Thank you, Calvin

Benson was a machine, he wrote 9 novels (3 of them adaptations) in 5 years.

Benson is one of the best Bond authors imo. I am so happy you get some good books after soldiering through Gardner. I also recommend the Audible versions of the Benson novels performed by Simon Vance. He does a terrific job. Thanks for the great review, sir.

Henry Kissinger advised Barbara Broccoli to drop the Hong Kong handover from an early draft of (what would become) Tomorrow Never Dies, enabling Benson’s adventure to proceed without overlap.

As one of those commenters who championed the Benson novels, I’m happy you enjoyed Zero Minus Ten as much as you did. Though, ironically for me, it was the last of his Bond novels that I read thanks to what I could find in libraries or second hand! I’ve also had the pleasure of meeting Benson at a book signing in Chicago while I was vacationing there. He’s a nice guy and still happy to talk about these things he wrote years ago now. Of the continuation authors, I’d struggle with whether Benson would be my favorite or not thanks to the recent Horowitz trilogy. Benson knew Bond as a character and franchise, something that comes across in all of his novels (and novelizations), and the way he combines the literary and cinematic Bonds in prose has always had a great appeal to me. Indeed, given he novelized the latter three Brosnan films, I sometimes consider these novels what Brosnan’s Bond was doing between films in a strictly headcanon sort of way. Intrigued to see what you’ll make of the other Benson novels as his novelizations, particularly of Tomorrow Never Dies and The World is Not Enough.

In unexpected news, Rowan Atkinson [at 69] is apparently going to film 'Johnny English 4' this summer!

In this book Bond owns Goldeneye, which he bought from Fleming (who's not named but its obviously him)!

Only half way through your review and I had to stop so I could order a copy of the novel. The only Benson continuation I've read is The Facts of Death a looong time ago and can remember nothing about it, but your enthusiastic review has spurred me on to give Benson go - so thank you!

After the Gardner era, I found this one such a breath of fresh air. As you said, it's clear Benson knows who Bond is and is clearly having a ball writing him. And after Gardner, who you could tell didn't have a lot of enthusiasm for Bond and was doing it for the steady paycheque, it was just such a nice feeling: "yes! The person writing cares just as much as I do!" Admittedly I found some of the references a little gratuitous (the whole thing about Bond having bought a house very clearly meant to be Goldeneye made me roll my eyes), and it gives his work the feeling of fan-fiction at times (well, I guess technically it is) but never enough that it detracted. And yeah, I thought this was a great story. The stand-out to me was Sunni Pei: I thought she was a great character and enjoyed her dynamic with Bond. I think she's the best example of a Bond Girl who's just a regular person thrown into Bond's world - she's not an important figure, she's just working in this club and gets wrapped up with Bond purely from the happenstance of being the one who waited on Bond when he walked in. If she's taken her break early or if Bond had walked in five minutes later it would've been someone else. She wants nothing to do with Bond's adventure but has to go along with it because of his interference. It's a fun dynamic that I'd like to see done again. And I liked the whole Hong Kong handover aspect: sure, it robs the book of a certain timelessness, but I don't think that's a problem - the opposite in fact. So it's not timeless but rather rooted in a very specific time - it gives the book a sense of history. It's always interesting to interact with art from the time a historical event happened to see what reactions were like at the time, as opposed to art made about it long after the fact reflecting back (though that can be interesting too). The only bit I felt was weak was the mah-jong game - bless Benson for trying but the rules of the game went right over my head and I was just lost that chapter.

I’m so happy we’re getting more Bond Novel reviews! These are the highlight of my Sundays!!!

Doing my yearly James Bond-kick where I marathon through your videos. Amazing work as always man.

Glad you liked Bensons first take on Bond. Along with Anthony Horowitz, He is my absolute favorite of all of the post Fleming Bond authors. He’s very underrated with some hardcore fans ( I suspect it’s because he started out as a one of them! ) Probably the best way to describe his books would be that he took Flemings Bond and put him right into the ‘90’s Brosnan films. All of his novels basically read like James Bond films on paper. But he also adds that classic Fleming trademark of describing these wonderful locations and meals in such great detail that you really feel like you are right there with Bond enjoying it all as you go on this grand adventure with him. Since you are such a huge Brosnan fan, I think you’ll feel right at home here and will really enjoy his entire run. You’ll probably sort of feel like you got to see an additional 6 more Brosnan Bond films!

