Doubleshot [Hardcover]

Raymond Benson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2000 | Series: James Bond

A gripping new James Bond adventure--one of the strangest and most terrifying the agent has ever endured.

Is this bizarre warning inside a fortune cookie the catalyst for a series of unsettling events that could push an impaired James Bond close to the edge of madness?

The intricately organized criminal conspiracy called the Union has vowed its revenge on the man who thwarted its last coup. Now, the Union's mysterious leader sets out to destroy James Bond's reputation and sanity by luring the agent into a dangerous alliance of deceit and treason with a Spanish militant intent on reclaiming Gibraltar.

Officially on medical leave, 007 pursues clues that he believes might lead him to the Union's inner circle. His search takes him from the seedy underbelly of London's Soho to the souks of Tangier; from a terrorist training camp in Morocco to a bullring in Spain; and from the clutches of a murderous Spanish beauty to a volatile summit conference on the Rock of Gibraltar. Each step brings him closer to the truth about the Union's elaborate, audacious plot to destroy both SIS and its best agent: James Bond.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Benson (The Facts of Death), a director of the Ian Fleming Foundation and chief litterateur/preservationist of the 007 tradition, delivers his seventh volume of James Bond fiction. Mobilizing a cold-blooded hit man surgically restructured to be the British superspy's double, a worldwide organization of terrorists known as the Union conspires to assassinate the governor of Gibraltar and the British and Spanish prime ministers at a summit meeting to settle rioting and political unrest over the control of the Rock. The plan is to let the real Bond take the blameAand kill him off in the resulting mayhem. Bond himselfAsuffering disabling headaches and sporadic amnesia from a head injury incurred in the HimalayasAfinds a message in a fortune cookie: Meeting your double means certain death. Bond ignores his boss M's orders to take medical leave and, intent on exacting revenge on the Union for the death of his personal assistant, Helena, undertakes a mission to bring her killers to a final reckoning. Following a sensual encounter with his beautiful physician, 007 blacks out and wakes to find her brutally murdered. The trail leads to Tangier, where a fellow agent is killed helping Bond scout the Union stronghold in the Rif mountains. On a train to Casablanca, 007 meets a pair of beautiful blonde identical twins who turn out to be CIA agents assigned to escort him back to London. He prevails on them to plead his case with M, and they join his quest to discover the purpose and identity of the imposter Bond and to settle the score with the Union. Benson's faithful manipulation of Fleming's boilerplate formula will have Bond fans cheering as 007 and the sexy twins race to save the day on Gibraltar, then demurely retire to a king-size bed.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

The creakiest exercise yet in American Bond fan Benson's postmodern resurrection of Ian Fleming's peerless killer spy, has an embarrassingly witless 007 going rogue to fight a dastardly multinational crime cartel.Two months after the calamitous conclusion of High Time to Kill (1999), Bond is still depressed over the death of lover Helen Marksbury. He's also on medical leave, under the care of comely Dr. Kimberely Feare, taking pills that are supposed to heal a brain lesion but do little more than leave him paranoid and prone to blackouts. Unknown to Bond, the American white supremacists who call themselves the Union have revamped themselves into a wealthy criminal club that holds meetings in swank, dimly lit underground boardrooms presided over by the mysterious Le Gerant, a blind man who forgoes canes because he can psychically sense his surroundings. Aided by sadomasochistic sexpot Margareta Piel, Le Gerant has found a crazed Bond look-alike willing to undergo plastic surgery, wear Brioni suits, and commit un-Bondly crimes, such as killing Dr. Feare moments after she forsakes medical ethics to succumb to the real Bond's “overwhelming masculinity.” Meanwhile, Spanish powerbroker (and Union member) Domingo Espada, who publicly manages bullfighters and privately kidnaps poor girls and turns them into sex slaves, has set up a meeting with the various heads of state to demand the return of Gibraltar to Spain. At the climax of the meeting, pseudo-Bond will kill the British Prime Minister. Of course, the one true Bond can thwart only so much gratuitous overplotting by himself, so he swipes a handgun from the Q Branch armory (almost no gadgetry in this outing, alas), falls in with voluptuous CIA twins Heidi and Hedy Taunt, and, after a inconvenient blackout, awakens in Espada's bullring, where he must first use his wits against a charging bull and then fight pseudo-Bond to the death. Nifty bullfighting scenes do not redeem an otherwise cliché-cluttered narrative. For die-hard fans only. -- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult (June 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399146148
• ISBN-13: 978-0399146145
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,569,276 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

