Never Dream of Dying

Never Dream of Dying by Raymond Benson

It is now official: Rayond Benson writes James Bond books better than Ian Fleming.  O.K., O.K., that’s just my opinion, but it’s one I hold steadfast.  This was the fifth of Benson’s six Bond novels, and the majority of them have been terrific page turners.  I use the term “page turner” quite literally.  The action moves quite fast in Benson’s novels, yet he packs them full of adventure.  

Not everyone enjoys Benson’s style, however.  If you read some reviews from readers on Amazon, you’ll note that there are, in fact, a handful of faithful that actually prefer Ian Fleming’s dedication to detail.  One fan complained something like this: 

“In a Benson book, the author simply tells you that Bond put on a sport jacket.  In Fleming’s books, he’ll also tell you the fabric and the tailor”.  

Well, I suppose that’s true, but I personally don’t give a rip what the fabric is, nor who the tailor was.  I really probably wouldn’t even retain the fact that Bond is even wearing a sport jacket once I’m a couple of paragraphs past such a revelation.  

What I do care about is the bad guys, the Bond girls, the gadgets, the obligatory meeting with M and with Q, the flirting with Moneypenny (known mostly as ‘Penny’ in the books) and of course, the action.  In all of these areas Benson consistently does a wonderful job.  I can usually finish these books in three or four sittings since the action moves so quickly and the plot so entertaining.

This book is the third (and final) installation of the “Union” trilogy.  The Union is an organization very similar to SPECTRE of the original Bond books.  Like SPECTRE, there’s a colorful villain that heads the organization, a mysteriously blind man known as Le Gerant who seems to literally have some sort of bizarre second sight.  Yes, there is sort of a plot here, but what this book really is, is James Bond tracking down the head of this agency and wanting to do away with him once and for all (it’s been three books now, after all).  We also meet some of the old support characters that only true fans will probably remember.  Rene Mathis from Casino Royale shows up (the character was also in the Daniel Craig movie that came out a few years later than this book) as well as Bond’s ex-father in law Marc-Ange Draco.  It’s instances like these that make Benson’s James Bond slightly more believable.  Bond is also much more human in these books, he never comes across as full of wit and infallibility as the cinematic Bond.

The only minor complaint that I had about this book, is that there are several characters (including Bond and the bad guy) that start having weird, mystical like dreams during the story that seem to reveal the destiny of the characters.  I was reminded of Stephen King’s The Stand when all the characters started having Mother Abigail dreams.  Such an idea works very well in a Stephen King book, but not so much in a James Bond book.  This is where we get the title of this particular book.  Still, it’s only a minor gripe.

It seems a bit of a gyp that these books were written at a time where most people didn’t really care about the Bond books anymore.  I would recommend Benson’s efforts - even to those who claim that they’re not a James Bond fan.  They might be pleasantly surprised by what he has to offer.