The author of The James Bond Bedside Companion (not reviewed) pits Agent 007 against worthy Pacific Basin opponents in a more than serviceable first thriller that could give Ian Fleming's ultracool hero yet another new lease on life. Dispatched to Hong Kong to halt a series of violent incidents that threaten the Crown Colony's mid-1997 return to the People's Republic of China, Bond first checks on Guy Thackeray, the fifth- generation head of a family shipping firm called EurAsia Enterprises. Although the SIS troubleshooter gets the goods on the shady businessman, the latter perishes (or appears to) in a car bombing. In next trying to tap underworld intelligence sources, 007 makes a nearly fatal mistake and is obliged to undertake a personal mission for triad chieftain Li Xu Nan. Against the odds, the master spy penetrates the PRC and returns alive, bearing papers that put Li in his debt. With help from the grateful crime boss, Bond heads down under to investigate a mysterious outback blast London has told him is not his affair. In due course, he finds a back-from- the-dead Thackeray at a remote uranium mine; to his horror, he learns that the embittered taipan (who's used EurAsia to make a great fortune in the drug trade) plans to put paid to the celebration of Hong Kong's handover by detonating a crude nuclear device on or near the island at midnight on June 30, 1997. Before 007 can beat the clock and save the showcase outpost of empire with an eleventh-hour dash through a crowded harbor, however, he must escape the clutches of a villainous captor and make it out of western Australia's famously inhospitable bush country. Benson's 007 is a chip off the old block and, if not a gilt- edged Bond, at least a double-A. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Ingram

The clock is ticking for Hong Kong. The British Crown Colony will soon be handed over to the People's Republic of China. But hopes for a peaceful transition are shattered when a series of terrorist acts threaten the fragile relationship between Britain and China. James Bond is dispatched to Hong Kong to investigate the nefarious Chinese underworld Triad, but the truth he finds is buried even deeper. Now Bond has only ten days to unravel a fiendish plot of revenge with roots that reach back more than a century and a half.

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1.0 out of 5 stars Benson's first atrocity, May 5 2004

By	N. P. Stathoulopoulos "nick9155" (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

Raymond Benson was a video games designer who was president of the James Bond fan club and author of The James Bond Bedside companion. Then one day, when John Gardner finally had enough of Bond, Glidrose hired Mr. Benson to carry on the franchise.

And so it goes. Each Raymond Benson effort, beginning with this one, has been a cheap, painful excuse for a James Bond novel, even by the worst Gardner standards. They are linear in the way a computer game is linear, going from part to part mechanically, guiding you along, past everything you expect.

Benson writes a cross between the cinematic James Bond and a fan-boy's imitation of Ian Fleming. The writing is so bad, so amateurish, that it begins to feel like fill-in-the-blanks. Trip to Q Branch? Check. Ridiculous, super-equipped car? Check. Gorgeous women falling for Bond? Check. Exotic assasins? Check.

Benson is writing a slightly more detailed version of the James Bond films, and trying to inject Fleming by simply citing the details about Bond and his personality, but nothing flows well, he doesn't get what Fleming was doing. It's like he has all the details, the plotting, a linear thread, but he can't write it. I'm confident Ian Fleming is spinning in his coffin as Bond is carried on by a super fan-boy, and an American, no less.

At this point, I would recommend reading Ian Fleming. John Gardner did a couple of decent books. Raymond Benson, however, is an embarassment. The Bond literary franchise has been cheapened, and is perhaps best left alone at this point.

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