Zero Minus Ten

Zero Minus Ten by Raymond Benson

I confess that I was never that big of a fan of the James Bond books.  The creator of James Bond, Ian Fleming, is held in very high regard for all of the James Bond novels that he wrote from 1953 until his death in 1964.  The reason I was never that big of a fan is not necessarily a reflection of the author, nor his style as a writer.  I tend to simply think that “spy novels” were written very differently 60 years ago, and my modern tastes simply don’t absorb this palette of writing very well (I wasn’t even born until after Mr. Fleming passed away.)  Still, though, every James Bond movie up until 1987 was somewhat based on one of Ian Fleming’s novels and/or short stories, and being such a fan of the movies, I simply couldn’t pass up on reading the original stories.

A second author, John Gardner, actually became the official “next father” of the Bond books starting around 1980.  He wrote about 15 or so, churning out about one book per year.  They never really appealed to that many, and those who were still immersed in the Fleming religion frequently screamed “blasphemy” when each book was released.  It was the overall consensus that whereas some of Gardner’s work may have contained some sparks, he simply couldn’t hold a candle to Ian Fleming.  Again, being a fan, I read them all and agreed with most.

So flash forward to 1997 (only about a year after Gardner retired), Raymond Benson is chosen to be the next torch carrier.  Ironic because in 1983,  Mr. Benson actually wrote one of those trade paperback compendium homages called “The James Bond Bedside Companion”, which unlike any other of the glossy retrospectives, his focused not just on the Bond on screen, but the Bond of the literary word as well.  And, yes, Mr. Benson is a huge fan of the Bond books (well, Fleming’s anyway).

So how would Raymond Benson fare, then, as the new author?  I must confess that my expectations were pretty high since Benson could be very critical of anything James Bond related (A bit TOO critical.  As much as I enjoyed his “Companion”, I was a bit turned off by all the negativity he emulated).  

I must say, however, that this was the best James Bond book that I have EVER read.

So much so, that I would recommend it to NON James Bond fans.  The overall story seemed to flow beautifully.  Benson stated that he tried to bring the “old” James Bond back, but I really can’t tell that much of a difference between any of the “Bonds” in any of the books.  He does modernize the M character.  Like the Pierce Brosnan movies that were coming out right about this time, the new M is a lady.  Based on the description of the new boss, it sounds as though Raymond Benson was trying to model her after her cinematic counterpart, Judi Dench.  This is a good thing.  Another good thing is Q is back.  He was gone for the Gardner books, but he’s thankfully been resurrected under his true moniker, Major Boothroyd.

The setting for this tale is Hong Kong in 1998.  I normally wouldn’t mention this, but Benson carefully constructs some major, real-life history in this book.  Without going into detail, 1998 was the year that Britain had to “hand back” Hong Kong to communist China after over 100 years of English rule.  People were a bit panicky back then, as no one really new how China would handle a democracy that would now firmly be under her rule.  This adds a lot of suspense to the plot, as this story is essentially leading up to this particular event.

So all the key elements of a Bond novel are here, and Benson weaves through all of the intricacies quite masterfully.   You never get lost as to who is who, nor what anyone’s motivations are.  It’s simply a great story with many interesting plot twists, character twists, and exotic locations.

My only criticism is that sometimes Benson tries a bit too hard to be like his idol Ian Fleming.  Fleming could sometimes get sucked into giving us a bit too much detail around an event.  Remember the scene in the movie Goldfinger when Bond realizes he’s being cheated on the golf course?  Well, thankfully the movie only spends a few minutes detailing the event.  In the book, however, Fleming details each and every hole of the entire 18 hole match.  You think watching golf is boring?  Try reading about it.  Fleming would repeat this instance of the bad guy trying to cheat Bond at some game (Bridge, Poker, Backgammon), only to have Bond outwit him.  All this to say that Benson has the same setup here between Bond and the villain as they play a game of Mahjongg.  Now, I’ve never played the game, so when Benson spends an entire chapter detailing the game, the progress of the game, Bond being cheated at the game, and then Bond’s strategy to cheat the cheater of the game…… Well, it goes on a bit too long.  A minor complaint, however. 

I’m eagerly looking forward to reading the other five installments by Raymond Benson.  I was very pleased and very surprised at how much I enjoyed this book.