other reviews for this – there’s one thing that happens late on that every newspaper review, despite being only 100 words long, still manages to feel the need to spoil.

All in all, this is a hugely enjoyable read, with something for everyone, and everything for some people. And best of all, based on the epilogue, I’m delighted that Q will return… in The Man With The Golden Compass. And I can’t wait!

Quantum of Menace is out this Thursday, October 23rd in hardback and ebook. Many thanks for the review copy from Zaffre via NetGalley.