Rating: 
Summary: I think Mr. Benson lost his touch.
Review: I should have read Les Brock's review before I bought this book. This is the third book I've read by Reymond Benson. I really enjoyed the other two especially "Facts of Death". This book starts slow and ends slower with very little action in between. Very unlike the other two. I hope Mr. Benson's next book won't be as bad as this one. I'm sorry for all the dissappointed fans.... AU allenu@interport.net
Rating: 
Summary: Thrilling!
Review: Spectacular adventure spy story. Well written and cleverly plotted. This is what a Bond novel should be. Bravo to Benson.
Rating:
Summary: Immensely entertaining and moody!
Review: Raymond Benson's third Bond novel is his best yet. It's got a great, old-fashioned espionage plot, reminiscent of a Hitchcock thriller with a McGuffin, terrific characters, and a James Bond that is closest to Ian Fleming's original character than we've had in years. Bravo!
Rating: 
Summary: Benson back on track
Review: 3rd JB novel by Benson, and by far his best to date. Where the 2nd had a much too grotesque villain and a dumb plot, this one has all the required works. Even if the "Union" is a copy of Spectre, the plot is adequate. The villains are definitely menacing and Bond is in real danger most of the time. The ennemy is invisible, present in unexpected guises. There is a lot of testosterone flowing (Bond's conflict with his fellow student of old is well done), enough sex (both sophisticated and animal) and enough disciplinary coercion from M to make us identify well with Bond. Also, the Himalaya mountain climbing (which has half the novel) is compellingly and convincingly written. A lot of so-called Fleming effect in that! Much attention to "impressive" detail. Well drawn secondary roles. It's all there: the father (mother!)-like M, the more compassionate Bill Tanner, the deceptive female with whom Bond has a frantic relationship, the true friend (a Gurkha), the other reliable female who saves Bond life, the alter ego in the ennemy camp whom bond must defeat and ultimately kill. It also has Bond's world on stage in our own world, and this is as it should be! True, Benson's Bond is not the suave Fleming hero, although he is much closer to him than Gardner's (who had evolved Bond into a very procedural rule-abiding and therefore dull civil servant). In fact, Benson's Bond is close to the film version, without the slapstick dimension. I feel him to be very close to the thunderball (film) Bond. Should we3rd JB novel by Benson, and by far his best to date. Where the 2nd had a much too grotesque villain and a dumb plot, this one has all the required works. Even if the "Union" is a copy of Spectre, the plot is adequate. The villains are definitely menacing and Bond is in real danger most of the time. The ennemy is invisible, present in unexpected guises. There is a lot of testosterone flowing (Bond's conflict with his fellow student of old is well done), enough sex both sophisticated and animal and enough disciplinary coercion from M to make us identify well with Bond. Also, the Himalaya mountain climbing (which has half the novel) is compellingly and convincingly written. A lot of so-called Fleming effect in that! Much attention to "impressive" detail. Well drawn secondary roles. It's all there: the father (mother!)-like M, the more compassionate Bill Tanner, the deceptive female with whom Bond has a frantic relationship, the true friend (a Gurkha), the other reliable female who saves Bond life, the alter ego in the ennemy camp whom bond must defeat and ultimately kill. It also has Bond's world on stage in our own world, and this is as it should be! True, Benson's Bond is not the suave Fleming hero, although he is much closer to him than Gardner's (who had evolved Bond into a very procedural rule-abiding and therefore dull civil servant). In fact, Benson's Bond is close to the film version, without the slapstick dimension. I feel him to be very close to the thunderball (film) Bond. Should we deplore the demise of the Fleming Bond, and hail the coming of the Broccoli Bond? I think yes.
Rating: 
Summary: ¿High Time to Kill¿ seems to suffer from altitude sickness
Review: For me this was a very disappointing book. I thought it started well with lots of action and detail but soon petered out to a wordy tome with action in fits a starts and a poor finale. Marquis as the villain was cardboard and Bond made some big mistakes. He would never compromise SIS rules by forming a relationship with his PA, no matter how desirable, and they have all been that. Raymond Benson has produced vintage James Bond prior to this, almost to Ian Fleming standard - no one get be quite as good as the master - this lets him down. I don't suppose my lack of interest in mountain climbing helped but I found the passages on the climb, a big chunk of the book, very slow and what action that did take place lacked the usual Bond detail. "The Facts of Death" had pace, action, detail and Bondness as did Benson's other Bond books. "High Time to Kill" seems to have suffered from altitude sickness. I look forward to "The World Is Not Enough" and hope both Messrs. Bond and Benson are back on track.
Rating:
Summary: There's no excuse
Review: for a novel this poor. Glidrose should BURY James Bond for good if Raymond Benson is the new trend of writer. Writer? This is some of the worst prose I have read in ANY kind of novel. And the fact that Bond is being written by an American is abominable. I am seriously disheartened with the choice of writer, and it seems that Benson is here to stay for a while. He has no idea how to structure a novel like this. And he simply drops names and events from Ian Fleming's mind in order to prove to us that he is a BIG James Bond fan. This is very unfortunate and I would NOT recommend this book or ANY of the Benson Bonds to anyone, period. Read all of Fleming's work over and over again if you must.
Rating:
Summary: When's the Next One Coming Out?
Review: I have to say, I enjoy Raymond Benson's Bond novels more than Gardner's -- at least I can finish these books. Benson gives the Bond series a good cinematic flair, which makes these ideal for readers who just know 007 from the movies. But I do have one problem with Benson's style, and it's really bugging me. Whenever he has Bond in a sexually-charged situation (and God knows he has plenty of THOSE), he has the girl do something and then comments on how Bond finds that "one of the most erotic things he had ever seen," or something to that effect. And he does this OVER and OVER in EVERY BOOK! Bond comes across like a perpetually aroused fifteen-year-old, and that AIN'T the James Bond I've idolized all these years. Other than that, kudos. I liked "High Time"'s plot and exotic locations. I'm really looking forward to seeing how Benson is going to develop The Union. The final confrontation is at least two years down the road (based on the rumor that The Union will be in three novels, and if the present publishing schedule holds up), but it should be worth the wait.
Rating: 
Summary: spellbinding........realistic enough to be more than Bondian
Review: HTTK was a book that someone begged me to read. I did so with great trepidation. Yet, once I began to read, the plot held me spellbound. Yes, Bond has become interesting again thanks to this author.
Rating:
Summary: Bond is Back
Review: I really like this book, although not as good as The Facts of Death, this was an enjoyable read.
Rating:
Summary: Benson has managed to turn James Bond into a boring old fool
Review: After slogging through a mind-numbing 13-page golf game complete with brand names of every item Bond and his colleagues used in their round, I tried to forge ahead but gave up at page 47, in the midst of a meeting that promised to be as boring as most real meetings. Have trouble identifying with the book the other reviewers apparently read. This is not the dapper, dashing James Bond created by Ian Fleming.
| 