Having lived in the Pearl River Delta for 6 years, and knowing the region well, I can confirm he writes about the history brilliantly; 'Bedtime Story' was my favourite chapter also. His descriptions are so vivid, and yes, the Mahjong descriptions are right also, yes, and it does make a lot more sense when you play it!

9:35 Better start lowering your expectations for gadget realism in the next one though. What Q gives Bond in _The Facts of Death_ makes _Die Another Day's_ invisible car look plausible.

5:37 The director of Tomorrow Never Dies, Roger Spottiswode, said the Hong Kong Transfer was still key to the plot as late as January 1997 but was scrapped as the transfer was happening in July 1997 and the film would come out afterwards, making it feel instantly dated. 'Zero Minus Ten' was published in April 1997 so maybe he was able to write the book quickly to keep it topical [or had a hunch the movie would need to change there plot]. Interestingly, early drafts of the recently reviewed 'Entrapment' was also going to cover the Hong Kong transfer but as that movie wasn't filmed until mid-98, it was naturally dropped.

I knew you'd enjoy the Benson era. These were such a shot in the arm back when they first started coming out. I grew up as a Bond obsessive and it was amazing to see the Benson hardcovers appear in bookstores. It was a gigantic burst of energy after the tail end of the Gardner era. Sadly US publishers never supported the books but that's nothing new. I'm glad Benson revealed his directive was to make his books feel a bit more film like. For years he's gotten criticism for those elements in the fan community but it's very undeserved. Zero Minus Ten is a great debut novel with great promise that is fulfilled in his later books. All six of his Bond novels are well done but the best is HIGH TIME TO KILL. All could easily be adapted into films and honestly should. High Time to Kill reads like a finished screenplay at times. You'll love the TND novelization as Benson adds TONS of character background, a new intro for Wai Lin and was writing from a script with an earlier entirely different version of the final Stealth Boat battle. It is beyond ironic that Benson wrote a good story set around the Hong Kong handover but MGM was terrified of doing the same in the film and so at the last minute demanded EON change the story and that began the production story troubles that culminated in the on set rewrites. There were many cooks in the kitchen throughout the pre-production process leading to the big summit meeting with different notable names throwing around story ideas. It was Henry Kissinger who advised EON that making a film based on the 1997 handover wouldn't be a good idea. EON rarely if ever paid attention to the books though they did seemingly lift a number of Gardner elements over time. Benson only got directives from them it seems on the novelizations and only general ones at that.

In the recent Mark Edlitz's book on continuation novels, he quotes Benson as saying his books are in an 'alternative continuity' although I probably would say the best description is 'soft reboot' as Fleming and elements of Gardner are still there but it feels like a fresh start [similar to how 'Goldeneye' is in continuity with the previous Bonds but can be a jumping off point for new viewers/a soft reboot]. Interestingly, when the earlier 'The Bond Files' was first published in 1998, 'reboots' weren't common so they were baffled at the absence of Qu'te etc!

Hi calvin! Awesome to be here for the benson era. Hope you enjoy it. I ll surely enjoy your reviews

I KNEW you would love "ZMT" and I am sure you will enjoy the rest of his tenure. My favourite Beson Bond is "High Time to Kill" but "ZMT" is up there as well. Sure, his writing style and his Bond character is heavily influenced by the cinematic Bond. It is not the 2Fleming"-style since his Bond is "modern" but his stories are fun, well paced and have great, creative plots. He put a lot more thoughts into his stories than Gardner (some Gardner books felt like he as doing a job without putting a lot of "heart" into it).

Thanks Calvin! You've inspired me to buy this book. It sounds fascinating.

I too am another who was urging you on to read the Benson novels, and am glad you liked your first. Looking forward to your future reviews, especially of High Time to Kill. You're in for a treat.

Be sure to read "Blast from the Past" in the omnibus edition, coz the Playboy issue had an abridged version of it

Love your channel sir. Keep up the good work.

Been looking forward to your reviews of Benson's Bond run 😊 also these novels are very nostalgic to me because they were basically published during Brosnan's entire run as Bond who was also my 1st Bond. It's hard NOT to imagine Pierce as Bond while reading these ☺️☺️

Great stuff, Calvin. Hopefully the rest of Benson’s run is just as good!

