Never Dream of Dying: James Bond

Raymond Benson's Bond #5

by Raymond Benson

It begins at a movie studio in Nice where a police raid goes horribly wrong, killing innocent men, women, and even children. It continues in an English prison, where a dead man discloses an intriguing secret about the brutal criminal organization called the Union. The trail leads James Bond to Paris, where he meets the tantalizing movie star Tylyn Mignonne and embarks on a voyage of sensual discovery.

But Tylyn is in mortal danger. Her husband, a volatile French film producer, has not forgiven his glamorous wife for ending their troubled marriage - and he is connected to the Union's thugs.

Meanwhile Bond's friend, French agent Mathis, has disappeared while tracking down the Union's mysterious leader, Le Gerant. Bond's journey takes him to a thrilling underwater brush with death, a chase through the Corsican wilderness, a surprise encounter with an old friend - and a final confrontation with a twisted criminal genius.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Espionage, Adventure, Mystery Thriller, Mystery, Action

Audible Audio

First published June 1, 2001

About the author

Raymond Benson is the author of approximately 40 titles. Among his works are the critically-acclaimed and New York Times best-selling serial THE BLACK STILETTO, and he was also the third--and first American--continuation author of the official James Bond 007 novels. His latest novels are HOTEL DESTINY--A GHOST NOIR, BLUES IN THE DARK, IN THE HUSH OF THE NIGHT and THE SECRETS ON CHICORY LANE.

Reviews

[David Dalton · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me over 7 years to complete this trilogy. But it was worth it. While I loved all 3 of the Union books, this one seems to be my favorite. Benson did a great job of giving his Bond the feel of the original author. I have read 4 of the Bond books by Benson and have a fifth already on my Kindle. This was the first book I read on my brand new Kindle Oasis (2019). I will probably knock out another Bond book or two before the new movie comes out in April.

[Carson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Updated review 4/22/2020
Leading up to "No Time to Die" I am re-reading as many Bond novels as possible.

I was unsure of re-reading "Never Dream of Dying" - because it is an emotional rollercoaster for the literary Bond fan.

Raymond Benson has a lot of audacity, frankly, as he conjures up some sacred ground from Ian Fleming and boldly takes it in an unexpected direction.

Furthermore, the torture scene is taken to a new level. The deaths and how they play out are taken to a new level. What our heroes go through are taken to a new level.

And while most James Bond novels follow a certain formula, this one turns it on its head. The unexpected arrives often, and involves characters we've known since "Casino Royale."

The best Bond novel ever is "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" and this book - like no other Bond novel or continuation novel - extends that story in an unforeseen way.

James Bond faces hidden opponents and never-before-experienced occurrences as he tracks down the head of the Union once and for all.

4 stars.

_______________________________
Something Raymond Benson does quite effectively is weave his stories through the tapestries of the Fleming lore and this story is no different, albeit in a more poignant and controversial way. He treads on sacred ground here, but does it respectfully though I still am not 100% sure how I feel about it.

That said, right up until the chilling conclusion, this one navigates through interesting terrain - that of the subconscious and nearly superhuman - but does it in a realistic way, integrating familiar elements like casinos and baccarat into the final showdown with the Union.

4 stars.

[David]

Benson’s original Bonds tend to work for me, at least better than the second 8 of Gardner. There are still (always) innumerable cliches and gratuitous sexism, but one hardly expects anything else of a 007 novel.

[Ira Livingston · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Best of Raymond Benson yet, as Bond tackles the UNION again. Amazingly slick, bringing us the Bond of Film onto the subplot of Filmmaking within the book.

He hooks up with an actress, with some of the most graphic descriptions of sex in the Bond canon. Tai Lynn is both erotic as well as intelligent and strong, giving us a glance back toward Tracy of “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”

And to bring that even more into focus, Bond teams up with Draco, his former Father-in-law to bring down the UNION. Just like the old days and Fleming.

