Raymond Benson is known for writing the continuation James Bond novels, so when I picked up this, his first non-Bond book, I expected a tightly crafted fast moving mystery thriller. I wasn't disappointed. But what did surprise me was how darkly moving EVIL HOURS was as a neo-noir crime drama. I've heard other reviewers liken this book to Twin Peaks, and while I do see similarities, I think that's selling this book a bit short. I was reminded more of intense real-life crime dramas like The Onion Field and The Thin Blue Line. Benson's masterful use of detail makes the book so believable that, by the end, it has evolved from a mystery thriller into something that's very tragic and profound. And darn right creepy in a "this-only-happens-in-real-life" sort of way. The emotional reality of the book is what sets it apart from other thrillers by better-known authors, and what makes it surpasses even Benson's Bond books as a work of fiction (suggesting a bright future for Benson after Bond). By the end of this book -- with the ultimate revelation and CHILLING reenactment of the crime -- I found myself creeped-out and moved at the same time. Wild. This book was a real experience and one I would recommend highly, especially if you're a fan of character driven true-life crime. It would also make a terrific film.

Raymond Benson, author of the recent James Bond novels, has given us something completely different: a novel that reminds me of that movie "Lone Star" or similar-- it takes place in a small Texas town and is the story about a murder, or a mystery of a murder, and how one woman searches for the truth about what happened. The narrative is interesting, moving back and forth from the present to the past, and slowly revelations are unravelled. I found it to be haunting, moody, and compelling.

Raymond Benson's James Bond Bedside Companion provides an excellent analysis of the entire James Bond series, including the films and the novels. This edition was originally released in 1988, and it has not been updated to the present. As a result, some of the information is quite dated. Of most notable development is the fact that Raymond Benson himself has since taken over as the author of the James Bond literary series.

Nonetheless, this is overall, an informative work. Benson provides a chapter on Ian Fleming's background. Of particular note is a chapter in which Benson pieces together the biography of the James Bond character. This is reminiscent of John Pearson's Unauthorized Biography of James Bond. Benson provides an excellent analysis of the James Bond novels. He identifies trends in Ian Fleming's writing nad points to specific examples of what he calls the "Fleming Effect." For hard core fans of the novels this section is excellent. Benson includes analysis of the works of Ian FLeming, Kingsley Amis, and John Gardner. Curiously, many of the apparent criticisms that Benson had of Gardner's work, he is guilty of committing in his own novels. The film analysis is also excellent. Benson provides detailed analysis of every film through the Living Daylights.

It should be noted that this book will probably not be of much appeal to the casual James Bond fan. Benson tries to provide an in depth analysis rather than focusing on the superficial. Of distraction to the hard core fan, are occasional factual errors that appear to be the result of sloppy editing. Additionally, the quality of the text and photos is generally poor. The formatting of the text is somewhat erratic with occasional omissions of glaringly obvious punctuation. The photos are all black & white. The photos are generally blurred. This appear to be the result of poor printing.

Overall, the quality of the author's analysis is generally educational and informative. However, the production of the actual book borders on shoddy. An excellent reference work for the hardcore fan, but if you're looking for color photos of Bond girls and gadgets, then you should look elsewhere.

If you're a fan of the movies or books but haven't ever read anything about them, this is the place to start. If you have read lots of other stuff, but not this, shame on you. You'll still learn a lot from The James Bond Bedside Companion, and you'll find that it is THE essential guide to all things Bond, books and films, all in one place. I have just about everything ever published on Bond in English (and that's a lot of books), and this is the one that I'll pull off the shelf first if I want to look things up. Every Bond fan should own it.

If you want only one book for your collection on the bond series this is it!! A masterpiece volume with great research and colorful themes by MR. Benson. My children are now reading this book and watch a Bond movie each month and refer to this book for details/information. Its great that this out of print book is available again for all to enjoy!! BOND JAMES BOND

I don't normally read "books of the film" but after reading Benson's other two original Bond novels ("Zero Minus Ten" and "The Facts of Death") I decided to give this a try. I did not care much for the film. Benson, however, must have added his own bits (unless they were dropped from the final film) which made the book much more entertaining than the movie. The characters were more fleshed out and the plot made more sense. Not as top-notch as Benson's two original books, but still a surisingly good read. Well done!

