4 replies to this topic

[Qwerty]

This thread is intended for reviews and ratings of High Time To Kill by members of the The Blades Library Book Club here. Be sure to add your review if you do vote in the poll!

The Blades Library Book Club will be reading High Time To Kill from:
13 April 2009 - 15 June 2009

[dogmanstar]

High Time to Kill gets pretty good marks from me. I think the book is pretty tense, has some lovely local color and exotic locations, decent plot twists and good characterizations.

Similar to the Spektor decoder machine in FRWL, this book is all about obtaining a McGuffin, 'Skin 17', a secret military formula for advanced weaponry. And everyone in the world is after it. The Russians, the Chinese and the newly organized terrorist group the Union.

Trouble is: 'Skin 17' is on top of a mountain in Nepal. This leads to some great descriptons of Bond getting ready to climb the mountain and the climbing itself. Benson does a great job of demonstrating climbing techniques and really makes this one a page turner.

Not so good: I find the dialogue with Roland Marquis to be a little juvenile. Bond acts in Marquis' presence more like a 5th grader than an MI6 agent! Second, the climbing operation is a little unwieldy--lots of characters with different motivations--now I know why Bond likes to work alone!

I gave the novel a 4 which makes it one of the top, if not the top, Benson continuation novel.

[volante]

I believe High Time to Kill has the widest appeal of all the Bond novels.
It is a cracking good read in its own right, which just happens to have James Bond as one of the main ingrediants.
It differs to the usual story line because of the number of characters featured.
A lot of the action takes place outside of Bond's influence, and the time scale of the story plays out over the longest time period of the Bond adventures.
This actually seems to effect the way Bond operates, and his awkwardness and abilty to "toe the line" points to his motiviation and desire to be the lone assissin.
Mr. Benson still plays by all the Fleming rules and guide lines, he just takes Bond out of his comfort zone; and for that I like it.

Edited by volante, 17 April 2009 - 08:35 PM.

[zencat]

I think it's one of the very best James Bond continuation novels.

[Jaws0178]

I read High Time To Kill probably about half a year ago, and actually found it to be a decent continuation novel, and a pretty good look into the Union. Like alot of Bensons novels, I could see it as a movie. In my mind, I like to see the books as movies for some reason. It was a bit violent, but most of the books are. All in all, a pretty good read.