Rating: 
Summary: Bond is back and better than ever!
Review: Raymond Benson's latest Bond novel literally, has it all! "Never Dream of Dying" is a classic Bond novel in the tradition of "From Russia with Love". The adversaries Bond faces, the evil UNION, are the best group of Bond villians since SPECTRE. And the head of the UNION, Le Gerant, is the most evil, ingenious, and ruthless Bond villian since Blofeld. While on the trail of Le Gerant, Bond meets beautiful movie star Tylyn Mignonne. James Bond has not had such a genuine romance since Tracy in OHMSS, and it is great to see Bond head-over-heels in love. You need not be a Bond fan to enjoy this novel. Any John Grisham or Tom Clancy fan will be thrilled by this book as well. And Bond film producers, if you are out there, this novel MUST be made into a film! It has all the classic elements of the early Bond films.
Rating:
Summary: Never Dreamed of This...
Review: Say what you will about Benson's novels, he always strives to bridge the literary links between Fleming's originals and his own Bond adventures. 007's latest outing brings Bond face to face with Le Gerant, the mysterious mastermind behind the Union -- the deadly crime cartel Bond has battled in the previous two novels. Bond meets up with an old ally, Frenchman Rene Mathis who first appeared in Casino Royale, the Bond book that spawned the series. But perhaps more notably, Bond is reacquainted with his father-in-law, Marc-Ange Draco (On Her Majesty's Secret Service.) One of Fleming's most colorful and memorable characters, Draco's life since the death of Tracy -- Bond's murdered wife -- remained a mystery to readers, and I'm sure many of us wondered what became of his relationship with Bond in the subsequent years. Benson takes an enormous chance re-introducing a character of this stature, but somehow pulls it off. Never Dream of Dying has Bond back as the dogged assassin, and thanks to Benson's decision to limit the plot to a few well exploited locales, we're given more than glimpse of the historical Corsica, and the lavish Cannes. Unlike the film makers, Fleming was always smart enough to realize that the setting was as much a part of his novels as any character. By the end of a Fleming novel, and now a Benson novel, we feel as though we've lived a bit of the locale instead of just gotten off the bus for a couple of snapshots. My strongest recommendation for Never Dream of Dying comes not for it's tight plot, but for Benson's characterization of Bond, himself. He seems wiser, more hardened and, as a whole, more complete as a character. Cheers to you, Raymond, for continuing to take the job seriously, and for working so hard to get it right.
Rating: 
Summary: Never Dream of Buying !!!
Review: The final part of Benson's Union trilogy fails to build on the previous work, "Doubleshot" (2000), and is another weak effort from him. I think the real problem lies in the fact that Benson just hasn't taken into account that the character of James Bond has moved on considerably from Fleming's original creation, and in order to keep pace with the cinematic version the novels need to have more action and excitement than ever before. John Gardner recognised this but tried to remain true to the literary Bond, not always successfully I'll admitt !!!, but Benson just doesn't seem to appreciate this. As a result he tends to write these limp thrillers that lack the pace of the movies, indeed the average pre-credit sequence of one of the films contains more excitement and spectacle than almost this entire novel. Also Benson has a terrible tendacy to treat Bond like a moron, taking far too long for 007 to put the pieces together in a plot that the average reader will have figured out after the first couple of chapters. The emphasis here is that Bond is an "intelligence" agent, not some "stupid policeman" (* as quoted by Dr No in the film !!!) and should NEVER be portrayed as such. Finally this novel has some surprising similarities to John Gardner's somewhat weak effort "Never Send Flowers" (1993), in that both involve the film industry in some respect and both end with a plot to blow up royalty !!! Sorry to say but at the price of hardback novels now this kind of effort just isn't worth it, so my advice to anyone considering buying this novel, wait for the paperback.
Rating:
Summary: Crash! Bang! Wallop!
Review: The last novel of Raymond Benson's unofficial "Union Trilogy" is one of the most exciting and titillating. His descriptions of locales and people are so good, it makes the reader believe he's there looking at the people and places. His description of the leading lady, Tylyn Mignonne, literally made me fall in love with her! Beware for the surprise ending which WILL even shock the cleverest reader! Way to go Raymond! Keep up the good work!
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: Not Ian Fleming, but oh well...
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.
Rating:
Summary: Benson's worst effort yet
Review: This latest Bond offering didn't capture my imagination like the other. This book completes the Union trilogy, but the Union mystique kind of just fizzles out. The Union and le Gerant seemed much less evil in this offering. Bond spends the book chasing after the Union, but in the previous books, we had more of a sense of his impending doom. The bad guys are all from previous books. The only original bad guy is more of a pawn of the union. Aside from the story, Benson is not a very good writer. Maybe it was more prevalent in this novel that in others, But Benson uses the passive voice in writing sentences. Instead of describing scenes, he tells us with the verb "was". I know a lot of authors do this, but Benson does it so much that it sticks out and becomes destracting. A better writer would find a better way to describe things. Benson will never be a great writer, but as his worst effort, this book wasn't that bad.
Rating:
Summary: Ultimate Bond!
Review: This novel contains the classic sensuous Bond of old, portrayed in a very realistic and believable style. There are no deep philosophical issues here, just action and suspense in an easy fun read. As in the Bond movies there are the usual exotic settings, Benson is good at this and uses them to great effect. The villains are well done and the story is superb. The ending was excellent, particularly the last two paragraphs.
Rating:
Summary: I just don't know
Review: Well, Benson is known for his Bondian scholarship, and it shows in this book as in all his others. When he first came to the franchise I was impressed by his little 'Fleming' touches - detailed gambling scenes, precisely named gadgets and so on - but after a few books I'm getting a bit bored with it all. I didn't think this was a bad book, just that it wasn't a great book either. Having hit on the Bond formula, Benson seems content to tread water, writing the same style (though thankfully not the same story) over and over again. Is it time for another author to take over the franchise? I think I'd like to see each new Bond book written by a different author, each bringing something of his or her own style to the series. But would that destroy that magical 'Bondness' that we all love? I just don't know.
| 