Raymond Benson really makes the story and characters of "Tomorrow Never Dies" his own in this adaptation of the script. He adds tons of background information on the rather thin characters from the movie, including a wonderful chapter introducing Wai Lin, the Michelle Yeoh character. (It makes you wish EON would let him write a novel just about her!) Compare this book to "Goldeneye," a novelization written by John Gardner. Gardner just went through the motions, didn't inject any style or substance into the script, did your basic awful movie adaptation. Benson, on the other hand, goes above and beyond and makes a wonderful book out of the script. In my opinion, very few novelizations are worth reading. This one is an exception. It adds to and embellishes on the movie. Read it!

It is rare that a movie/novel tie-in matches the movie's quality. Action scenes don't usually translate well and obvious plot holes and inconsistencies become more apparent than ever. Raymond Benson's Tomorrow Never Dies adaptation is an exception. Using the framework scripted by Bruce Feirstein, Benson pulls off an in-depth, intriguing, action-packed novel that actually surpasses the movie it is based on. One of my main problems with the movie was the total lack of character development for the main characters. Stamper, Elliot Carver, Paris Carver, and Wai Lin all had little to no background which made them seem fake and uninteresting. With Benson's version, they all have detailed histories and are far more intriguing people to read about than they were to watch on the screen. Wai Lin, for instance, had an entire chapter devoted to her in the beginning. It detailed her involvement with the Chinese People's External Security Force, her training, her skills, and many other facets of her life that made her a real person. Her relationship with Bond is also much more realistic. From their first meeting at Carver's party, there is sexual tension between the two. Later in the novel, there is a mixture of mutual admiration and trust. Inevitably this leads to lust, but even that is done tastefully. Benson also fleshed out one of the biggest questions left in my mind after seeing Tomorrow Never Dies: just who was General Chang and what was his purpose. In the movie he was seen for about five seconds and talked about briefly. In the novel we learn that he was a high-ranking official who, before he defected, stole a large amount of stealth material. This is what Wai Lin was investigating when she went to Carver's party and met Bond. It was later revealed that he was working for Carver, not with. All these facts would have made the movie far more interesting. Another issue I had was in regards to Stamper. He came across as an inhuman freak that enjoyed pain. With no more background this seemed ridiculous; however, the novel reveals that his pain and pleasure sensors were actually reversed. As a boy, he was hired to kill Carver's real father whom he did with a sick pleasure. Ten years later he becomes Elliot's henchman and almost his child. Again, with more development, the character of Stamper works. By using the screenplay merely as an outline, Benson is able to create a novel that seems like it was never a movie. The plot is exactly the same as the movie, but much of the dialogue has been changed, as have the action scenes. The BMW car and motorcycle chases are still in there, but their content has been changed. Benson also took quite a few creative licenses and added fight sequences while cutting others; for example, Bond dukes it out with Stamper on top of the speeding Sea Dolphin II. Finally, the novel cuts out much of the in-poor-taste innuendoes that filled the movie. What results is a witty, well-paced novel with far sharper dialogue than its cinematic counterpart. Very well done! Power to the Bond fans!!!!!!!!

Raymond Benson has done a superb job with his own Bond series,combining the modern film Bond with the classic Fleming Bond.(its a shame that it appears that he won't be doing anymore)His novels are all fast paced entertaining reads.His novelisations of the Brosnan series have almost always improved on the movies-adding alot of character moments as well as a great deal of depth and dimension to the villians.This one,however,reads like a great action movie.The pace is relentless as it is basically one giant action scene after another following a shocking beginning where we see 007 as we have never seen him before.Now as a movie this will be alot of fun to see but as a novel it seems to be over much too quickly(I finished it in a day). The character moments Benson usually puts in his own series were few and far between because of the incredible pace of the story . While this works on film you end up missing these moments on the printed page and waiting for a little break in the action.That being said,this is filled with one incredible scene after another.In fact,you end up smiling and cheering just as you would in the movies.The action sequences are all original and exciting and 007 is better than ever...coming through the most harrowing experience he has ever been through on film.If this plays out as written it will easily be Brosnans best Bond film to date.Benson captures the feelings of a "Bond movie on paper" perfectly.This may not have the depth of his original stories but it has all the fun of the movies.
If this is his last Bond novel he has gone out in style.

