The Man with the Red Tattoo: James Bond the New Bond Adventure

Raymond Benson seems to get a wide range of reviews from 1 to 5 stars. I've found all his books to be of very high quality. His take on James Bond is JUST RIGHT and feels more like Fleming's Bond than previous authors. "Tattoo" provides a wonderful insight into Japan and has an intriguing plot. Try it and see!

I don't know what the negative reviewers are talking about. This book had me gripping the covers from the moment I began until the second I finished it. It's fast-paced, interesting, and exciting. I can sense Fleming's original Bond in these pages, and Benson shows that he is a terrific storyteller. Try it for yourself, as well as his other works. These books soar...!

I enjoyed reading "Tattoo" because it not only provides an exciting adventure in the 007 tradition, but it includes location details that actually put the reader into the fantasy. This adventure takes place in Japan, and Raymond Benson's research into customs, social interests, food and politics are outstanding. I completed it in record time and was hungry for more!

On a flight from Tokyo to England, passenger Kyoko McMahon becomes violently ill before dying. At about the same time near Tokyo, Kyoto's parents and her older sister also die. In England, the coroner believes that Kyoko died from a strand of West Nile disease, but only ten times deadlier than the normal strain.James Bond attends the G8 summit in Japan to provide added protection to his country's leadership. He also investigates the deaths of the McMahon family, as the patriarch was a Scottish citizen and the CEO of a powerful pharmaceutical firm. Bond prefers not to return to Japan as he has bad memories though he appreciates the grace and beauty of the women. He soon works with his old friend Tiger Tanaka and agent Reiko Tamura in a race against a doomsday clock. Japanese Mafia Yami Shogun Goro Yoshida plots an end to western domination especially kicking America off his beloved nation's soil through a strand of virus that makes the deaths of the McMahon seem slow and gentle.THE MAN WITH THE RED TATTOO is the best of the neo-Bond light tales. Raymond Benson returns Bond to what makes the character interesting to readers, yet humanizes 007 with his bad memories of Japan. The story line is quite exciting with global implications yet simplistic. The support cast is fun especially the return of Tiger and the villain who seems a lot like Bin Laden, as he wants the American presence off his beloved island nation. Mr. Benson makes a case that he is the heir to Mr. Fleming.Harriet Klausner

In an era of contrived attempts to "personalize" Bond's missions or "peal back the layers" of Bond's psyche, it's refreshing to have a straightforward Bond-on-a-dangerous-assignment-in-an-exotic-locale adventure, and that's what Raymond Benson delivers in THE MAN WITH THE RED TATTOO, his best stand alone Bond thriller to date. This time, Mr. Bond, it ISN'T personal. Halleluiah! Even the return of the Walther PPK seems to be Benson's way of saying, "Let's just use what has always worked and enough with the self-conscious 'updating' of the character." In this way I think RED TATTOO is well ahead of the curve (and just reinforces the fact that Benson is the best of all the post-Fleming Bond authors).But a straightforward plot doesn't mean RED TATTOO is lacking complexity of character. Just the opposite is true. Japan holds dark memories for Bond, and that aspect is not ignored. Whereas John Gardner might have given a passing reference to Bond's legendary ordeal in YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, Benson uses the "ghosts" of Bond's past as a full-fledged complication. Fans will not be disappointed in how Benson weaves elements of the Fleming masterpiece into this current book, nor will they be disappointed in the action. Gunfights and fistfights abound in RED TATTOO. It's probably Benson's most violent book to date -- the body count is quite high -- but this seems to be in keeping with the Asian action movie milieu the book frequently evokes. The methodology of the villain's master plan is ingenious and is the best conceived caper we've had, book or film, in quite some time. And speaking of films, have I mentioned that RED TATTOO would make an amazing Bond movie? Well, it would.For the seasoned Bond fan THE MAN WITH THE RED TATTOO is the perfect book at the perfect time. For those who have yet to read a Benson book and are looking for a classic cocktail of Bondian action, suspense, and exotic locales, you would be well advised to start right here.