Rating: 
Summary: No Deal, Mr. Benson
Review: I guess in about another year I'll be writing another bad review for yet another lousy Raymond Benson Bond novel. Yet again Benson has some nice touches here, including Bond's mental torture. But that's nothing compared with the torture Benson has inflicted upon die-hard Bond fans for the past 3 years. With his high school English prose Benson can't even approach John Gardner, let alone Fleming. In this entry Bond does some incredibly stupid things and credibility is stretched even for a Bond story. Do I really need to talk about the story? It's well-researched, more or less, but the writing is so bad, so amateurish, that only my love of Bond can keep me reading. And make no mistake, I will continue to read Bond novels, and most likely I will continue to be severly disappointed as long as Benson is at the helm.
Rating: 
Summary: THIS IS THE VERY BEST OF ALL
Review: This is the best James Bond novel so far. I don't understand all the bad reviews. This one is awesome!!!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Dull SHot
Review: This is the worst Benson book to date. He tries to give us a new spin on Bond and delve into his psychie more but just winds up delivering a cliched and empty story.Bond Bond is written fairly well but he remains very two dimmensional. He was better written in Hight Time to Kill. His scenes with M are very good though and we learn more about the Union which is nothing but a Spectre rip off. I'd expected more from Benson, especially dissapointing was his anti climatic ending. In conclusion, a very dull book and an even duller James BOnd adventure. The worst Benson to date.
Rating:
Summary: Pass on this book, Mr. Bond
Review: This book was definately NOT one of Benson's better efforts. The plot lacked the punch that was evident in his previous books while the author tried to impress the reader with his knowledge of bullfighting and Spanish buzzwords. The twins were a Joke, and the final fight scene left much to be desired. The whole book seemed like a return to the John Gardner days.... High Time was a much more enjoyable book !
Rating: 
Summary: No deals ,Mr. Benson
Review: Although I have enojoyed Mr Benson's other Bond stories, especially High Time.., I thought this one lacked punch. I could not relate this story to a James Bond type of adventure. Do not get me wrong I enjoyed some of the plot, well maybe the end of the story. I look foward to the next novel, I hope.
Rating:
Summary: I don't get the criticism...
Review: I have read a lot of knocks on this title and I don't get it. It did take a bit to get me going at the start, but after that, I blitzed thru this book very fast. Obviously we have another Union-based title coming, 'cause as we left Le Gerant, he was a bit irritated. Get that next one out soon!
Rating: 
Summary: A Double Shot of Disappointment
Review: What was Benson thinking? Had this been the first Bond book ever written, it most assuredly also would have been the last. The protagonist is nothing short of stupid -- embarassingly so. One of Bond's saving graces has always been his ability to overcome adversity and ultimately triumph. Perhaps as a result of inadequate plot and character development, the challenges Bond faces appear by no means to be insurmountable, even for a moderately capable novice spy. Yet superspy Bond wanders through this story almost as a spectator, allowing things to happen to him and never taking the initiative. He is a victim throughout. One would think the Union set their plot in motion by reducing Bond's IQ to about 23. Were this the Bond of Fleming's imagination, he would have seen through the Union's ruse in an instant, and would have dealt with them summarily. His recent ordeal (in the prior novel) is no excuse for what ultimately is a vapid, slow moving, boring chronicle of one mistake after another by a hero whom the author has made into a fool. Benson "phoned this one in". Any one chapter of Fleming's or Gardner's books (or Benson's previous efforts) has more plot and character develpoment. Poor Mr. Fleming is spinning in his grave like a chicken on a rotisserie.
Rating:
Summary: So So "00"
Review: Raymond Benson's latest 007 adventure is another one of his predictable potboilers, though it does have its moments. He seems to have stolen plot ideas from Fleming's classic "From Russia With Love" and combined them with one of his average, and somewhat cliched, concepts. Still this novel is one step up from the very disappointing "High Time To Kill", which started out well but never lived up to its potential. Ironically Benson seems best when he is dealing with other peoples ideas, as evidenced by the two excellent movie novelisations he has penned. So this is hardly a classic but worth a read by fans of "Bondage" !
Rating: 
Summary: Give us your best "Shot," Mr. Benson
Review: Anyone who suffered through the years of less than stellar efforts by John Gardner (he was a great writer, but he clearly didn't have his heart invested in Bond) can read easy now. Raymond Benson's "Doubleshot" is a terrific read and a fine addition to the Bond canon. Although the plot sounds like something out of "Man from UNCLE" (Bond driven insane by the possibility that he has seen his double), Benson grounds it in reality and makes it plausible. He introduces two women for Bond to fall for (identical twins), plus villains who are realistic yet evil and reprehensible. If Benson has a fault, it's in some of his cliche phrases. With seasoning, though, he is losing those. And I didn't feel as though the deeds that his double performs were dire enough, as far as MI6's reaction. They probably would have had someone pull Bond off the street immediately. They like him, but not that much. The plot is a cracker and rings of truth, especially in today's political climate. All in all, I can't wait for the third book in Benson's Union trilogy. Bring it on, Raymond.
Rating:
Summary: Benson's Bond is Back with Intensity
Review: "Doubleshot" is by far Raymond Benson's best 007 novel to date. He has shown us a different side of Bond that we haven't seen in years. Some of it we've never seen. I understand that some don't like this part of 007. Well, it is good to see it. Character development is strong, ruthless and somewhat frightingly intense. We haven't seen characters in Bond novels since the days of Fleming. Faced with his own doubts, Bond must again buck the system in order to stop the Union. As always he does things on the edge, almost too close to falling, but not all the way. Fear, doubt, pain, and worry...all describe the new vulnerability of 007 and that will make him a stronger character in the 21st Century. By humanizing him, he becomes more believable and not just a one-dimentional character. Great job Raymond...Looking forward to the third in the Trilogy.
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