Raymond Benson has been a Bond fan for years. That being said, Benson took the film's script and elevated the material to a point where it at least has plausibility and some style perhaps out of respect to the memory of Ian Fleming. Also, the focus in the novel is on James Bond, not computer generated stunts (that's rather hard to do in a book any way you look at it). This is a great improvement over the various plot elements and this time out they work. I was pleased that we got something good out of this last Bond movie.

Raymond Benson returns with quite possibly some of his best writing ever! After the okay-good The Man With The Red Tattoo, he returns to write Die Another Day in a superb style of description, action and nonstop 007 adventure! Rumors are flying that he may be giving up his role as the 007 author, if it is true he leaves with a bang.

Die Another day begins with Bond in Korea to disrupt the evil Colonel Moon and his henchman Zao. They are purchasing diamonds and have a great deal of deadly machinery in his demilitarized zone. Bond infiltrates the zone to result in a explosion of diamond shrapnel scarring Zao's face and a deadly chase with Colonel Moon of hovercrafts over a minefield. Bond is captured by General Moon, (the colonel's father and is held responsible for his death. A year passes by with Bond in a tortured state being traded for freedom with Zao. M meets Bond and tells him of her dissapointment in him. Bond then searches for Zao down in Cuba and meets NSA agent Jinx. Bond discovers that Zao has been under gene therapy to alter his face in a clinic on a nearby island. Bond traces the island to a one Gustav Graves, an eccentric millionaire that owns diamonds and has a local ice palace in Iceland. Bond challenges Graves to fencing in the Blades Club, where Bond wins and meets the ultra-cool icy princess Miranda Frost, Graves personal assistant. Bond is equipped by Q and sent out to Iceland by M. While in Iceland Bond meets up with Jinx and discovers the Gustav Graves has created the ultrapowerful satellite Icarus, which canharness the Sun's power. He later confronts Graves where he makes a startling discovery that Miranda Frost(while earlier claiming to be a British agent) is now against Bond. A magnificent chase enthralls with Zao, Graves and Frost running Bond down. Jinx and Bond discover that Colonel Moon is in fact Gustav Graves the same person. Jinx and Bond find out that Graves is going to destroy his demilitarized zone with the Icarus in order for the takeover of all nearby countries to make Korea an unstoppable power. Bond kills Zao in the ice palace and rescues the stranded Jinx, where they aboard Graves plane to stop the crazy Korean. Jinx and Miranda Frost break out into a exciting thrilling fencing fight with Frost succumbing to the sword of Jinx. Bond and Graves battle on the now crashing plane, where Graves is killed by being pulled into the planes wing. Bond and Jinx escape via helicoptor aboard the plane. Meanwhile we are allowed to see thanks to the 3-D machine the ultimate fantasy of Moneypenny to love James Bond. Bond and Jinx safely land in a temple where the story ends.

Raymond Benson has truly written a masterpiece here. All bond fans will love the exciting tale of James Bond 007!