I used to play mahjong all the time. I feel like it was a bit of a fad in the US for a while. I’d see mahjong sets being sold everywhere. Not sure if the fad made it to the UK, but I’m sure it’s not hard to learn. I remember thinking that it was just fancy dominos, like what dominos would be if Mr Spock tried to improve them.

Glad to see the novel reviews back with a new era.

For Hong Kong plus Pierce Brosnan check out Noble House. Notable appearances by denholm elliott, Johnathan rhys-davies, Burt kwok (sp) etc.

A villain trying to keep Hong Kong for Britain or start a war with China had been part of development of the 3rd Dalton film since 1990. After EON were able to make Bond films again, and Dalton wasn't coming back, they opted for the more topical fall of The Soviet Union with Brosnan's first. Although interestingly the villain of GoldenEye who was hurt by both Britain and another country getting revenge against both while being considered a British hero was co-opted from the third Dalton scripts. For whatever reason EON returned to the remains of that for Brosnan's second, even hiring Roger Spottiswoode who was to have directed the original incarnation with Dalton. Of course by now it was too close to the Hong Kong Handover to work, as that would occur six months before the film's release. That was cut out, but the attempted war between Britain and China was kept, along with British and Chinese secret services being adversaries then working together. Chinese Jet shot down after the British Navy are tricked into Chinese Waters by the villain using high tech gizmos comes straight from the Dalton era script. There is a little bit of residue left in Tomorrow Never Dies when Carver says he started his career at a Hong Kong newspaper. No other mention is made of Carver origins but the character would have been Hong Kong raised and based, given him cultural, historical, and hatred of Britain and China reasons for his scheme. These layers are missing from TND and Carver doesn't feel hard done to, instead he just has a megalomaniacal plan to expand his Business Empire.

Must be a breath of fresh air for you to finally starting the brief Benson era. Zero Minus Ten is very much steeped into the zeitgeist of 1997, so much so that whilst re-reading the novel after 25 odd years I couldn’t help but wonder whether this was inspired by an abandoned version of what would become Tomorrow Never Dies. Also like how Bond goes into his thoughts, one segment that standa out is how Bond reflects on the British government abandoned the HK populace by not allowing them to apply for citizenship. An energetic introduction after the stale Gardner era.

This was the first Bond continuation novel I read and I greatly enjoyed it. Benson is one of the great Bond novelists and I am so happy that you are up to him in your reviews!

I read the TND novelization recently and really enjoyed it. I think it blended the spectacle of the film with Fleming's writing style quite well. Really good read; hope it works for you too

"Hong Kong is ours now, Bond! " "Don't worry, I haven't come to take it back". Die Another Day. 😁😁

I’ve been waiting for you to get to this one. When I was ten years old my father bought me two Bond books he randomly found. The first was You only live twice (which went over my head at 10) and the second was this. This was the book that started my love of the literary 007. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on the rest.

I'm looking forward to seeing what Raymond Benson has to offer us in terms of Bond stories

Calvin, Raymond Benson is probably the best of the continuation novelists. I hoped he would have written many more, but the ones he wrote are great. The connection with Benson, Bond & Australia was from the James Bond Roleplaying game in the 80's (if you haven't looked at it, it does a good job of blending the movie and book bonds). He wrote and adventure, "You only live twice II - Back of beyond". That was based in Australia, mainly Sydney. Even has a "Strine" dictionary, so the gamesmaster can use Aussie slang. Good for a laugh. I thought it was great that his first adventure had Australia in it, as it has still not been used in the movies (they even made Dikko Henderson a pom in the movie!!!). Cheers for Australia

Zero Minus Ten was more than twice as good that I ever thought it would be. Benson also wrote the first two Splinter Cell novels under a pen name and Damnation, a Hitman novel based on another RPG, all three unexpectedly exciting.

Crime writer Donald Westlake was hired to do a script for a Bond film after Goldeneye. His story concerned the Hong Kong handover. Producers decided it was too political. Westlake later wrote an original novel based on his screenplay called Forever And a Death.

I just got done listening to this as an audio book. LOVED IT!

Calvin using the highly underrated Tomorrow Never Dies PS1 soundtrack for his background music. 👍 I’ll have to give this one a read/listen when I get through the Fleming novels. On From Russia With Love at the moment.

So excited for this series. Love Benson

Hi Calvin. I know you've finished the gardener books. But if you want to rival David Zaritsky's travels I live in Wiltshire, not far from the opening car chase from Scorpius...

my favourite quote "...he would have a worthless chicken hand."

