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.


A promising start, but dissappointing result....   January 16, 2003
 11 out of 13 found this review helpful

I have read every one of the Bond novels from Fleming to Benson from cover to cover. As much as I want to like Benson's, it's just an impossible task. While he has brought back the superficial connections to the Fleming character, each of his novels just reads like a mini-script, waiting for a movie to be filmed. They are the novels of Pierce Brosnan's movie-Bond, not Fleming's. I appreciate his wanting to re-inject the Fleming character's history to his novels, but it's just not enough. When will someone bring the character back to it's chronological roots in the 1950's? Really--back to where it belongs, with plots that are subtle and interesting and tie together well. With a book by book building of substance--well, as much as a fantasy spy figure can provide.

Firstly, the plots. I agree with an earlier review about Ray's inability to blend fact with the story line. It does read like a "wait, let me unfold the tourist brochure and tell you this...", then a refolding of the brochure to commence with the tale. The plot in general, as with the previous novels, are written as if they're movie scenes lashed together. Each one has a slap-stick chase scene which I find abhorent to the Bond character. In another novel, Bond's inexplicably shooting a villain in the face in an elevator and then running from the police through TV sets is painful. This one has a chase through a Kubuki playhouse simply to add some description of Kubuki. Bond finally finds a key character (the prosititute) in the latter third of the story, in Sapporo, and takes her with him on a dangerous investigation of the villain's HQ. Why didn't Tanaka pick her up and allow Bond to operate on his own? If she was so important to the case, she should have been in Tanaka's custody within an hour. When Bond's female partner and love interest doesn't make it past the latter third of the story, Bond forgets his anguish later on and beds the prostitute (as the earlier reviewer mentioned, he had already seen her as a chld-figure--so how did this change take place?) The dwarf is captured so easily after previous vicious battles, it seemed as if Benson just wanted to get rid of him quickly. Most obviously, is that with all this knowledge uncovered about mosquito-carrying virus being targeted for the G8 conference...do you really think the security services of those countries would have permitted the President, the Prime Minister, and other leaders to even step foot in Japan? The plot's major weakness was in having the conference continue to take place in a location identified as having an obvious breech in security. He should have figured out how to be more realistic, yet still involving the story line.

The characterization of Bond is again dissapointing. Bond is consistantly portrayed as a bit of a shallow, comic character--he seems to have learned nothing from his past exploits, he's easily deceived, his physical prowess is usually less than it should be. Benson had a terrific idea with this novel--bring him back to a significant time in his past and retrace some steps. This would have been great had he also extended the revisit from "You Only Live Twice" to "Moonraker" as well. What I mean by that is I found Fleming's Bond in Moonraker to be an extremely lonely, melancholic figure. The solitary "knight" who has no friends and sacrifices all for the good of his country. The last scene in Fleming's Moonraker was perhaps the most powerful in all the Bond novels. Benson had a wonderful opportunity to end this novel in the same way. He lost his love interest to violence, it dredged up all the old ghosts (I must point out here, though, that Bond reacts to the death of his love interest by selfishly lamenting about how it could be happening to HIM again, when the woman was the one who died--no thought to the poor victim, just to himself, not a very noble reaction for Benson's Bond). Ray had the great opportunity to end the story not with another cinematic bedding of a prostitute (that he had earlier seen as a child figure), but as the figure of solitude stepping out on the teeming streets of Tokyo, sad, alone, walking back into the faceless crowds of people, continuing his lonely, faceless existance. While not the bang-up action ending that accompanies the Brosnan movies, it would have been a true nod toward the Fleming Bond.

You see, bringing back characters and names is not the way to honor Fleming's Bond. That is much too superficial. Bringing back the characterization of the true James Bond would have been the ultimate salute. It's time for someone to put Bond back where he belongs in a novelization (I've given up hope for it in the movies)--in his correct time period, with the REAL Bond character, not Pierce Brosnan. As a hint, I'd advise Ray to view the old "Danger Man" episodes with Patrick McGoohan. That was the closest to the Fleming atmosphere and characterization. Just place Sean Connery or McGoohan's face where Ray has Brosnan's. I continue to lament for Fleming's lost James Bond. I hope some day he will return.


The Man With The Red Eyes   July 23, 2002
 8 out of 10 found this review helpful

As I close the back cover of yet another Raymond Benson book, I weep knowing that the quality of descriptive prose embodied in the books of Fleming, Amis, and (to some extent) Gardner, is now lost. I admire Mr. Benson because his great love of Bond keeps the literary franchise going but perhaps, as a director of the Ian Fleming Foundation, he should ask other writers to submit a few chapters of their own Bond novel ideas, and see if there is a writer out there that can bring back the literary Bond I love.
The Man With The Red Tattoo's climax features the Mosquitoe Magnet, a simple device that is now sold in Home Depot stores, and should have been turned on during the conference, not AFTER people were bitten. Anyone with any knowledge of that device would have had it running before, during, and after the conference; though designed for outdoor use, a way could've been found to integrate that into the story.
Mr. Benson is a screenwriter at heart. Unfortunately, screenplays are written in third-person limited and novels are entirely different. Read any Fleming novel, study his descriptive narrative, the thoughts that run through Bond's head, the dialogue, the building of the plot; that is how a good novel is written. I've read all of Mr. Benson books. In interviews he sounds like a very nice, decent person. But picking up where Fleming, Amis, and Gardner left off is not Mr. Benson's strong suit. One man's humble opinion.


Benson-sans' worst ever   August 29, 2002
 8 out of 13 found this review helpful

This is Benson's worst effort and I don't recommend it to anyone but the most ardent James Bond fans (which I am one.) It took me three weeks to plow through this slow, meandering thrillless thriller.

Gore Yoshida, the man with the red tattoo, is planning to unleash a biological attack of the West Nile virus against the western world and leaders at the G8 summitt. Bond is sent to Japan where he investigates the death of a British citizen and his Japanese family.

I'll now run through the problems I've had with this book. Benson is not a good enough author to include details of fact with the story. Instead he separates the two. Benson will devote several paragraphs describing scenery or Japanese culture or the biology of mosquitoes. Then he will get back to the action. Good authors incorporate the description with the story so the reader isn't bored by mundane details.

Second, the Japanese culture is a big problem. Benson is obviously proud of all the things he learned about Japan, and he lets us know everything he knows. Probably one hundred times, Benson describes something using the Japanase term, then uses a sentence to say what it means in English. This gets to be boring. Other authors can write about foreign cultures without making them as exciting as a textbook.

The plot itself wasn't that exciting. Bond made many stupid comments instead of the usual wit. Also, Benson makes a big point of telling us about Mauimi (sp) Mcmahon, a twenty year old prostitute. Bond comments on how young she is and refers to her as a little girl many times. Then by the end, Bond is sleeping with her. Fifty year old Bond sleeping with a twenty year old. Not that big a deal except Benson made the point that Bond looked at her as a little girl, not a potential lover.

Another thing that bugged me is the British spelling (I guess its British) of all these words. Can't their be two versions of one novel?

I don't know why this book grated on me so much. I've enjoyed most of all of Benson's novels. This one just lacked in so many areas.