Never Dream Of Dying: Library Edition (James Bond 007 (Blackstone)) [MP3 Audio] [Audio CD]

Raymond Benson (Author), Simon Vance (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2004 | Series: James Bond 007 (Blackstone)

A movie is a perfect hiding place for crime, as Bond finds when he uncovers how a film producer is a front for an international crime conspiracy. The Union - already encountered in the latest two Bond adventures High Time to Kill and Doubleshot - reveals its connections to the Cannes Film Festival and the Corsican mafia. Before he has finished, Bond will have to save the producer's exquisite movie-star wife, confront Le Gerant, the brains behind the Union - and settle a score from many years ago.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Raymond Benson continues his string of bracing, true-to-tradition James Bond adventures with Never Dream of Dying. As in his last two outings (High Time to Kill and Doubleshot), Bond is up against the Union, a supersecret international cartel of arms dealers and assassins headed by a satisfyingly diabolical mastermind. All the ingredients are there: solo forays into enemy territory, exotic European locales, brushes with death, high-tech gadgetry, a gorgeous femme fatale, and a hair-raising conclusion featuring plenty of explosions and a deadly race against the clock. Benson, a scholar of the original Ian Fleming series who has written four other original Bond thrillers as well as the novelizations of several Bond movies, gets the tone just right. Bond fans won't be disappointed. --Nicholas H. Allison --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Bond. James Bond. Those words still propel the reader into a dangerous, glamorous world, a world where only Agent 007 can save the day again and again and again. In this rehashing of the legend, Bond joins his aging friend Rene Mathis to observe a raid by French police on a ramshackle film studio in the Cote d'Azur owned by shady French film producer/director Leon Essinger. Tipped to the raid, the Union, a league of terrorists with laser-tattoo brands on their eyeballs, show up and wreak havoc until Bond foils them by igniting some handy petrol barrels. In the aftermath Mathis is suspended but hunts the Union on his own, following a trail of stolen super explosives to wealthy blind gambler Pierre Rodiac. He tracks Rodiac's yacht from the casinos of Monaco back to Corsica and a remote mansion fortress, and promptly disappears. Meanwhile, Bond meets and falls in love with Essinger's estranged wife, movie star/supermodel Tylyn Mignonne, as his search links Essinger to Rodiac and word of a major terrorist act in the works. His hunt for Mathis and the Union mastermind causes him to cross paths with the old Mafia Corse, Corsican witches, murderous stuntmen and a fiendish eye doctor who tortures Bond when the intrepid agent is captured. Bensen does Fleming credit; his Bond a worthy replica of the original. M (for some time now Ms. M) and Miss Moneypenny hold down the fort while Bond discards million-pound gadgets like used Kleenex to frustrate Major Boothroyd, who has replaced the inimitable Q now that the much loved actor who played Q in the Bond films has died yet another sign that the Bond book/movie business has achieved true synergy.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks; MP3 Una edition (November 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786183675
• ISBN-13: 978-0786183678
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 6.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,311,789 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

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Benson's Bond Series Overview, August 29, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Never Dream of Dying (Hardcover)