As always, we're on the same page, Calvin. I think you are really going to enjoy Benson's run.

Drinking game on how many times you said Zero Minus THIRTY! No worries, I thought your review was spot on. I remember the different reaction to Blast From The Past, which I recall coming out first, but ZMT allayed any fears. Benson is fantastic.

Most franchises have 'expanded universe' novels which are generally considered 'non canon' but fill gaps between films/tv episodes-often having many references and callbacks [as someone who's read far too many Star Trek novels can vouch for!]. While Bond doesn't do this generally [due to the literacy and film rights being owned by different companies], I find Benson's book as the closest to this as you can picture them as what Brosnan's Bond was doing between the films with copious references to past adventures.

A part of TND was recycled from Daltons cancelled third Bond film.

To my knowledge, the only other time Bond visiting Australia is mentioned is in John Pearson's The Authorised Biography of 007- it's where he flies off to at the end in order to face Irma Bunt and the Giant Rats of Crumper's Dick. This is the first time we actually see him on assignment there though

This is one of the few Bond novels where I can still remember most of the story just from the visuals I conjured up in my head and with the actors I would picture as the characters. It’s in my top 5 of all the Bond novels I’ve read so far (not loads considering I started with the release of Solo and do read other novels amongst my increasing number of many other hobbies). It sits alongside Carte Blanche, Never Send Flowers, High Time To Kill & Forever and A Day. And those top 5 do tend to swap with each other frequently as I can never decide my true favourite. 😅

I do enjoy Benson's 007 books, I have them all in omnibus. They are very enjoyable movie-style Bond books, great fun

I'm glad you enjoyed ZMT, it's a great continuation novel and is a blast start to finish! There's another Benson novel I prefer over this one that's still a few novels away, I won't say what one, it's a bit of a departure for a Bond novel but works really well in my opinion.

Zero Minus Ten has long been a favourite among the continuation stories for me. I did find there is a greater consistency of quality among Raymond Benson's novels. Enjoyed each, including the film adaptations, particularly fond of Doubleshot.

Could I ask you - where did you get those fabulous acryl (?) keepcases for your Fleming books? I have some first editions which I would like to protect in a similar fashion...

Doing any more book reviews Calvin? I just got my first Benson "High Time to Kill", really enjoying it and would like your thoughts on it. I saw some article somewhere saying it was a top 5 Post-Fleming Bond novels of all time so dived right in. A pretty unusual plot with Bond having to climb an Everest-like peak in the Himalayas! I will have to go for "Zero Minus Ten" next.

Read Donald Westlake’s “Forever and a Death.” He was tapped to write the screenplay originally (tomorrow never dies), which was one of the many scripts that was thrown out, so Westlake rewrote the story to take Bond out. But it’s definitely another variation on this Hong Kong story from this time.

Sold! Only read Benson's High Time to Kill which I wasn't a fan of, but will definitely give this one a go.

3:10 Doesn't _The Authorized Biography_ end with Bond leaving to pursue Irma Bunt down under?

14:27 in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake eater' you have to eat animals in order to stay alive . Come on Calvin, you know what to do :) at the very least, please listen to the song 'Snake Eater' as its the intro song to the game like a Bond Song ;)

I stopped reading these books at the end of the John Gardiner era. I had The James Bond Bedside Companion back in the pre-internet '90s!

Thanks, I hadn't seen this series of books, had a quick look on Amazon and this is down as book 9?

Hi Calvin, could I ask where the acrylic cases are from for your first editions?

enjoy reading all the Benson novels, I maybe check a few of the Gardner ones

Benson's stories are better than JGs, I think. Certainly more Fleming-like. High Time To Kill is an excellent story and think it would make a great movie. However, Benson's description of sex scenes and women are very cringe and a bit creepy. In The Facts of Death, all the mentions of "sperm" will have you reaching for the sick bucket. I think Benson thought he was writing for The Daily Sport at times! Although as I say his stories are clever, thrilling and well thought out. If a strong editor could have re-worded some of them they would date a lot better. There is also comments / vocabulary added for an American audience. Which seems a bit daft. Gardner under similar pressure I believe. RB just gets into my top 5 continuation... Colonel Sun Solo With a Mind To Kill Devil May Care High Time To Kill

I was going to ask which book would you recommend getting into, since I didn't enjoy Casino Royale that much.