As a long time 007 fan, I have just re-read all of Raymond Benson's Bond novels in the proper order and have some reflections on his entire series through "Never Dream of Dying." First of all, Benson is not Ian Fleming and readers should get past that expectation before beginning. He's not John Gardner, either (thank goodness!). That said, I believe Benson has come the closest to Ian Fleming of all the post-Fleming writers in that he has truly captured the essence of Bond's character and the universe in which 007 operates. It is a fantasy spy world, not based in reality, just as Fleming's was, but like Bond's creator, Benson keeps the main character very human. Benson's Bond makes mistakes, shows fear, feels pain, and is melancholy much of the time. At the same time, Benson has brought in many elements of the Bond film series (I have read an interview with him that states that he and the Ian Fleming Estate agreed that this would be the approach to take). Therefore, Benson's Bond is a mixture of the cinematic and literary Bonds, and for me, this works splendidly. I have seen some fans object to this or that but it seems to me that these fans are not getting past personal expectations. Bond is many things to many people. Benson, a long time Bond scholar and author of the excellent "James Bond Bedside Companion" knows his stuff. He has nailed the Bond character. Some have complained about his writing style. Benson is no Fleming, as stated earlier, but his style is succinct and easy to read. His books flow quickly and are highly entertaining. "ZERO MINUS TEN": Benson's first book has one of his best plots, but it suffers slightly from being a "first novel." His writing is at its weakest here, but that said, ZMT is a wonderful Bond story. It is very Fleming-esque with its Hong Kong location, characters like Guy Thackeray and T. Y. Woo and Li Xu Nan, and its descriptions of food, mahjong, and Triads. When reading ZMT, one is immediately aware that this is a harder-edged and darker Bond than perhaps what we are used to. For a first effort, it is very, very good. "THE FACTS OF DEATH": Benson's second book is more film-like, it feels like an EON Productions movie story. The plot is more "fantastic" in that it deals with a secret criminal organization called the Decada that is run by a crazy mastermind. The writing is improved, though, and in many ways this is a more entertaining book than ZMT. What is especially interesting is Benson's development of the "M" character and her relationship with Bond. "HIGH TIME TO KILL": My personal favorite of the bunch. This is a classic Bond novel in every sense of the word. The first half is fairly predictable cinematic-Bond stuff, except for a very Fleming-esque opening and 2nd chapter golf match. The second half, however, shows Benson hitting his stride and finding his own voice with a truly original departure from what is expected. As Bond and companions climb one of the highest peaks in the Himalayas, the action becomes more like an "Into Thin Air"-type story. It's authentic spy-stuff amidst an environment that is cruel and harsh. This is a thrilling, un-put-downable book. "DOUBLESHOT": Another departure from the norm, as Benson appears to be experimenting with the structure of a Bond novel with this one. The first chapter is the ending of the book told from the different perspectives of several characters. The rest of the story begins in the past and catches up to the ending, and by then we are hooked. In this story, Bond is not well, he is injured, he is not working at full capacity, and this is what is interesting. "Doubleshot" is the middle book of a loose trilogy (beginning with "High Time to Kill") and it is darker and more introspective than the others. Some fans apparently didn't get it, but in many ways, this is Benson's most courageous book. "NEVER DREAM OF DYING": Another great one, right up there with "High Time to Kill," in terms of glueing a reader to the page. It's an excellent plot, tying up the trilogy that Benson began in HTTK. In this book, one can see the blending of the cinematic and literary Bonds more than in any other entry-- a lot of the action is very movie-like, while the storyline and characterizations are more like the Fleming novels. The moods and settings are the best that Benson has done, and the love interest is perhaps his strongest. The real stroke of brilliance in the book is what the author has done with the character of Bond's father in law. A very engaging book. My five-star review is based on Benson's series as a whole. Each book may not be a 5-star book on its own, but I don't think any of them are less than 4. Benson has put his mark on the Bond literary series. Fans who don't like him tend to focus on one or two aspects of what he does-- his writing style, his dependence on the cinematic elements, whatever... I feel that they're not seeing the forest for the trees. In my humble opinion, Raymond Benson has brought new life to the series and I hope he continues the books a long, long time.

In this new Bond adventure, Bond partners up with French Agent (I'm not sure) Mathis to take down the Union once and for all, an organization who stops at nothing just to make trouble, by taking down their blind, but dangerous boss, Le Gerant. This book, as I would say, is the sequel to Benson's books High Time To Kill and Doubleshot, and he's successfully ended this trilogy. From beginning to end, I couldn't stop reading this book. Benson may not write like Fleming or Gardner, but he writes an even better Bond. His books have more action and suspense. Although, this may be a little disappointing for Bond fans since the story is not as classic like Goldfinger and Dr. No, but anyone who likes something with action, love, and is in need for a book this summer should be looking into this book before they skip this. Overall, it's Benson at his best.

I read "Never Dream of Dying" in two short days. I couldn't put it down. More than the other "continuation" authors, Raymond Benson captures the spirit of Ian Fleming's James Bond. He doesn't write like Fleming, but somehow he nails Fleming's character. The plot here is a thrilling conclusion to the "Union trilogy" (which began in "High Time to Kill and continued in "Doubleshot") but you don't need to have read those two to enjoy this one. Le Gerant is a great villain, and "Never Dream of Dying" boasts some terrific locations in Cannes and Corsica. It would make a great film, if only EON Productions would wake up and pay attention.

Based on the new James Bond film, Raymond Benson takes up on Bond once again. This time, the story really stays pretty straight with the movie, only providing a bit more than the film. It contains some background information of Elektra/Renard, and what happens in the past, etc., but it isn't too much. Unlike Tomorrow Never Dies:A Novel, TWINE is not adding much to the film. Basically, if you saw the film and you are a little wishy-washy on reading a Bond book or having to read the what you saw on film, you probably don't need to buy this. However, if you're an avid Bond fan or would still want to take up on a Bond book, it's still a good read. If you see the movie first, it becomes easier to imagine the scenes. Raymond Benson has written better Bond novels than this, however, so make your choice more warily.

