High Time to Kill (James Bond Adventure)

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Summary: Benson's Bond Series Overview
Review: At first I thought copying Ian Flemmings ways was close to impossible until Benson came. I'm only 14 but i have to say that "High Time To Kill" was a noval of many words. I like surprises and this book has many surprises. Everyone turns into someone else (Exept Bond). I think the Charactor of Roland Maquis reminded me of Trevelion in Goldeneye. Once a "freind" then an enemy. Also this is the first time that Bond faces a mission of not only man v. man but also man v. nature. I love it when the auther continues something from other book. In this case Benson brings back the union from his other book "Never Dreamed Of Dieing" and I hope to see them in his next noval. Althogh the ending was a disapointing shock this book is one of Benson Bond's Best!

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Summary: Something different for a Bond book, but a welcome change.
Review: Benson's third Bond book takes a slightly different twist on the standard Bond adventure. Gone is the old formula and what remains is an author finding a comfortable writing style that reminds one of Fleming, while still being new and enjoyable.

Just like all the earlier Bond books, HTTK is a quick read, never really slowing pace too much. The first half of the book is a typically good Bondian adventure, but once the locale changes to Nepal, the book changes to a slower pace. Benson takes you inside Bond in a way that Gardner was never able to do. Bond's general dislike for parts of his job are felt, and his cold ruthlessnes shows why he survives.

In my opinion the only flaw to Benson's newest book is the uncomfortable discriptions from many of Bond's companions. Some seem to be little more than a recorded playing of a tourist book. Fleming could always get inside what makes a location tick, while Benson is just not there yet. Yet along side this criticism, I must say that I enjoyed the Doctor's talk about the hazzards of mountain climbing.

Although many will criticize Benson as being an amateur, his Bond books are well plotted and believeable. I look forward to the rest of the trilogy and wish Benson luck with his growth as a writer. While HTTK is an experiment in the 'Bond' style, it is much more succesful than anything Gardner tried, or Fleming's The Spy Who Loved Me.

CHris

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Summary: ¿High Time to Kill¿ seems to suffer from altitude sickness
Review: For me this was a very disappointing book. I thought it started well with lots of action and detail but soon petered out to a wordy tome with action in fits a starts and a poor finale. Marquis as the villain was cardboard and Bond made some big mistakes. He would never compromise SIS rules by forming a relationship with his PA, no matter how desirable, and they have all been that. Raymond Benson has produced vintage James Bond prior to this, almost to Ian Fleming standard - no one get be quite as good as the master - this lets him down. I don't suppose my lack of interest in mountain climbing helped but I found the passages on the climb, a big chunk of the book, very slow and what action that did take place lacked the usual Bond detail. "The Facts of Death" had pace, action, detail and Bondness as did Benson's other Bond books. "High Time to Kill" seems to have suffered from altitude sickness. I look forward to "The World Is Not Enough" and hope both Messrs. Bond and Benson are back on track.

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Summary: I love this book
Review: Having owned and virtually memorized all 19 official (and 1 unofficial) James Bond movies, I was curious about how the Bond of the novels would compare to the Bond of the movies. Flemming created James Bond to be every man's envy and every girl's dream, and as a result Bond has to be a three-dimensional character, yet lack a certain definition so that anyone could imagine themselves in his place. Fortunately, Benson pulls off both aspects very well. While it's clear Benson based his version of Bond and his story off the newer Brosnan stylings, High Time to Kill delves deeper into Bond's world than either Tomorrow Never Dies or The World is Not Enough. Here not only do we "see" Bond playing golf, but we also meet Bond's friends and rivals. There's also a scene where Bond and a henchman get into a fight in a bathroom. It's been ages since Bond scuffled hand-to-hand instead of blowing his opponents away with a machine gun, and it added a degree of realism. Bond is no longer invulnerable. The plot of the story revolves around spies stealing a top secret formula. While it's not as grand as world domination, it's not the small-fry assignment we've see in Live and Let Die and The Man With the Golden Gun (the movies). Towards the end of the novel a twist is added that has Bond and a team of climbers scaling a peak in the Himalayas to reach a crash site. All the while pacing is excellent, balancing plot and character development with action and girls. This book is highly recommended to all Bond fans, especially those who've seen the movies but have yet to enter the world of the Bond novels. It's close enough to the modern Bond movies that you could imagine Pierce Brosnan (or maybe even yourself!) as Bond, but it's definitely not one of those cheap "further adventures" that cash in on hit movies.

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Summary: Perfect fusion makes this one of the BEST Bond novels.
Review: HIGH TIME TO KILL is a unique James Bond adventure. It's very experimental in its use of a single setting in the second half of the book, while still deftly adhering to the classic James Bond formula. No "continuation novel" demonstrates a better understanding of what makes a classic Bond story (and HIGH TIME TO KILL surpasses even some of Fleming books in this regard). Most of my feelings come from the second half of the book when Bond is on the mountain. This is unlike anything we've ever seen Bond participate in before - yet all the Bondian ingredients are in firmly in place: Villain, sidekick, Bond girl, contest, breathtaking (literally this time) locales, exotic culture, set-piece showdown and coda. But every one of these "classic" elements (which in the movies have drifted toward clichés) feels 100% fresh because it's all set within the context of a reality-based high concept idea: Mountain climbing. The overlaying believaility of the concept elevates the characters and makes the book truly suspenseful in a FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE sort of way. Even the almost always fumbled "this time it's personal" element works perfectly here. We understand that the villain is driven by his competitive masculine/sexual ego (a subtext of almost all Bond villains), but the possibility of altitude sickness motivates his classic Bond Villain megalomania in a completely believable way. The ice axe throwing competition between Bond and the villain is as gripping as any casino face off. Bond catching a glimpse of Bond Girl Hope Kendell undressing in her small tent is much sexier, IMO, than a Halle Berry bursting from the sea like a Bond Girl Jack in the Box. Bond's sidekick, a Sherpa, is indispensable in a way most of the Bondman sidekicks are not. The "gadgets" this time are all real, but still exotic (cutting-edge climbing equipment, the oxygen tent), and what better test of 007's stamina than a savage mountain climbing expedition? There is a return to the idea of 007 as a master of the extreme sport in this book that is very much a part to the world of Ian Fleming's James Bond. In fact, I think Fleming would have eventually written a book just like HIGH TIME TO KILL.