I loved the nod to the canon, and the reprise of Draco, and the new villain Le Generalle reminds us of the great minds typical of Fleming’s Bond.

I can’t wait to read the next one in the series. Below is my updated ranking of the Canon hope you’ll enjoy them as well.

Overall rating of book series:
1 - Casino Royale / On Her Majesty's Secret Service
2 - Goldfinger
3 - From Russia with Love / Never Dream of Dying
4 - Live and Let Die
5 - Diamonds are Forever / Dr. No
6 - Moonraker / For Special Services
7 - Scorpius / High Time to Kill
8 - Doubleshot
9 - Thunderball / License Renewed / The Facts of Death
10- Colonel Sun
11- You Only Live Twice
12- James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me (Wood)
13- Icebreaker / GoldenEye
14- Zero Minus Ten
15- For Your Eyes Only / Octopussy & The Living Daylights
16- The Man with the Golden Gun / Tomorrow Never Dies
17- The Spy Who Loved Me
18- Lives Forever
19- No Deals, Mr. Bond
20- James Bond and Moonraker (Wood)
21- The Man from Barbarossa
22- Win, Lose or Die
23- Role of Honor / Brokenclaw
24- Death is Forever / The World is not Enough
25- Licence to Kill
26- Never Send Flowers
27- SeaFire / COLD

[ShanDizzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

For this 2nd reading, I decided to listen to the audiobook. Simon Vance's narration was spot on fantastic! I picked up on subtle things which I had missed before. I truly liked this action packed Bond story where he finally gets THE UNION.

[ccoelophysis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Worst James Bond novel ever. I usually read a book all the way through even the bad ones but if it's due back to the library before I finish it so be it.* The sentence style is middle school caliber and Bond's thoughts and actions are totally inconsistent with his personality. Nobody ever said Bond books were realistic but this one takes the cake on plot holes.

*Update: I did finish it. Read the last 180ish pages the night before it was due. It didn't get much better. In fact, it often got worse. But I hate to leave a book unfinished, especially one that might provide another layer of character development in a series.

[Paul Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Benson concludes his triology about the Union, in a way that pays homage to the original Bond novels and that detracts from the end product. There was no need to bring back Rene Mathis and Marc-Ange Draco. The revelations about Draco are not surprising, being too well signposted, and deny a final confronation with the real villain. Also, unlike the originals, far too much of the story is told from the viewpoint of the supporting characters.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the first (and only, so far) Bond book I've read by any author other than Ian Fleming. As the two star rating suggests, it was just O.K. But I imagine I'll get around to reading the other Benson Bond books, as well as John Gardener's contributions to the Bond mythos, because, well.. it's Bond, James Bond.

[Billie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this adventure of James Bond. Thought it was entertaining that his former Father-in-Law was brought back for one final gambit. Bond was more action hero than spy but kept my interest. Not as many gadgets more of a look at Bond as a well trained operative doing what needs to be done.

[John Yelverton · Rating 2 out of 5]

The mystery story itself was good. What I cannot abide was the horrible treatment of not one but two characters created by Ian Fleming, and their horrible mistreatment in this novel by Raymond Benson.

[Clem · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is now official: Rayond Benson writes James Bond books better than Ian Fleming. O.K., O.K., that’s just my opinion, but it’s one I hold steadfast. This was the fifth of Benson’s six Bond novels, and the majority of them have been terrific page turners. I use the term “page turner” quite literally. The action moves quite fast in Benson’s novels, yet he packs them full of adventure.

Not everyone enjoys Benson’s style, however. If you read some reviews from readers on Amazon, you’ll note that there are, in fact, a handful of faithful that actually prefer Ian Fleming’s dedication to detail. One fan complained something like this:

“In a Benson book, the author simply tells you that Bond put on a sport jacket. In Fleming’s books, he’ll also tell you the fabric and the tailor”.