As a long time 007 fan, I have just re-read all of Raymond Benson's Bond novels in the proper order and have some reflections on his entire series through "Never Dream of Dying." First of all, Benson is not Ian Fleming and readers should get past that expectation before beginning. He's not John Gardner, either (thank goodness!). That said, I believe Benson has come the closest to Ian Fleming of all the post-Fleming writers in that he has truly captured the essence of Bond's character and the universe in which 007 operates. It is a fantasy spy world, not based in reality, just as Fleming's was, but like Bond's creator, Benson keeps the main character very human. Benson's Bond makes mistakes, shows fear, feels pain, and is melancholy much of the time. At the same time, Benson has brought in many elements of the Bond film series (I have read an interview with him that states that he and the Ian Fleming Estate agreed that this would be the approach to take). Therefore, Benson's Bond is a mixture of the cinematic and literary Bonds, and for me, this works splendidly. I have seen some fans object to this or that but it seems to me that these fans are not getting past personal expectations. Bond is many things to many people. Benson, a long time Bond scholar and author of the excellent "James Bond Bedside Companion" knows his stuff. He has nailed the Bond character. Some have complained about his writing style. Benson is no Fleming, as stated earlier, but his style is succinct and easy to read. His books flow quickly and are highly entertaining. "ZERO MINUS TEN": Benson's first book has one of his best plots, but it suffers slightly from being a "first novel." His writing is at its weakest here, but that said, ZMT is a wonderful Bond story. It is very Fleming-esque with its Hong Kong location, characters like Guy Thackeray and T. Y. Woo and Li Xu Nan, and its descriptions of food, mahjong, and Triads. When reading ZMT, one is immediately aware that this is a harder-edged and darker Bond than perhaps what we are used to. For a first effort, it is very, very good. "THE FACTS OF DEATH": Benson's second book is more film-like, it feels like an EON Productions movie story. The plot is more "fantastic" in that it deals with a secret criminal organization called the Decada that is run by a crazy mastermind. The writing is improved,though, and in many ways this is a more entertaining book than ZMT. What is especially interesting is Benson's development of the "M" character and her relationship with Bond. "HIGH TIME TO KILL": My personal favorite of the bunch. This is a classic Bond novel in every sense of the word. The first half is fairly predictable cinematic-Bond stuff, except for a very Fleming-esque opening and 2nd chapter golf match. The second half, however, shows Benson hitting his stride and finding his own voice with a truly original departure from what is expected. As Bond and companions climb one of the highest peaks in the Himalayas, the action becomes more like an "Into Thin Air"-type story. It's authentic spy-stuff amidst an environment that is cruel and harsh. This is a thrilling, un-put-downable book. "DOUBLESHOT": Another departure from the norm, as Benson appears to be experimenting with the structure of a Bond novel with this one. The first chapter is the ending of the book told from the different perspectives of several characters. The rest of the story begins in the past and catches up to the ending, and by then we are hooked. In this story, Bond is not well, he is injured, he is not working at full capacity, and this is what is interesting. "Doubleshot" is the middle book of a loose trilogy (beginning with "High Time to Kill") and it is darker and more introspective than the others. Some fans apparently didn't get it, but in many ways, this is Benson's most courageous book. "NEVER DREAM OF DYING": Another great one, right up there with "High Time to Kill," in terms of glueing a reader to the page. It's an excellent plot, tying up the trilogy that Benson began in HTTK. In this book, one can see the blending of the cinematic and literary Bonds more than in any other entry-- a lot of the action is very movie-like, while the storyline and characterizations are more like the Fleming novels. The moods and settings are the best that Benson has done, and the love interest is perhaps his strongest. The real stroke of brilliance in the book is what the author has done with the character of Bond's father in law. A very engaging book. My five-star review is based on Benson's series as a whole. Each book may not be a 5-star book on its own, but I don't think any of them are less than 4. Benson has put his mark on the Bond literary series. Fans who don't like him tend to focus on one or two aspects of what he does-- his writing style, his dependence on the cinematic elements, whatever... I feel that they're not seeing the forest for the trees. In my humble opinion, Raymond Benson has brought new life to the series and I hope he continues the books a long, long time.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Never Dreamed of This..., June 7, 2001

By 

Brian Berley "Areanaut" (Evanston, Illinois) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Never Dream of Dying (Hardcover)

Say what you will about Benson's novels, he always strives to bridge the literary links between Fleming's originals and his own Bond adventures. 007's latest outing brings Bond face to face with Le Gerant, the mysterious mastermind behind the Union -- the deadly crime cartel Bond has battled in the previous two novels.

Bond meets up with an old ally, Frenchman Rene Mathis who first appeared in Casino Royale, the Bond book that spawned the series. But perhaps more notably, Bond is reacquainted with his father-in-law, Marc-Ange Draco (On Her Majesty's Secret Service.) One of Fleming's most colorful and memorable characters, Draco's life since the death of Tracy -- Bond's murdered wife -- remained a mystery to readers, and I'm sure many of us wondered what became of his relationship with Bond in the subsequent years. Benson takes an enormous chance re-introducing a character of this stature, but somehow pulls it off.

Never Dream of Dying has Bond back as the dogged assassin, and thanks to Benson's decision to limit the plot to a few well exploited locales, we're given more than glimpse of the historical Corsica, and the lavish Cannes. Unlike the film makers, Fleming was always smart enough to realize that the setting was as much a part of his novels as any character. By the end of a Fleming novel, and now a Benson novel, we feel as though we've lived a bit of the locale instead of just gotten off the bus for a couple of snapshots.

My strongest recommendation for Never Dream of Dying comes not for it's tight plot, but for Benson's characterization of Bond, himself. He seems wiser, more hardened and, as a whole, more complete as a character. Cheers to you, Raymond, for continuing to take the job seriously, and for working so hard to get it right.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I just don't know, April 4, 2002

By 

"ericmccantona" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Never Dream of Dying (Hardcover)

Well, Benson is known for his Bondian scholarship, and it shows in this book as in all his others. When he first came to the franchise I was impressed by his little 'Fleming' touches - detailed gambling scenes, precisely named gadgets and so on - but after a few books I'm getting a bit bored with it all.

I didn't think this was a bad book, just that it wasn't a great book either. Having hit on the Bond formula, Benson seems content to tread water, writing the same style (though thankfully not the same story) over and over again.

Is it time for another author to take over the franchise? I think I'd like to see each new Bond book written by a different author, each bringing something of his or her own style to the series. But would that destroy that magical 'Bondness' that we all love? I just don't know.