Never Dream of Dying: The New James Bond Adventure

Rating:
Summary: The NERVE!!!
Review: "Never Dream of Dying" is probably one of the better Bond books out there. While nothing can quite match Flemings "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", Never Dream of Dying comes extremely close. Benson does not bombard you with useless knowledge of casino games and gagets that some authors do (ie: Tom Clancy). Instead, what Benson does with this book is keep you turning the pages with his seamless transitions between scenes. The villains are believable and their motive is as well. Benson also brings in a couple of names from the past. I recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of 007.

Rating:
Summary: Never again
Review: After enjoying James Bond novels for the guilty pleasures they are, I finally have to put them to rest with Benson's latest `novel'. I may pick up a Bond book one day, but it will not be a Benson.

Ian Fleming's novels are finally back in print in the USA, and I would encourage everyone reviewing here to pick them up and read them all. Fleming was very good at what he did. Bond was a perfect character to go to the movies, and he has endured as a character well past the Cold War.

Bond was resurrected for the page in the early 80s by spy novelist John Gardner, who churned out no less than 13 Bond novels in about 15 years. Some were good, some were awful. It became clear that Gardner was not very interested in the legacy or the character of Bond. His books seemed to be about a guy named Bond who was a secret agent.

Raymond Benson, super James Bond fan and indeed president of a fan club, was given the mantle to write these books. Not a novelist, Benson did good research and came up with good stories to work Bond and UK interests in.

Unfortunately, he is a bad writer. A non-writer. His books alternate between long descriptions of everything Benson learned on his fact-finding missions to the locales featured in the novel, and then he cuts over to action, bad dialogue, more description, and even went so far as to include some nauseating and embarrassing sex scenes. He cannot write a novel where all of these elements blend into a solid story with sharp plotting and clear characters.

Benson is obsessed with Fleming's Bond. However, he is not obsessed with attempting to write prose that even approaches John Gardner, let alone Fleming. The results are incredibly disappointing and downright silly at times. I don't know how well these have been selling, but it seems like the literary franchise of Bond has been destroyed. While each new Bond films takes in more than the last, Bond books just keep getting more upsetting.

I couldn't even finish this book. After resurrecting characters Fleming created and killed, Benson's plotting is very shoddy, skipping out on Bond for whole sections. The lack of anything approaching engaging prose made me put this, and Benson, down for good.

I gave him a chance. I endured most of `the Union' trilogy, which is a sad attempt to resurrect SPECTRE. It doesn't have to be this bad. Glidrose needs a pro writer who can up the stock of Bond books.

Not recommended. Go and hunt down Fleming, who must be spinning several times in his grave.

Goodbye, Mr. Benson.

Rating:
Summary: Classic Bond from Benson
Review: After experimenting in his last two books, HIGH TIME TO KILL (with plot) and DOUBLESHOT (with character), Benson returns to the basics and writes what may be his BEST Bond novel to date. This novel is CLASSIC Bond, right down to the return of the Aston Martin DB5, a glamorous heroine, Mediterranean locals, and a sadistic mega-villain with an intriguing physical handicap (he's blind). It's certainly the most cinematic of all Benson's books. Benson's writing is straightforward and strong, his locations are EXPERTLY researched, and his characterization of Bond is spot-on. Some 007 purists balk at Benson's books (as they did John Gardner's...and any movie that doesn't star Sean Connery), but for me Benson is getting better each time out. ... I also like how Benson sprinkles hints of what's to come in the next book (007 goes to Japan?). Can't wait!

Rating:
Summary: Benson's Bond Series Overview
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Blast(s) from the past
Review: Benson brings back a couple of classic Fleming characters in this novel, his 5th effort at a full length Bond book. They way they are used is controversial, and for some, likely disappointing. (I was) But the book on the whole is a page-turning thriller.

Rating:
Summary: Courageous and thrilling!
Review: I think Benson did a courageous job with this book. Some people criticized him for what he did with the characters of Marc-Ange Draco and Mathis. I say that the Bond Universe was his to make use of, JUST AS IN ANY FRANCHISE. What he did with Draco was dramatic and surprising. This is one of Benson's BEST Bond novels.