I also enjoyed Zero Minus Dark Bravo Ten Thirty-Two.

I hope you have a better time with the Bensons than you did with the Gardeners haha.

I've always kind of been a snob for literary Bond. I'm very picky about what which continuation novels I choose to read. The character in the books is different from the character of the movies and I liked it that way. I was always very nervous about reading stories that were set or published in contemporary times. I knew that Benson was asked to make the books more like the films and that scared me away from him. With all the buzz about this book recently I took a chance and read it for the very first time. I was very pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed it. I was impressed by Benson's ability to write a contemporary story and still basically write Fleming's character. Now, I'm struggling with something. Do I read the facts of death? My concern is that as I move forward the character will become less Fleming and more EON. Can anyone who has read the Benson series provide non spoiler insight on this? I would really appreciate it.

@Calvin, I'll be dropping this comment in elsewhere, but this seemed like a natural place to say it first. (Apologies if you've long since addressed this.) Do you have any plans to comment on Anthony Horowitz’s ventures into the world of Bond? There’s his attempted contemporary reboot, with the delicious title Trigger Mortis. But he’s put a lot more time, it seems, into the Alex Ryder books. And, even though Alex is an adolescent and the Ryder series is YA-oriented, the books really catch the flavor of Bond stories very well indeed. (There’s also a decent TV series, now in its second season.) I think you might find Horowitz engaging, and I encourage you to check him out if you haven’t done so.

Bond only flew off to Australia at the end of John Pearson's JAMES BOND; THE AUTHORISED BIOGRAPHY. He hasn't visited "Down Under" in any other book or film, unfortunately. Haven been to Hong Kong twice, once in 1986 and again in 2019, I can say that the morale of the population, in general, was depressing after the British left... I also agree with the below comment that Benson and Horowitz were definitely the best continuation authors, so far. Keep up the good work, Calvin!

He wanted to name it "No Tears for Hong Kong" but Glidrose overruled him.

Please do a video on the following theme: RANKING OF BOND FILMS WITH THE MOST REALISTIC COLD WAR DEPICTION For example: SPECTRE trying to raise tensions between the West and the Soviets in Turkey (FRWL, 1963) Red China's devious scheme with Goldfinger to destabilise Western economy by radiating the interior of Fort Knox (GF, 1964) Red China's nefarious plan with SPECTRE to instigate World War 3 in order to replace America and USSR as the new global superpower (YOLT, 1967) General Orlov's diabolical design to cause an atomic explosion in West Germany so that the balance of power would tilt in favour of the Soviets (OP, 1983) The Soviet's reliance on Western technology resulting in 007 being awarded the Order of Lenin for derailing their rogue agent Zorin's masterplan to destroy Silicon Valley (AVTAK, 1985) Illicit arms deal coupled with diamond and opium smuggling involving rogue elements of the Soviet military command and the Afghan resistance (TLD, 1987) ... and of course there are more

Any chance you might cover the Mr. & Mrs. Smith movie, and the new Mr. and Mrs. Smith Amazon series? Both are very different takes on the Bondian movie, the former a parody and the latter a reconstruction. I have a feeling you'd enjoy both!

I can't wait till you get onto the Anthony Horrowitz trilogy.

Doesn't matter how many times i read the rules and tried to follow Benson's description about mah-jong but I get lost every time! I'm some respects its a bit like the chapter at Blades from Moonraker - I dunno how to play bridge but I'm not too sure it matters so long as you follow who's winning or loosing. Like you i really enjoyed the anthropological aspect of reading about the hand over as I was 16 when it happened and not the kinda thing a 16year old from the UK tends to pay a huge amount of attention to.

You'd think they'd call it "Zero Minus 7" (I can't imagine 10 was especially significant)! Mah Jong is similar to Rummy or Canasta (if you've played either of those) - essentially you're looking to make sets from the tiles either drawn from the "Wall" (deck) or discarded by the other players. Obviously there is more to it than that, but that's the basics of the game.

Love all the Bond stuff, of course, but until you review Carry on Spying, can you really be considered an authority on the genre 😮? Kidding, you're crushing it as the Bond whisperer.