Well, I suppose that’s true, but I personally don’t give a rip what the fabric is, nor who the tailor was. I really probably wouldn’t even retain the fact that Bond is even wearing a sport jacket once I’m a couple of paragraphs past such a revelation.

What I do care about is the bad guys, the Bond girls, the gadgets, the obligatory meeting with M and with Q, the flirting with Moneypenny (known mostly as ‘Penny’ in the books) and of course, the action. In all of these areas Benson consistently does a wonderful job. I can usually finish these books in three or four sittings since the action moves so quickly and the plot so entertaining.

This book is the third (and final) installation of the “Union” trilogy. The Union is an organization very similar to SPECTRE of the original Bond books. Like SPECTRE, there’s a colorful villain that heads the organization, a mysteriously blind man known as Le Gerant who seems to literally have some sort of bizarre second sight. Yes, there is sort of a plot here, but what this book really is, is James Bond tracking down the head of this agency and wanting to do away with him once and for all (it’s been three books now, after all). We also meet some of the old support characters that only true fans will probably remember. Rene Mathis from Casino Royale shows up (the character was also in the Daniel Craig movie that came out a few years later than this book) as well as Bond’s ex-father in law Marc-Ange Draco. It’s instances like these that make Benson’s James Bond slightly more believable. Bond is also much more human in these books, he never comes across as full of wit and infallibility as the cinematic Bond.

The only minor complaint that I had about this book, is that there are several characters (including Bond and the bad guy) that start having weird, mystical like dreams during the story that seem to reveal the destiny of the characters. I was reminded of Stephen King’s The Stand when all the characters started having Mother Abigail dreams. Such an idea works very well in a Stephen King book, but not so much in a James Bond book. This is where we get the title of this particular book. Still, it’s only a minor gripe.

It seems a bit of a gyp that these books were written at a time where most people didn’t really care about the Bond books anymore. I would recommend Benson’s efforts - even to those who claim that they’re not a James Bond fan. They might be pleasantly surprised by what he has to offer.

[Jam Montgomery · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cracking James Bond adventure, definitely is, but I liked how Benson have managed to improve upon the problems I've encountered at reading Fleming: the overly descriptions, the exaggerations, the too many foreign languages, those are toned down here, the sexism, well, it's a James Bond novel, as Benson said himself, we all need to remember that Bond was not a nice man, he's supposed to be an anti-hero, and Benson showed it here in spades.

I'm not sure about the reintroduction of Mathis in here, but it's for sure a lot better than how 2008's Quantum of Solace managed his return, because here in this book, his return was at least, crucial, as Bond needed a contact in France and who would it be other than Mathis?

What I'm all in was the introduction of Draco, I think this is where Benson got it right, and it's one of my issues with OHMSS (I'm talking about the book, I do love the film), for Bond, a man who targeted syndicates and all suddenly ended up marrying and easily trusting the daughter of a Mafia Mob without thinking of security is something that I also couldn't comprehend, Benson did what was right in this book, after all, the Union is still a syndicate, they're not meant to be good, or Bond is just a walking dumb with a Danning Kruger effect in his little finger? For that, I don't know how the man can be so naive, yet arrogant, Benson hit the bump again! Bond was not meant to be likeable.

Le Gerant is an interesting villain, but was introduced late in the story, most of the story are revolving around Leon Essinger and Tylyn Mignonne's marital problems which I'm not a fan of, and anyway, I'm not a fan of Tylyn Mignonne, she's all style and aesthetics, in all of the James Bond books (both Fleming and the continuations) I've read so far, the only Bond Girls I liked are Vesper Lynd, Tiffany Case, Gala Brand, Vivienne Michel (if she counts), and Flicka Von Grusse.

Tylyn Mignonne reminded me a bit of Scarlett Papava from Sebastian Faulks' Devil May Care (that's also another continuation Bond book) especially the catwalk thing, Bond even thought that she's too glamorous for him, as she's a model and an owner of makeup business, there's nothing much about the character aside from her drama and sophistication.

