My faith in Benson as Bond author has been renewed after the, what I thought was disapointing, Never Dream of Dying. In fact, I think I'll even go as far as to say that this is Benson's best yet. It has some of the best characterization from a Benson book; Goro Yoshida makes very few appearences but Benson still manages to make him an interesting, fully developed character. Tiger Tanaka is back and doesn't seem to be his own self after a health problem. The kappa is one of the series' best henchman in years, Fleming would be proud. Of the two girls, Reiko and Mayumi, I thought neither were too developed but it is interesting to see Bond's reactions to the "wild party girl" and trying to give her orders.
The best scheme for villain in either books or movies. Yoshida's plot is brilliantly conceived.
Some really tense and suspenseful scenes; I loved the action on the train in the middle of the book and all of the action with the mosquitoes and the final battle with Yoshida is one of the tensest moments Benson has written.
The story opens with a mystery, which all good Bonds should, and evolves into an intriguing and complex plot with Bond actually investigating and putting the clues together. Benson vividly describes everything and I can really appreciate his research that goes into these.
The ending is fantastic, Yoshida has a horribly gruesome death but in his eyeshe beat Bond. Nice little twist that'll get the reader thinking.
So, The Man With The Red Tattoo, IMO, is Benson's best Bond yet and is a comlex, violent mystery with bizarre villains and beatuiful allies.
I look forward to Mr Benson's next book next summer, now that we're past what will most likely be called his early books in a few years.