There's more, but suffice to say HIGH TIME TO KILL is the perfect fusion of the high-concept Bond formula and the completely believable and fascinating world of high-altitude mountain climbing. If you're looking to sample a non-Fleming James Bond novel, THIS is the one to get.

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Summary: Great, Awesome, Astounding!!!!!!
Review: High Time to Kill is an very enjoyable book to read. This book is the first book in the "The Union" trilogy.

In this adventure, Bond finds himself on the icy slopes of the Himalays, in order to get back a secert that is important to the Military, and could help any country that goes to war. The problem is that it was developed in England, and was stolen. It's Bond's mission to get it back, and find who stole it.

One of the strenghts of this book is that Bond can't trust anyone b/c there's a double agent in MI5! As bad as that is for Bond, there are more double agents, and more people he can't trust.

Raymond has a solid writing style when it comes to his Bond books. The reader will be hooked with every page. Just when there's a down time in the book, something else happens that picks up the pace. This is just incredible.

What really hit home for me was the last paragraph of this book. Bond takes a hard look at himself, and how he treats women. I can't wait to get my hands on the other two books about The Union.

If you are a fan of 007, then you need to get into this triology. You won't be sorry.

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Summary: High Time to Waste
Review: I've been a Bond fan since my teens and have bought everyone as it came out in hardcover since Col. Sun. I loved Zero minus Ten and the Tomorrow Never Dies novelization. Facts of Death was great if you take away Felix's killer wheelchair, but this one? Taking pieces of Fleming's classics does not a Bond novel make. A golf match with the villain (see Goldfinger), a criminal organization with a secret mastermind (see anything with SPECTRE), and a major plot point out of Casino Royale. The spy on a mountain climb was done better by Trevanian and Desmond Cory back in the glory days of Bond. I realize this is the first of a projected trilogy(I understand if Benson wants to save Le Gerant for the climax of the trilogy), but it is no excuse for a lackluster villain whose main characteristic is obnoxious. We know he's the bad guy because he says "Chinaman", considered a racial slur, instead of "Chinese man" as Bond does. He also makes sexist remarks about betting a night with the female member of the expedition. As far as PC goes, Bond fails too--An affair with his secretary? Even Fleming's Bond kept it to playful flirtation with Ponsonby, Goodnight, and Moneypenny. But, of course, we need it to hang plot on. Like I said before, I've bought every Bond as it came out in harcover until now-this I rented from the library and will now wait for the paperback and buy it used. The rest of the trilogy will determine if I ever buy Bond again.

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Summary: Benson at the "peak" of his game...
Review: In High Time To Kill, Bond is back and more saturnine and human than ever, thanks to author Raymond Benson. For those of us who first caught the Bond bug through contact with the original Fleming canon, this third outing by Benson provides all the gratification of the Ian Fleming sweep, sadism, and sex. Benson's Bonds incorporate the action and gadgetry from the films with the flair of the early literary 007. Benson also continues to pay homage to the Bond creator by craftily weaving elements from Bond's Fleming yarns.

High Time to Kill presents 007 with the task of tracking down the stolen "Skin 17" - a classified military innovation. From an assassination in Bahamas (ahem... not Fleming's home, as mentioned in the Kirkus review) to a beating in Brussels, and on to a suicidal expedition atop the Himalayas, Bond shows his toughness while discovering just what might be his limit of courage and endurance. It's all there - the women, the escapes, the allies and the introduction of Bond's newest enemy -- the arch-criminal organization, the Union.

With his first two Bond novels, Benson established his capabilities as 007's new progenitor. Now that the honeymoon's over for Mr. Benson, he's proven that his talents as a storyteller are no fluke. We can now leave the Fleming comparisons behind and continue to look forward to more Benson Bond. Keep them coming, Raymond.

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Summary: It's lost a little bit of the original Bond films and books
Review: Often called Benson's best Bond book. I agreed until after reading The Man With The Red Tattoo. This is the first part of the Union Trilogy. Bond must track down a secret microdot containing military secrets and the trail will soon lead him, and a team of climbers, up one of the world's largest mountain peaks. An interesting change of pace, with the first half Bond does standard Bond stuff while the second half takes place entirely on a mountain. The Union is an interesting bunch of villains who will return in the next two books.

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Summary: You can feel the real "Fleming-Bond"!
Review: This book has mostly postive things, but some negative too. The negative things are; that it?s no really dangerous guy that threatens Bond. The book is also to long(290 sides). It?s sometimes to many descriptions about the places. You can although feel the "real" Bond, that Fleming wrote about, how he feels about smoking, liquid and women. Benson is also a very good author and it makes the book better, he makes it interessting and tensive. This book can I highly recommend!