Silverfin by Charlie Higson

This is the first book in the "Young Bond" series, and I gave it a rating of five out of five. James Bond attends school at Eton where he has a few run-ins with a bully named George Hellebore. James goes to his aunt's house for Easter break where he runs into George and his father, again. It turns out that Mr. Hellebore is doing some secret experiments in a nearby castle, and James breaks into the castle to find out what's going on. It turns out that Mr. Hellebore is hoping to combine eel hormones with humans to create a perfect soldier. He is ready to move on to human subjects, and James seems to be a perfect specimen after he's captured.

I grew up with the James Bond movies, so it took me a while to get over the anticipation of secret weapons and spy organizations. It's not that type of book, although it has quite a bit of adventure and intrigue. I enjoyed the multiple levels of conflict (bullies, a dying uncle, the crazy scientist), and the fact that James didn't possess any superpowers. He was an adventurous kid who stumbled onto a problem that might affect the whole world. Simple, right? The ongoing threat of killer eels was an unusual twist.