Rating:
Summary: Exciting, thrilling and Bond all the way!
Review: Never Dream Of Dying concludes the three part Union series with a bang! It is quite possibly the best book by Raymond Benson, (except maybe High Time To Kill being better.) It's full of great action, Bond girls, over the top villias and a magnificent plot.
The book begins with 007 engaging in a police raid of a suspected Union headquarters that ends up going terribly wrong and killing innocent people. M then gives Bond the assignment to find Le Gerant, the head of the Union. Bond questions a Union member called Yassassin, but he is killed before he can divulge and information he knows. Bond discovers that all the Union members have tattoos on the retinas of their eyes. Bond travels to Paris and meets the suspicious film maker, Leon Essinger and his distant wife and actress, Tylyn Mignonne. Bond finds out that Essinger also has one of the Union tattoos. Bond searches Essingers boat, when a large scale battle breaks out, with Bond appearing to be dead. Bond is alive and kidnapped where he meets a person he thought dead years ago. Marc-Ange Draco, head of the Union-Corse and father of Bond's dead wife, Tracy. Bond discovers that Le Gerant is actually Draco's son. Bond meets up with his old friend, Rene Mathis, who is now working on the case with him. He is captured with Mathis and brutally tortured, by having their retinas burned. Bond escapes in a fury and finds out that Essinger and the Union are planning to explode a bomb t the Cannes film festival, where his new movie is opening, this will kill many members of the British royal family who are at the festival. Bond arrives just in time and stops the bomb, he also discovers that Draco was behind the bombing as well, and Essinger is taken away. Bond rescues Mathis and finds out that Draco, who was once Bond's friend, wants him dead because he thinks Bond was responsible for the deaths of his wife and child, that were in the building of the police raid in the beginning of the story. Bond kills Draco and destroys the helicoptor that Le Gerant was escaping in. This concludes the Union organization and the Union series. One member remains however, Goro Yoshida, who was planning with the Union. Bond deals with him in the next book by Raymond Benson.
Never Dream Of Dying is a magnificent Bond book!

Rating:
Summary: NOBODY DOES IT BETTER
Review: Raymond Benson loves James Bond. That has been true in every one of the books he has done to date. NEVER DREAM OF DYING is no exception and the characters, both old and new, are pure Ian Fleming. Let's hope Mr.Benson's license to thrill is renewed again and again.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful end to the series.
Review: This is a outstanding read. A great way to end the Union series. In the final chapter of the Union series, Bond comes face to face with the mastermind of the Union.

If you're a James Bond fan, then you have to start the series. The first one is High Time To Kill, Doubleshot, then Never Dream of Dying.

This series starts off with a raid that goes bad...horrible bad. After this happens, Bond vows to take them down no matter what the cost. I can't say to much about the plot, but I will say this...someone from Bond's past comes back...and this was a shocker. By the end of the book, Bond comes up aganist the mastermind of the Union...a blind man who has unusual sight.

Benson has a strong style of writing. It's obvious he has a stonge knowledge of the Bond character and what makes him tick. If you start the series, you won't be sorry.

Rating:
Summary: Courageous and thrilling!
Review: This is the first of these pastiches of the old James Bond series that I have read. I will confess that I read Fleming many years ago (I think I was in high school) and enjoyed some of the earlier John Gardner books, frankly, more than I enjoyed Fleming. Later I became annoyed with Gardner somewhat, though he did attempt to paper over some of the sillier scenes in the later movies filmed while he was doing the writing. Raymond Benson is the latest contestant in the continuing saga of someone trying to write a book continuing a character that someone else created.

Benson's writing is only mediocre, but of course the plot is what's important. All of the typical elements of a James Bond novel are here: a criminal mastermind who's trying to do horrible things, a weaker sidekick who's been maneuvered into cooperating, a beautiful woman caught up in things who's unsuspecting, and of course exotic locales and sophisticated entertainments like fancy restaurants and gambling in Monte Carlo.

Benson handles all of this reasonably well, though as I said the writing's only so-so. I enjoyed the book reasonably well, and would recommend it to someone looking for mindless beach entertainment or something to read on a plane while travelling somewhere.