The plot is a mystery and very interesting, using French Cinema as a setting for a nefarious plot, I don't want to reveal too much, but comes with it is drama and aesthetics.

This book is like Quantum of Solace, but on steroids (no, not the 2008 film, but the Short Story one), drama, affair, mystery, and action, all in one.

[Stuart Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

James Bond is still trying to find Le Gerant and the Union and he gets a clue from a VERY old friend, Rene Mathis from the very first Bond book Casino Royale. Le Gerant likes to play cards in Monaco every Thursday night. Bond goes to check him out face to face. They play Chemin de fer and Bond learns that their may be a connection with a French movie producer he is already suspicious of. Bond decides the way to the producer is through his estranged wife, who luckily happens to be a super model. While he is screwing around with her in the south of France Mathis is doing actual work and tracks Le Gerant to Corsica.

Bond gets himself invited to the movie set, and here we learn a whole lot about movie making, mostly that all stunt people are criminal types. Bond does some water works, some fisticuffs, and there are a great many impressive splosions where Bond gets killed. Later, he makes his way to Corsica to find Mathis, gets his fortune told and gets an eye exam, and gets killed again. He fights some dogs and a big rat and then goes to Cannes to hang out with Prince Edward, 14th in line for the British throne. In all this he meets with another old friend, Marc Ange Draco, his father-in-law last seen in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. As an added Easter egg we see Carole Bouquet who was the Bond girl in "For Your Eyes Only". And then there is a really big splosion.

Nicely close to the Fleming books. Bond is not always competent in his investigation and lets the girl distract him overmuch. There is a great deal of traveling and eating and it takes a very long time to figure out what the villain's evil plan is. It's not much, really. But we get to see some old favorites, some Q gadgets of which one is heavily overused, lots of fights, and Bond's meals are properly described, as is his clothing for the most part. After some cursory sleuthing which leads to nothing Bond finally decides to get into action and then it is action, action, and more action. And Bond falls in love for about the thirtieth time despite claiming that he seldom falls for women.

It seems like Benson may have learned something while he was doing the novelization of the last movie and decided to throw Bond into the middle of the movie making business for fun. Other than the girl he is not overly complimentary of the people involved.

[Dustin Dye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never Dream of Dying, the final installment in Raymond Benson's Union trilogy within his Bond series, while not his best, is the most satisfying and something of a love letter to fans. This could be the finale to his series, as The Man With the Red Tattoo was a sort of silly and insipid follow-up, and his final book was a novelization of Die Another Day.

Never Dream of Dying brings back René Mathis and Marc-Ange Draco, and contains call-backs to the Ian Fleming novels. While I half-way saw the twist at the end coming, I wasn't fully prepared for how it would loop in Bond's past with the West's present war on the Union. The irony plays on the idea of blindness--the villain, Olivier Cesari, a.k.a. Le Gérant, may technically be blind, but Bond was metaphorically blind. This is one of the few books since Colonel Sun that is a worthy continuation of the series.

[Matt Raubenheimer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Never Dream of Dying was one of only two remaining James Bond novels that I hadn't read until now. I'd put it off for quite a while. This was a novel I'd heard many negative reviews for. I'd agree that it is among the weaker Bond novels, but I'm nonetheless pleased that I had an enjoyable time reading it and was entertained. Raymond Benson made a contentious choice in this novel with regards to one of Ian Fleming's original supporting characters, and I have to say that didn't really bother me much. More bothersome was the often uninteresting prose, which felt more like reading the descriptions in a film script, as well as some unnecessarily graphic and tacky attempts at erotic scenes. NDoD turned out to be not as bad as I'd often been led to believe, but I certainly won't be recommending this book to anyone as a must-read Bond novel, unless you really want to read them all.