I am on record as trashing High Time to Kill (see reviews for that book) along with vowing to wait for the Benson novels in paperback (if not used papaerback). Well, I bought this paperback new and would have paid for a hard cover of this story's quality. Benson is terrific on this novelization. I'm sure there is a lot of extra info that will clarify parts of the movie when I see it. The rumored "airhead" personality of Christmas Jones does not come through in the book and I was afraid that the return to "sexpot" Bond girls would send the modernized Bond into a tailspin. One especially bright point is the meatier role for M. I think Benson likes writing her and it shows. For fans who haven't followed every plot point posted on the web, I'm sure there will be more than a few surprises. The plot-Bond is assigned to bodyguard Elektra King, the daughter of a recently-assassinated oil magnate. Elektra has already been the target of kidnappers led by the villainous Renard, a terrorist who has no pain center. (Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think a "painless" killer was written into the Tomorrow Never Dies plot, but was scrapped after the novelizatioon had already been written) Great gadgets, great plot, great girls,a surprise development with M, and an atomic bomb stolen from a foremer Soviet Republic make for an exciting and riveting thriller.

I read the novelization of "Tomorrow Never Dies" before reading this. The thing I noticed with Benson is that in his novelizations he writes in third-person omniscent, allowing the reader to not only visualize everything, but know what the characters are thinking, which can obviously not be done in the movies. I had some of the movie before reading the book. After I read the book, however, I saw the movie and it made a lot more sense.

Benson's third Bond book takes a slightly different twist on the standard Bond adventure. Gone is the old formula and what remains is an author finding a comfortable writing style that reminds one of Fleming, while still being new and enjoyable.

Just like all the earlier Bond books, HTTK is a quick read, never really slowing pace too much. The first half of the book is a typically good Bondian adventure, but once the locale changes to Nepal, the book changes to a slower pace. Benson takes you inside Bond in a way that Gardner was never able to do. Bond's general dislike for parts of his job are felt, and his cold ruthlessnes shows why he survives.

In my opinion the only flaw to Benson's newest book is the uncomfortable discriptions from many of Bond's companions. Some seem to be little more than a recorded playing of a tourist book. Fleming could always get inside what makes a location tick, while Benson is just not there yet. Yet along side this criticism, I must say that I enjoyed the Doctor's talk about the hazzards of mountain climbing.

Although many will criticize Benson as being an amateur, his Bond books are well plotted and believeable. I look forward to the rest of the trilogy and wish Benson luck with his growth as a writer. While HTTK is an experiment in the 'Bond' style, it is much more succesful than anything Gardner tried, or Fleming's The Spy Who Loved Me.

CHris

I've always thought that Trevanian's "Eiger Sanction" would have made a halfway-decent Bond book. As in "Eiger", there are people getting whacked left-and-right despite the fact that a mountain climb in the Himalayas is enough risk as it is. While Bond is looking for valuable defense files stolen from Her Majesty's govenment and then lost when the thieves' plane crashes on the mountain, the thieves have an inside man in Bond's team. Not content with that, there are competing teams as well. One interesting character is a Ghurka soldier working with Bond who turns out to be one of the best right-hand-men 007 has had since Dr. No's Quarrel. This man is a very personable, philosophical sort of guy. Apparently Benson has done some research here on Nepalese and Ghurka folkways. Unfortunately, the bad guys (known as "The Union") are a SPECTRE ripoff--they don't have much new to offer as an adversary. Except for the features on Bond's car (only featured in the opening chapters and already here from a previous book anyway), the gadgetry here is more subtle--personal devices aimed more towards convenience for the user than gee-whiz flash--I wouldn't be surprised if some of that stuff actually exists. The films have always been a bit too gear-happy, and Benson successfully resists overdoing that in his books.

