- Hardcover: 303 pages
- Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd (3 May 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0340792590
- ISBN-13: 978-0340792599
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.5 x 3.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 995,057 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Review
'Welcome back, Mr Bond. We've been waiting for you...Benson has gone back to Bondian basics in a fast-moving world of bedrooms, firm breasts, betting and bruises.' Independent on Sunday 2 'Spectacular chases, gory killings and a spot of sado-masochism..addicts of the genre will love it.' The Times 3 'Benson's faithful manipulation of Fleming's boilerplate formula will have Bond fans cheering.' Publishers Weekly on DOUBLESHOT 4 'If Bond is up your boulevard then this is for you' Bath Chronicle on DOUBLESHOT"
Publishers Weekly on DOUBLESHOT
'Benson's faithful manipulation of Fleming's boilerplate formula will have Bond fans cheering.'
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First Sentence
A tiny bead of sweat appeared at the commandant's right temple and lingered there, waiting for the moment when it would drop off and trickle down the man's high, scarred cheekbone. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
A tiny bead of sweat appeared at the commandant's right temple and lingered there, waiting for the moment when it would drop off and trickle down the man's high, scarred cheekbone. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a really exciting, unputdownable page-turner and a worthy addition to the Bond canon. I read some of the original Bond books years ago and this is as good as, or better than, any of them. I hadn't realised Bond books were still being produced until I came across this on a trip to the States. The books starts with an exciting set-piece that would make a great pre-title sequence for a Bond movie. From then on, the action and suspense never lets up. The villains are fascinating and scary, particularly 'Le Gerant' and 'the Union'. The action moves around the South of France, including trips to Corsica, Monte Carlo and Cannes. There's an intriguing romantic strand, with Bond getting entangled with the beautiful actress Tylyn Mignonne. And interesting insights into the mind of Bond - his attitudes to his job and even his feelings of guilt when innocents get involved. Overall, it's a really good read and I'm sure it would make a great film too. The back of the book has a mysterious reference to a website that's also quite intriguing... I visited and found a difficult puzzle. So that's worth a visit too.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Raymond Benson's fifth James Bond continuation novel is the finale of "The Union Trilogy" in which Bond finally confronts his arch-enemy from the previous two novels, High Time To Kill and Doubleshot, Olivier Cesari aka Le Gerant, head of deadly terrorist organization, The Union.
A "New War" has broken out between The Union and the world's security forces. 007 and his old French ami, Rene Mathis botch a raid on the old Bisset film studios in Nice (suspected of being a front for arms dealings) resulting in the deaths of innocent people. Bond is transferred to another assignment but has to plead to stay on the trail of the Union. Mathis is suspended but continues to make his own personal efforts to track down Le Gerant. Their work meets to reveal that the Union is using notoriously successful film producer, Leon Essinger's next blockbuster, "Pirate Island" to launder funds and smuggle stolen explosives. After a clue garnered from Belmarsh Prison, Bond follows the trail to Paris and then the South of France where he eventually gets involved with Essinger's estranged spouse, the beautiful actress-model, Tylyn (rhymes with smilin') Mignonne, has a "formal" meeting with his ex-father-in-law, Marc Ange-Draco which in turn leads him to a duel of chemin de fer in the royal casino of Monte Carlo with a certain Pierre Rodiac. Soon Bond is performing his own stunts on the ocean-bound set of Pirate Island off the coast of Corsica and tracking down his prey in the haunting paisan terrain of rustic Corsica before the full threat is revealed. With isolated episodes in the US (Sunset Boulevard, Buffalo Grove, near Chicago) and the Japanese Kuril Islands near Russia, the novel's journey finally ends at the Cannes Film Festival and subsequently the new HQ of the Union.
It is difficult to be original in a James Bond story but Benson has managed to come up with some new ideas: an anti-terrorist assault on disused film studios, retinal tatoos, 007's capable male secretary, a chase through a TV set being used for a dog show, a deadly waterbound chase intercut with a fake film sequence, an undersea ride on a gadget-laden sled, an ingenius jail-break, a fight in a grand cinema, a full-scale commando raid and the most painful torture sequence since 007 met that carpet-beater!
Benson continues to earn his martinis! Bond's affair with Tylyn is a wonderful love story which is refreshing for its rarity. Draco's entrance is well-handled. The evocation of dream imagery and Corsican myth and vendetta gives the story thematic appeal. The globetrotting makes logical sense and Benson does conjour a sense of place and local colour. The central idea of the major Waterworld-meets-Cutthroat Island film production being used as a criminal front is a smart concept in these days of $100 million plus budgets. The novel is well-crafted and plotted: after the extremely exciting, prolonged ending, the resolution is cleverly neat, genuinely surprising and bittersweet. All these elements have been fashioned into an inventive and richly complex tale of international intrigue, fate and revenge in which a range of matters in the life of 007 are satisfyingly resolved in Raymond Benson's best James Bond novel yet.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I read "Never Dream of Dying" in two short days. I couldn't put it down. More than the other "continuation" authors, Raymond Benson captures the spirit of Ian Fleming's James Bond. He doesn't write like Fleming, but somehow he nails Fleming's character. The plot here is a thrilling conclusion to the "Union trilogy" (which began in "High Time to Kill and continued in "Doubleshot") but you don't need to have read those two to enjoy this one. Le Gerant is a great villain, and "Never Dream of Dying" boasts some terrific locations in Cannes and Corsica. It would make a great film, if only EON Productions would wake up and pay attention.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
"Never Dream of Dying, Mr Bond. It Just Might Happen ... "
This is the third novel in "The Union Trilogy" and Bond's assignment is focused on the film industry. Read more
Published on 2 Aug 2009 by David Jones
The Stag Routs the Devil's Dream Wolf in Darkness!
Raymond Benson has a great respect for, knowledge of, and facility with the original Ian Fleming books about James Bond. Read more
Published on 10 May 2004 by Donald Mitchell
Tired, very tired
Opinions seem to differ on this one, and I suppose I am asking for it by writing a negative review. All those Bond fanatics will be pressing the unhelpful button to show just what... Read more
Published on 18 Oct 2002 by N. Brett
Benson's best...
After experimenting in his last two books, High Time to Kill (with plot) and Doubleshot (with character), Benson returns to the basics and writes what may be his best Bond novel to... Read more
Published on 24 May 2002
What an awful book
This has got to be one of the worst books I have ever read. After the first two books in this trilogy which were both excellent I was expecting a huge finale but what I found when... Read more
Published on 8 May 2002
Benson's best - until his next one...?
After years suffering the Gardner abominations, true fans of the literary 007 must share my relish each year as Raymond Benson publishes a new Bond book. Read more
Published on 22 April 2002
Benson's worst effort yet
When Raymond Benson first took over the mantle from John Gardiner with "Zero Minus Ten", I had some reservations about his writing style. Read more
Published on 25 Jan 2002
Benson brings out Bond's Best!
Never Dream of Dying is Benson's third Bond novel which deals with THE UNION, a SPECTRE for the new millenium. Read more
Published on 31 Dec 2001 by discodav6@hotmail.com
Benson's best!
This is arguably Benson's best Bond novel to date. It is richly detailed, contains a fast-moving and intricate plot, and the expected Bondian action. Read more
Published on 26 Nov 2001
One Of Bensons Best Bonds
This is one of Raymond Bensons best Bond thrillers and seems to try to cater for both sets of Bond fans. Read more
Published on 12 Nov 2001
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