Hi Calvin. I know this is a random place to put this but if you are struggling for content have you heard the news that IO Interactive (i.e. the developers of the Hitman Games) are currently working a James Bond game called Project 007. Might be something you could work for new material? 🤔 Apologies in advance if this is something you have already covered. Just thought I would assist on the Canyon that James Bond material in absence of any latest Bond films 😅😊

At least Benson's Bond doesn't call everyone "my dear" like in Gardner's books. The Bond girls on those books were more likely to take off his underwear to give him a bed bath.

I enjoyed Benson's "The Man With the Red Tatoo".

I've read this book at least four times, and I STILL don't understand what's going on in the mahjong scene. This is not my favorite Benson, but one I revisit so often due to the backdrop of the Hong Kong handover, which is just a great setting for Bond I think.

Only Bond novel I read was Never Dream of Dying by Benson. It's not exactly a childrens book so as an adolescent there were a few pages I'd re-read over and over again.

Strictly a personal opinion: Benson's novels are better than his short stories. My favorite Benson is High Time to Kill (his third). Benson could suggest titles but Glidrose chose them. His suggested title for this first novel was No Tears for Hong Kong

You're selling this to me well. LOL

...That cover on the thumbnail almost makes it look like Bond *wrote* the novel himself. Which would be an interesting conceit! (I think I had the James Bond Bedside Companion! Must investigate further...)

Speaking of Bond stories, I think it's time we moved into Act 2 in my story. Bond has just had his Laurence of Arabia moment, and is now back in Cairo. [Scene 9] Yasmin Al'Kahool is the teenage daughter of the manager of the hotel, in charge of dusting out the rooms. "I ham Yasmeen." she says bowing "I have good Engalsh, Yes?". "Trust me my dear, after the week I've had, I could propose to a lame spitting camel." "You arrr welcome", she says bowing and leaving the room. After a few hours of rest, Bond goes downstairs to wire London. and then goes out in the direction of the bustling port by the river. A man with the bald head and a scar nods to Yasmin as Bond leaves the hotel, and she begins to follow him on foot. Bond senses the trap, and starts to run - turning over baskets and bumping into people. Yasmin knows the streets a lot better than him, and takes all the shortcuts and back routes to thwart his every turn. Eventually they both run head-on into each other with a bump!, almost knocking each other out. "Why are you following me?" Bond asks as he holds her by the throat, just as the man with the scar shows up in a black vehicle, and briskly starts walking towards him two grim-looking henchmen. Bond grabs the girl, and they race through the port, and eventually run onto a boat, just as the gang plank is being raised. Bond lifts his fez as if you say goodbye, as the men are left on the dock side waving their arms about. Their grubby sweat-box boat to Istanbul takes a few days. Enough time at last for Bond to relax. Yasmin is locked inside the cabin as a stow-away. A friendly sailor smuggles in food for her, after some persuasion. Bond shaves off his week old beard, but leaves the moustache in place as a disguise. With his darkened skin covered with red blotches and boils, and wearing his fez and blanket combo, he steps off the boat in Istanbul looking like a native. The 'newly wedded couple' are booked into the Al Madira hotel. Bond sends a wire to London to let them know of his arrival, and then buys a shiny black cigarette holder from a street seller. Yasmin takes a bath, while Bond checks back at reception for a reply. His contact will arrive tomorrow morning by boat. Time enough, it seems, for a day of seeing the signs, and a whispering candle lit dinner for two in the evening. They head back to the extremely noisily thronged port early the next morning to see a familiar face. "HELLO!!!", shouts a man; who promptly staggers and falls off the gang plank. A rope is thrown down to him. Yasmin points her finger: "You know heem?" "Yes, his name's Major Heameroids." Yasmin shouts, "Hallo Mayor Hem-roids!". A spluttering, half-drowned man stands on the dock: "Ahhhh, Hello Everybody. Welcome welcome.... ..Bond?! - you're late!, we expected you over a week ago!?" "Sorry old boy, I took a detour down the old Dog and Bucket for a while." "Never mind about all that now, here's your suitcase. I trust it all fits??" Bond opens a brown leather suitcase and finds a pair of black trousers, a white shirt, an evening jacket, a handkerchief, a Turkish pest control licence, and a long black tie. The shoes are a bit too small, but other than that, it's a perfect match. Bond hands the blanket and the fez combo back to Q. In exchange, Q hands him a dossier. "Oh, one last thing" says Q. "We've fitted an experimental tracker device into your tie. The length of the tie is enough to hide the transmitter wire. We can hear everything that you can hear within 10 feet of you, but due to a resonance feedback loop created by the knot in your tie, you'll have to waggle the knot each time you sit down, or do something crazy, to maintain the signal." Bond raises an eyebrow. Q continues: "We'll beat back any messages to you using this Morse Code nipple clamp". He attaches the Crocodile clips. Bond: "OW!". [Steal food for Yasmin and have sex with her as many times as you can until the boat docks. Get the Fleming black cigarette holder. Meet Q, get the Tux and Licence to Kill card]