Raymond Benson continues to improve on his already amazing depiction of James Bond and his unique world. The characters of Bond and his associates and their relationships to one another ring abosolutely true. The warmth and the humour has never felt more natural. These probably aren't the words you expect to read about a 007 novel, well don't worry there are plenty of explosions, chases, fights etc. But this is not your typical Bond plot. This one is more personal, with charactes we care about, so the danger feels more real and more exciting. Benson succeeds in keeping Ian Fleming's Bond absolutely faithful, while at the same time putting his own indelible stamp on the series. The second half of this novel is a departure from the frenetic pacing of most Bond plots. I really enjoyed the expedition setting, and learned a lot. It was fun to feel the tension building chapter by chapter. Just when you think you know where you stand, Mr. Benson throws you a curve and you realize you are no longer sure of anything at all. An extended epilogue to the action adds a macabre twist. You've never read a Bond book like this one, but I assure you, you'll be very glad you did!

ZERO MINUS TEN is Benson's first Bond novel and it's quite good. I particularly enjoyed the lengthy description of the Mahjong game, Bond's ordeal in the Australian outback, and that fact that his villain is kind of a drunk. Iove read and re-read all the Fleming and Gardner Bond books, ... Benson really knows his Bond. But if you're looking to just sample a Benson/Bond, I recommend you leap right to his third book, HIGH TIME TO KILL, which is his best so far. Then, if you get hooked, continue through his "Union Trilogy" with the next book DOUBLESHOT, then pick up the concluding chapter this summer (as far as I know it's called NEVER DREAM OF DYING, but this could change). Then come back and read ZERO MINUS TEN and THE FACTS OF DEATH which are equally good.

It's been a long time, but what we have here is the best of the non-Fleming Bond books, surpassing John Gardner's first effort, License Renewed and Kingley Amis' pastiche, Colonel Sun. The only rule that Raymond Benson seems to have followed was to write a Bond adventure he, a great Bond fan himself, would want to read.

With a stylistic nod to Ian Fleming, Benson allows Bond to follow a complicated trail of conspiracy through Macao mah-jhong parlors, Hong Kong triad rituals, corrupt echelons in the People's Liberation Army, a trek through the Australian outback, until finally reaching a moment of truth just as Britain is handing over Hong Kong to the Chinese.

The loyal Bond fan will be delighted to find that Benson has done his homework. He has Fleming's journalistic eye for detail and successfully recreates the noted "Fleming effect" of verisimilitude despite some rather outlandish situations.

Having visited Hong Kong on several occasions, I can state that he nailed the detail and the atmosphere of several locations, including the Chinnery Bar in the Mandarin Oriental--just the sort of clubby place that Fleming would have loved.

The whole book injects a freshness into the character and the series of novels, which, quite frankly, were growing stale under Gardner's stewardship.

Benson remains true to the character, provides some great villains and action set-pieces, sexy women and at least two terrific physical ordeals for 007.

Zero minus Ten is great fun, especially for Bond enthusiasts. Not to be missed.

This book is Raymond Benson's gift to James Bond fans. Long time expert and James Bond scholar, Raymond Benson produces and exciting novel that has at it's heart a richly drawn character study of the real James Bond, as created and developed by Ian Fleming. James Bond lives and breathes again. The plot is first rate too, set mostly in Hong Kong just days before the British handover of the colony to the Chinese. Mr. Benson takes us from the elite of Hong Kong society to HK's steamy underbelly and fascinatingly depicts the triad and tong societies. Though Mr. Benson puts his own stamp on the series, this is a novel I feel Ian Fleming would have been proud of.

This is Raymond Benson's fourth stab at a blond novel and it's bad. It's bad like the three before. And it's probably as bad as the countless that will come after it.

Given the massive success of the recent Bond films with Pierce Brosnan, I'm puzzled why Glidrose chose to dumb the franchise down and ignore any chance of a bigger market? 007 is a brand name icon, so why didn't they try and get bigger and hire a more high-profile writer?

Maybe Bond has become too cinematic. Nevertheless, for some reason that I may understand one day, Glidrose asked Raymond Benson to write. Not a writer, Benson was more like the biggest James Bond super-nerd fan club president.

Doubleshot suffers the same wounds of all Benson efforts. The man can't write--he can't put together different elements of a story in any kind of enjoyable order. We know he does extensive research because he basically describes the vacation he took to research the place. He's incapable of weaving suspense, character development (Bond behaves very, very stupidly in this entry, I'm beginning to worry) or action into all of the settings he describes.

Doubleshot gives Benson a chance to blab on about all he knows about bullfighting. Wonderful, I feel enlightened now. No opinion has Benson, whereas Fleming made known what Bond liked and did not like. Benson is so contrived that the new Bond books can't be considered on any sort of serious level, even as comic books. They're just...there.