[Rick · Rating 1 out of 5]

While I don't know if I can say this is the worst Bond novel I've read, it is certainly among them. Benson is pretty much just phoning it in at this point. The plot is fine, some old faces pop up again (which was cool) and it is pretty fast paced. But the problems are rampant. Bond acts like a love-sick school boy, maybe he's having a mid-life crisis. But if that's the case Benson certainly doesn't develop that at all. The writing is terse, but uninspired. Maybe Benson was just hurrying to reach a deadline. If so, it certainly shows. For the culmination of the Union Trilogy this was a big disappointment.

[Fraser Merricks · Rating 4 out of 5]

My second favorite Benson Bond book. At first, I will admit that once I was a few chapters in, I wasn't keen on what I was reading. But, the more I read on into the book, the more I was eager to see what happens and how Benson ended his tales of Bond. After reading Bensons books on James Bond, his style of writing in High time to kill and Never dream of Dying, placed him as my third favorite Bond author behind Anthony Horowitz and ultimately Fleming as number one. It all comes to a climatic end and ends a run of misfortune for Bond.

[Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starting to think that Benson has a ghostwriter since his consistency with the Bond series is so erratic. While teeming with familiar Bond tropes, this yarn is well paced and enjoyable. The clunky sex scenes which Benson has persisted in burdening readers with are significantly toned down here and the action is old school in that it is largely believable. There are a few minor plot holes and in the end a large number of events are incredibly predictable, but it moves along at a nice clip.

[Tony Drummond · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another frustrating Benson Bond novel.

On the whole, this has a great plot; all the Bond ingredients that you would expect; good Bond girl and action scenes.

However, at regular intervals there are scenes that feel out of place. We have a comedy farce scene when Bond infiltrates a TV studio; a soft porn scene and an underwhelming villain death.

This is a shame as the previous two books in the Union trilogy were really good.

[Benjamin Mooney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid end to the Union story arc. A couple corny parts, but some good twists. I expected a different character to be revealed as assisting the enemy. Not the best, but not the worst either. When it comes down to a final star rating, I had to consider the fact that it felt more like an action story than a spy thriller, which disappoints me in Bond novels.

[Tom Tipton · Rating 4 out of 5]

An above average ending to Benson’s “Union” trilogy.

While suffering from wincingly painful interpersonal romantic dialogue, this lengthier adventure features plenty of characters (many who survive for a change), a variety of locations and travel commentary, and a surprising climax I did not see coming.

[Darcee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story concludes the 3 book "Union Trilogy" in which Bond faces the "Union" terrorist group. Bond has taken a beating from Union thugs while unraveling their sinister plots, and saving king and country.

[Jeff Lacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Benson writes a well crafted Bond thriller that’s filled with a treacherous enemy, a beautiful woman, great action, and a Bond who is intelligent, athletic, tenacious, courageous, and emotive. With the plot, a little familiarity with Fleming’s, IN HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE, will help.

[Mike Grady · Rating 3 out of 5]

The final entry in the Union Trilogy of Raymond Benson’s James Bond books. The book is fast paced with varied locales; it seems that the author is really hitting his stride with the James Bond character.

[Du · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars. In a lot of ways this is just a solid spy novel, but the introduction, or reintroduction of Mathis and Draco up the score. Those interactions really drive home the history of the character, the variety of the situations he's been in, and the general thrill of the reed.

[Mark Welton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyable. Rattled through it quickly, quite a page turner. Rumour is the next Bond film will be based on this, although I can't see how they can merge this with the end of Spectre myself!

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

James Bond novels tend to be hit or miss. The Ian Fleming books are classics and I enjoyed the John Gardner books. This story was fast paced and had some good set pieces.

[Wes87 · Rating 4 out of 5]

a rather good/wild story. read it only twice years back. rather long. but hell its bond, james bond people.

[Sara Vazquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bond. *squeal* James Bond *squeal***********

[Raza Mustafa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just a regular spy story. Predictable.