When I got my 1st job, I bought this book and tge facts of death

It’s been so long, that I forgot Benson mentioned things from Gardner. I always felt that Benson’s and Gardner’s runs were unrelated. At that, I’ve always held that Benson’s books fit more into the Brosnan film continuity than the book series.

Benson's 🤩🤩7 adventures were much more enjoyable by channelling the literary creativity of Fleming than that of Gardner's. His novelisation of the three Brosnan Bond films holds up well even till today.

Will you be reviewing his short stories?

Good luck with the new Books Calvin :) 5:37 I'm not sure myself, but I think it was still wise for them to do so ofcourse incase something did go wrong along the way. RAMBO 3 was considered outdated when it came out because of Communism ending in Russia, although thats not the only reason it wasnt a succes haha. 9:34 I reckon that idea of the shoe must have come from 'The naked Gun' as Frank is given a shoe thats basicaly got everything that a swiss army knife has :) 10:33 sadly I'm not sure if we'll see Bond go there again anytime soon, but Taiwan/ Taipei would be a cool place for him to go and very relevant right now, especially with a plot with microchips. There was a sequel to 'Death Train' called 'NIGHT WATCH' in 1995 and a long haired moustached Pierce Brosnan goes to a HONG KONG Casino and yes... he orders a Vodka Martini shaken not stirred, just before he became Bond ;) hope you watch it one day. All the best Calvin and well done for getting an original copy of TND from back in the day :)

I read this book perhaps 22 years ago and I still vividly remember the aboriginal girl eating fruit! 🤣

Zero minus thirty?

Read the Benson books twice, when they first came out and then I did a marathon when they'd all been published. At 52 I'm too old to waste any more time in my life reading third grade rubbish. The man had no previous fiction works and it shows: his prose is awful and his storylines are a poor man's movie script. Fan fiction at best. ZMT was the "least bad" of the lot but still just a rejected movie script type of plot turned into a novelisation-quality novel. I used to believe that Bond fans were above the Star Wars fanaticism but the fact that they can actually like this crap makes me wonder what, if anything, they saw in the genuine article

The Facts Of Death is Benson’s best novel

Benson is my favorite bond author period. I am glad fleming created bond and wrote those wonderful novels but personally i love benson more then any other writer with 007 fleming included… Sorry to fleming purists

The best is yet to come with Benson, although Gardner had his moments , its obvious at times that the tank is less than half full in his novels, not so with Benson, nearly always i feel he had something to add, however his short stories are a large let down and very poor, his skill lies in the full novels

👍🏻

I would say that this story is quite a good Benson read and a really good first novel. However this feels like a Brosnan novelisation. The setting and characters are quite well done, but the prose is quite basic and not to the levels of preceding and succeeding Bond authors. The dialogue is also quite strange and forced in places, like Scots/Swiss convo early in the novel with Marksbury. And unfortunately, the mahjong bit is poorly done, I've read the book 3 times and still can't really get the game because of the long winded explanations. I do feel for Benson in that he needed to match with the films, so Bond does feel a bit more "suave" and blasé, without the same emotional and introspective sense as much as the others do. Another negative is that the villain doesn't really have the power and gravitas you'd expect: he seems like a pathetic drunkard unable to plan all this without backing, which takes me out bit One thing the Benson is great at as you say is the incredible flowing action and plot that you can't really put down (almost compensates for the lack of reflection): this and High Time to Kill are the best at this. I think Benson's books have the best flowing narrative work of any of the novels. In summary, I think Benson's works (especially the first three) are really good, but his last three do sort of fall off of cliff, so he goes just below Gardner in my ranking.

Now Calvin is searching second hand bookstores and the internet for the correct vintage Playboy Magazine edition. 😅

In my opinion, while there are a couple of duds to come, you're way past the worst of literary Bond now. Enjoy Benson! For me, they're very Brosnan-film-type books