20 replies to this topic

[deth]

......alright, finished reading it.... and now I've read all the Benson Bonds....

hm.


......I would have to say that this was certainly a very strange Bond, unlike any other.....

.....I think it would actually be very good made into a movie..... (just simplified a bit)


...... I would say this is his 4th best novel behind:

1. High Time to Kill
2. The Man wiht the Red Tattoo
3. Never Dream of Dying

[zencat]

I might change the order around a bit, but those would be my top 3 Benson books as well.

Doubleshot is an interesting book, isn't it? I think I'm due for a re-read.

[DLibrasnow]

One Benson novel I have never read is "High Time to Kill" hmmm....I will have to try and get my hands on a copy.

[zencat]

Oh that's a MUST, DLibrashow! I think you'll like it.

[deth]

Originally posted by zencat
Oh that's a MUST, DLibrashow! I think you'll like it.

IMO, it's very much like Fleming.....




......yup, Doubleshot is a very strange book. Not what you would expect at all.....

[Triton]

Originally posted by DLibrasnow
One Benson novel I have never read is "High Time to Kill" hmmm....I will have to try and get my hands on a copy.

I highly recommend that you pick up a copy DLibrasnow. I believe it to one of Benson's better James Bond novels. I especially like the characters that Benson created for this novel. I also like the idea of a mountaineering James Bond, especially since both of Bond's parents were killed mountaineering.

I don't particularly like the title that Ian Fleming Publications chose for the novel though, but one should not judge a book by its cover or title.

[Sensualist]

High Time To Kill is a terrific James Bond adventure and better that some Fleming and most of Gardner.

The first page is pure James Bond and something Fleming himself would be envious of. (The introduction of a deadly predator from the animal kingdom on the first page of a bond novel is quite Flemingesque and Benson pays homage to that legacy)

The adventure begins in a part of the world which is familiar territory to James Bond: The Bahamas. A location which finds him in the company of an old friend he first met in an old short, Quantum Of Solace.

The second half of the book takes us to a place where bond has never been and is fine, fine stuff.

High Time To Kill is a memorable read and is a proud addition to the James Bond canon.

(btw, Doubleshot has its moments but is not as memorable as ZMT, HTTK, and TMWTRT)

[deth]

I don't know.... I enjoyed Zero Minus Ten.... just.... it didn't feel unique...

......even if Bond did partner with the baddies.....

[Qwerty]

I like this one, different, something that's welcome in the Bond novels. A little change. I also am very find of the villain, even the name is very well thought out- Domingo Espada, very cool!

[Tanger]

Does anybody in the UK have a paperback copy of this that they wouldn't mind selling me or trading/lending whatever. I've been trying to get hold of all the Benson's and this is the only one I haven't been able to find.

[Qwerty]

I don't have one Tanger, but if you haven't already, I would really put a search for one on eBay...I used to almost always see those copies of it popping on for generally fair prices some times on there. A fair price for collector's, but I'd still check it out.

[Tanger]

I've been looking on eBay for about a year and have had no luck. All of Benson's other novels have appeared except this one. The trouble is, I want to read the Union Trilogy in order as this one is the middle one and I have the other two, it's a bit of a pain that I can't find it anywhere.

[Tanger]

You should also know that it is out of print in the Uk which is another reason why it is so difficult to find.

[Qwerty]

Yes I knew some of them were difficult to find in the UK, and that seems surprising to me. I bought the publications of Doubleshot I could, but now only a few Jove paperbacks float around in the occasional bookstore.

[Tanger]

Yeah Facts Of Death and Doubleshot are now out of print and are incredibly hard to find. If you're lucky then you might catch a few on eBay, but to be honest, I've found it's easier to obtain the rarer novels such as Colonel Sun, JB: TSWLM, JB and MR and JB: TAB.

[Qwerty]

I sometimes see the UK hardcovers of those books on eBay more often than any other online book retailer, but I had always thought the UK had finding Bond novels much easier than the US. Guess it just depends on what book.

[Kronsteen]

I liked Doubleshot very much, and so far that's Bensons best, for me. I have yet to read his two first books...

[Icephoenix]

I was lucky enough to catch the first four UK Bensons on Ebay, they now sit roudly on my wall unit. Love'em.

[deth]

I can't stress this enough......... unless you absolutely have to own a copy, YOUR MAIN LIBRARY MIGHT HAVE IT. It's the only place I can get em around here........

[Qwerty]

Speaking of coincidences, I just noticed for fun one day to actually see that the one library by me actually got 4 Benson hardcovers.

I've gotten many copies of his books, but it's nice to see the libraries getting them finally too.

[B007GLE]

Doubleshot is a halfway decent Benson I (I feel that after the facts of Death he started to decline until TMWTRT which is realy fine.)

I really liked the villain and the femme fatale I hated the "Comedy" of Bond's first encounter with the twins. It was predictable and something out of a bad GeneWilder film.

Maybe I did not give it a fair chance as when I was around ten, using my James Bond spy-o-graph tracing machine I wrote and drew (actually traced) a Bond story of my own called "Double-Double-O-7" about a killer with Bond's face. Obviously Benson did not steal my childlike idea, but perhaps I couldn't give him his fair due becuase I had previously come up with the same thing.