Doubleshot
Raymond Benson
Originally published 2000
One of the problems with both the John Gardner and Raymond Benson James Bond continuation novels is that they often read more like screenplays than Fleming tales. However there is something to enjoy in all the post Fleming Bond's and if the reader approaches them as adventures, rather than a reinvention of gold then a good time is virtually guaranteed.
Raymond Benson was responsible for the definitive Bond textbook, The James Bond Bedside Companion and he brings his vast knowledge of the Bondiverse to this book. This results in the book having at least the feel of Fleming. Early in the book Benson describes Bond as Fleming had and makes reference to the adventures as told in You Only Live Twice and Man with the Golden Gun. A nice touch since it gives a sense of history and connects the book to the long continuity started by Ian Fleming, to my mind, one of the all time great thriller writers. This book is the second in the UNION TRILOGY - the other books being High Time to Kill and Never Dream of Dying but all are standalone novels and an be read independently from each other.
When the book opens Bond is on medical leave, suffering hallucinations, seemingly the result of a lesion to the temporal lobe of his brain. At one point he sees his long dead wife, Tracy in a London street and them immediately afterwards he sees himself standing across the street. It is clear that Bond is very much not himself. This adds much weight to the character and for a large part of the book Bond seems to be suffering from extreme mental illness and all the suffering and soul searching gives the character much gravitas. The main plot involving Bond doubting his own sanity, even considering the possibility that he is a murderer, is excellent and the SPECTRE - like UNION are a truly chilling organisation in the spirit of "Boy's own adventures".
One or two of the Bond novels, both by Gardner and Benson, have felt flat to me but Doubleshot isn't one of them and is a truly excellent thriller in its owns right, that it actually feels like a real Bond novel is a bonus. An excellent take on the James Bond legend.
1 comment:
I liked this one as well. A long time fan, but by no means any sort of expert, my opinion is that, overall, Benson hit closer to Fleming and Gardner's efforts, while enjoyable, had a more literary feel to them.
When reading a Bond, I want an adventure.
Post a Comment