Quantum of Menace, Vaseem Khan

I'd been looking forward to this one, something a bit on the softer side after a period of some hefty social commentary style undertakings, the opening salvo in a series built around "Q" from the James Bond franchise. In this introduction, after being unexpectedly ousted from MI6, he finds himself back in his quiet, very English hometown of Wickstone-on-Water, a bit lost and directionless. But the mysterious death of his childhood friend, and renowned quantum computer scientist, Peter Naper, who left behind a very cryptic note, sees Q / Major Boothroyd compelled to investigate in the face of a somewhat lacklustre verdict of suicide by the police.

Sounds intriguing, and it quite possibly is, once you get past a lot of other issues. I mean you can forgive the idea that people are trying to keep something as successful as the Bond Franchise going, but a cosy murder mystery? A story which includes, for reasons I never did quite fathom, a robot assistant called Honeypenny, a pet dog called Bastard (was that meant to be titillating - we had a cat called Black Bastard for years when I was a kid - not titillating at all - accurate / the damn thing was a leap out of the bushes biter), and the endless reminiscences about James Bond - like we'd forgotten who Q is and therefore needed to be reminded of the whole special agent schtick. 

All of that possibly could have been put down to a bit of light entertainment / distraction though, if it also didn't come with the whole Major Boothroyd / Q thing. I mean everyone - from an ex-fiancee to his own father, referred to Boothroyd as "Q". School friends, people in his hometown - everyone. Constantly. And then there's the whole thing of everyone and his pony knowing all about their famous MI6 resident and his 30 year secret service career - Official Secrets Act anybody?

By now you're probably getting the feeling that I'm heading for a denouncement of this novel, and I will admit it was a rare DNF for me - I really really tried to finish this but you know what it's like. When you start noticing the dust build up, you have at some stage, to admit defeat. At some point I do hope the series decides what it wants to be - a light fluffy entertainment cosy, or a spy novel. I do hope that Q finally decides who he is and stops faffing about somewhere in the middle of the early movie and original book character interpretations, and maybe has a chance to give some thought to that whole "national security" thing. 

When I say DNF I did make it to just over half way, and things did seem to be finding a form and direction, once Q joins forces with the local constabulary, and it got stuck into forming a more Midsomer Murders / Poirot / Baby Ganesh feel and structure.

Would I try another novel in this "Q" franchise? Probably have a look, but I'm not sure I'd break land speed records in getting to it.