As of January 2011, Raymond Benson is the author of twenty-four published books. These include six original JAMES BOND novels (now collected in the recent anthologies THE UNION TRILOGY and CHOICE OF WEAPONS), three 007 film novelizations, and the first two TOM CLANCY'S SPLINTER CELL novels (for the latter he used the pseudonym of "David Michaels"). With John Milius he penned HOMEFRONT: THE VOICE OF FREEDOM. He also wrote the novelizations of the popular videogames--METAL GEAR SOLID and METAL GEAR SOLID 2: SONS OF LIBERTY. Raymond writes his own original suspense books as well--stand alone thrillers such as TORMENT, ARTIFACT OF EVIL, SWEETIE'S DIAMONDS, FACE BLIND, and EVIL HOURS, or his two "Spike Berenger Rock 'n' Roll Hits" featuring a music industry detective--A HARD DAY'S DEATH and DARK SIDE OF THE MORGUE. Coming soon--Raymond's entry in the "Gabriel Hunt" adventures, HUNT THROUGH NAPOLEON'S WEB, and an original thriller, THE BLACK STILETTO. There's a lot more, so if you want the full story visit the author at his website... www.raymondbenson.com!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Benson adds another great story to the 007 canon., June 4, 2000

By 

Movie buff (Georgia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Doubleshot (Hardcover)

Doubleshot is another excellent addition to the Bond canon as possibly one of Benson's strongest entries. For one thing, as with the last entry High Time to Kill, Doubleshot initially makes a departure from the traditional Bond formula. The book begins with our favorite agent operating at less than his full capacity. Benson's depiction of Bond is an absolute contrast with the agile, strong figure that he first described in the opening chapter of Zero Minus Ten.

Throughout the narrative, the author sprinkles his tale with echoing recalls from Ian Fleming's literary Bond and some elements of the Bond films. However, for the purists, this is the literary Bond and not his celluloid counterpart. Benson has received some criticism for making his novels "too much like a screenplay," however, I think that by carefully adding a few cinematic surroundings, he makes an easy introduction to the literary Bond for casual fans and those that are not fully aquatinted with Fleming's work.

As this is his fourth original novel, Benson has firmly set his own style. He is more comfortable with his story telling ability and his characterizations are more daring. This book contains very violent actions conducted by some of Benson's most ruthless creations. Domingo Espada and Margareta Piel are two of the most twisted and sadistic villains Bond has ever encountered. As with the Skin 17 plot element in High Time to Kill, the Bond doppleganger also works well in the story in spite of the fact that this plot device seems more like a Bond rip-off than genuine 007. I initially had my doubts about a double 007, however Benson makes it work and allows the reader to enjoy his story for the fantasy and escapism that Bond novels are.

Although some readers may not bother with such details, Benson pays attention to the technical aspects of his books while remaining faithful to the basic elements of Ian Fleming's world. One case in point is Bond's armament. Benson realistically balances Bond's use of the trusty Walther PPK with a more serious combat handgun, the Walther P99. By recognizing that Bond is a professional operator, he equips Bond with a professional's gear, all the way down to real world custom-made holsters for Bond's .40 caliber P99.

I hope other readers find the same enjoyment I found in this book. It is a fast paced and engaging story. With excellent characters, including Benson's best Bond girl(s) and an interesting plot, Raymond Benson assures us that, even in the 21st century, there's still plenty of "Sex, Sadism, and Snobbery" to go around.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Benson's Bumbling Bond Beside Himself - A Slight Slip, June 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Doubleshot (Hardcover)

In his fourth contribution to the James Bond series, Raymond Benson shows us a much too human James Bond, clearly a man who should not be out on a job for HMSS in his current state. While far better and more potent than the pretty Bond of the 80s, Doubleshot's Bond is frighteningly gullible, if not flat out naive. These traits are NOT demonstrated in Benson's earlier Bond works which are must-reads for all (Zero Minus Ten, The Facts of Death, High Time to Kill). Some of the supporting cast are just plain silly, as well. Doubleshot reads a little too fast, and the plot could use some more twists and complexity. Readers learn more about The Union, a more realistic version of Fleming's SPECTRE that first reared its head in High Time to Kill, and as expected, several of its deadly operatives meet their demises. Simply stated, the plot is too predictable (aren't all Bond novels?), but even more than the previous stories. There are fewer outrageous gadgets, which is a tremendous improvement, however. Fancy toys are for the movies. This is an easy read, one that might appeal more to teenagers than those of us who have read Fleming. Still, quite enjoyable. Benson has proven to be a worthy successor to Fleming, Amis and Gardner.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars not one of the better Bond books, September 13, 2001

By 

GameMaker (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Doubleshot (Hardcover)

I'm a real big James Bond fan, I believe I've read them all, and unfortunately I rank this one near the bottom. Benson is a decent writer and "High Time To Kill" was entertaining, but this was just a poor effort. One problem with "Doubleshot" is that it's written as a mystery, not a spy novel, and the "surprise ending" was way too obvious and annoying. James Bond is mainly portrayed as a clumsy bumbler, and this is a bit hard to take for us Bond fanatics. Hopefully Benson will do better next time.