Zero Minus Ten (James Bond Series)

by Raymond Benson

Overview

Just 10 days before the handover of Hong Kong from British to Chinese rule, 007 is sent to investigate the infamous Chinese underworld of Triad. Discovering a diabolical plot of revenge that threatens to derail the return of the former British colony to China, Bond penetrates a deadly high stakes game of intrigue and treachery.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781915797124
Publisher:	Ian Fleming Publications
Publication date:	10/05/2023
Series:	James Bond Series
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	370
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Besides writing official James Bond fiction between 1996–2002, Raymond Benson is also known for The James Bond Bedside Companion, which was published in 1984 and was nominated for an Edgar. His first two entries of a new series of thrillers, which Booklist called “prime escapism,” are The Black Stiletto and The Black Stiletto: Black & White.

Interviews

Before the live bn.com chat, Raymond Benson agreed to answer some of our questions.

Q:  Can you remember a specific writer or voice that inspired you to write?

A:  Well, Ian Fleming, obviously. He's always been my favorite. I consider his novels to be classics. As far as other novelists go, I'm a big fan of Ruth Rendell, Richard Adams, Kingsley Amis, J. D. Salinger, Ed McBain, Stephen King, John Grisham, and Larry McMurtry.

Q:  Have you given a book as a gift recently? Which one?

A:  My own! To friends, family, et cetera.

Q:  What is your favorite James Bond line? Your favorite contraption?

A:  I prefer passages from the novels rather than one-liners from the films. There were some brilliant passages in the Fleming books...such as the entire centipede sequence in Dr. No, Bond's musings on relationships in Casino Royale, or the sequence in the sunken Vulcan in Thunderball. My favorite device in the films would have to be the Aston Martin DB5 from "Goldfinger."

Q:  If you could describe James Bond with one word, what would it be?

A:  Cool.

Q:  Do you have anything in common with James Bond?

A:  Only a love of the opposite sex. The dangerous stuff he can have.

Q:  What are your favorite James Bond books? Movies?

A:  Books: From Russia with Love, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Dr. No, Thunderball. Films: "From Russia with Love," "Dr. No," "Goldfinger," "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," "Thunderball."

Q:  Is writing books similar to composing music?

A:  Not for me. Composing music for me comes from an emotional center somewhere inside that hurts if I don't sit down and let it out at the piano. Writing is a different kind of hurt, but it's more cerebral and painstaking in the process of actually doing it.

Q:  What composing have you done?

A:  I've done a lot of personal compositions: new-agey solo piano pieces, some music for computer games, a lot of theater music -- usually collaborating with a playwright by putting music to his lyrics. I appear as a solo act on an Italian import CD called "Giant for a Life: A Tribute to Gentle Giant," which is a tribute to a '70s progressive rock band.

Editorial Reviews

The author of The James Bond Bedside Companion (not reviewed) pits Agent 007 against worthy Pacific Basin opponents in a more than serviceable first thriller that could give Ian Fleming's ultracool hero yet another new lease on life.

Dispatched to Hong Kong to halt a series of violent incidents that threaten the Crown Colony's mid-1997 return to the People's Republic of China, Bond first checks on Guy Thackeray, the fifth- generation head of a family shipping firm called EurAsia Enterprises. Although the SIS troubleshooter gets the goods on the shady businessman, the latter perishes (or appears to) in a car bombing. In next trying to tap underworld intelligence sources, 007 makes a nearly fatal mistake and is obliged to undertake a personal mission for triad chieftain Li Xu Nan. Against the odds, the master spy penetrates the PRC and returns alive, bearing papers that put Li in his debt. With help from the grateful crime boss, Bond heads down under to investigate a mysterious outback blast London has told him is not his affair. In due course, he finds a back-from- the-dead Thackeray at a remote uranium mine; to his horror, he learns that the embittered taipan (who's used EurAsia to make a great fortune in the drug trade) plans to put paid to the celebration of Hong Kong's handover by detonating a crude nuclear device on or near the island at midnight on June 30, 1997. Before 007 can beat the clock and save the showcase outpost of empire with an eleventh-hour dash through a crowded harbor, however, he must escape the clutches of a villainous captor and make it out of western Australia's famously inhospitable bush country.

Benson's 007 is a chip off the old block and, if not a gilt- edged Bond, at least a double-A.

Kirkus Reviews