Doubleshot (Paperback)

~ (Author) "The Convent's Security Officer gasped when he saw what came up on the computer screen..." (more)
Key Phrases: Domingo Espada, James Bond, Jimmy Powers (more...)

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

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

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Jove; 1st THUS edition (June 5, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0515130613
• ISBN-13: 978-0515130614
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (65 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #398,722 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Double the fun with this tale of James Bond!, December 2, 2002

By	Devin Zydel (New York) - See all my reviews

Doubleshot is the 4th novel of the newest Bond writer, Raymond Benson. It follows after the terrifc High Time to Kill, and continues the trilogy that was started there. A darker tale of suspense and intrigue.

James Bond is recovering after the deadly mission in the Himalayas, but scans show that there is a lesion in his brain. He continuously blacks out and thinks he can see his dead wife, Tracy. Bond may finally losing it. He disregards orders and begins to search the case of Helena Marksbury, who was a Union agant. He asks help for his problems of Dr. Feare, but while with her, he blacks out and wakes up to find her murdered, with him as the prime suspect. He travels to Tangier and goes undercover to hear of a possible Union base in Casablanca. He finds out that someone that looks exactly like him has murdered many people on a British ferry, but the trouble is that he can't prove to anyone that he isn't doing the killings. Bond meets Heidi and Hedy Taunt and explains to them and M that a Domingo Espada is planning something at Gibralter, possibly having to do with peace-talks going on there. Bond and the Taunt sisters travel to Spain to check on Espada on one of his bull-fighting rings. Bond is captured and told how his has been manipulated all along to think he was going crazy and to make him look like he was murdering innocent people. Espada works for the Union, and wants to humiliate bond, kill the the prime ministers at the peace-talks, reclaim Gibralter for Spain and increase the power of the Union. Bond escapes, and meets and kills the person who was impersonating him for the killings. Bond and the Taunt sisters make it to the peace-talks, kill Espada and foil the plans once again for the Union.

Doubleshot is a very different style of a Bond book and may not appeal to all. A must for hardcore fans like myself and others who like to read all about the daring assignments of James Bond, agent 007!