There is no doubt that John Gardner was a better writer. Sure, Gardner didn't really like Bond nor have a particular reverence for the character, but at least his writing was smooth and professional. Benson couldn't fill Fleming's shorts. Fleming was a guy who did what he wanted to do and enjoyed life, dropping dead in his fifties with a massive heart attach brought on by smoking, drinking, heavy food, and just being manly.

Raymond Benson, in the many interviews he's done and the many articles about him, does not strike me as a very wild and crazy guy. He looks like he once drove his car 95 mph on the highway and that's about it. Fleming knew how to dress. Benson is a Haggar wrinkle-free guy. Fleming would be appalled by Rockports. Benson, well...

Avoid this novel UNLESS you are a die-hard Bond fan (the reason I'm here trashing this thing). Benson throws in embarassingly bad descriptions of sex, trying to get more and more risque with his explicit description just for the heck of it. You go Benson!

If you're a fan of the Bond that was charming, adventerous, action-packed, and a hit with the ladies then this book is for you. Once you start, you can't stop reading this.

Ok, Mr Reymond Benson first sequel was not as good as High Time To Kill. (Well nothing really can beat HTTK to me.) But Doubleshot was a good run. It keep me turning the page, Hour after hour till I was done.

Mr. Benson did in fact have some new effects with Bond cannon. Like the Bull Fighting. But it seemed alittle like repeat with the Union. A closer look to old Ian Fleming novels, the Union is just a mirror image to SMERSH.

All in all I did enjoy Double Shot. It was truly a good book. Better then any 007 story Gardner could write. The only problem I found with the book it read to quickly. Not enough development. Kind of like the old Fleming Short Stories. Yet there is a good plot under it all that makes Doubleshot a good book to read for the summer.

I think it is impossible to slam this book too much because, simply, I found it to be one of the best researched and constructed Bond novels in a long time if not ever. No one can ever fault Benson thus far with his first 2 efforts. The man takes the time to research and put together a fantastic story. BUT, no matter how much I liked the story and the characters and the action the prose and writing of the book are all too often just plain poor or amateurish. Ian Fleming was so smooth and never too wordy, and John Gardner had his own smoothness and solid style, but Benson's writing is strictly high school much of the time. Descriptions and action scenes read so simply it makes you wonder if the guy really cared. And to read him in interviews he constantly mentions that he is writing Fleming's Bond. Why not write Bensons's Bond? Fleming died 35 years ago. We don't need a copy. We need someone who loves Bond, and no doubt Benson does, to create great stories, which he does, and inject HIS OWN perceptions of Bond without trying to copy all the Fleming-isms. And please, if you must Mr. Benson, take some prose and fiction writing courses. I love Bond and I believe Benson truly loves Bond but the vapid prose is too damn ugly to lift the Bond novels to a higher and more read and respected level, which, with the quality of the research and the stories, they can reach.

In Benson's second original Bond novel, 007 tackles a terrorist organization known as the Decada, led by a man who is upposedly the reincarnation of Pyhtagoras! The Decada is poised to provoke a war between Greece and Turkey, as well as unleashing a horrifying virus on the world. Aided by his old friend Felix Leiter(Leiter has been absent from Bond adventures for far too long) and a--surprise!-- sexy female Greek agent, Bond must follow a trail of sperm to find and stop the Decada from carrying out their mad schemes. Yes, I said "sperm." You'll understand when you read the book. Benson continues bringing Bond back to his bad habits, which were toned down in the Gardner novels-- drinking, smoking, excessive sex with women of dubious loyalty. It's about time! It's good to see Sir Miles Messervy (the former M) as well, as he has not been seen in the films since "License to Kill." Also welcome is an important appearance by Q, who had very little exposure in the Bond novels of every other author. This novel continues the tradition of making the novels a sort of "Bond boullibase"-- a sort of composite of the Bond of the Fleming novels and the films. While the story doesn't flow quite as smoothly as the Fleming or Gardner Bonds, due to prose that is somewhat lacking, it is a fun, entertaining read and worthy of the Bond tradition. Oh, by the way: awesome car!!!

this book is really good. the group called the decada is killing people and starting a war between greece and turkey. The villian is Romanos and the henchman is Vassilis.The evil female is Hera Volupolis.