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The Hook and The Eye: A Felix Leiter Adventure by Ramond Benson
mtm
United Kingdom
https://www.ianfleming.com/announcing-the-hook-and-the-eye/?v=7885444af42e
Just announced, a new serialised novel by Raymond Benson starring Felix Leiter.
"Felix Leiter – James Bond’s trusted friend and ally – takes centre stage in a brand new adventure by legendary Bond novelist, Raymond Benson.
It is 1952. Felix has lost his job at the CIA and finds himself working for the Pinkerton Detective Agency. What starts as a simple surveillance job turns into a matter of life and death when Felix stumbles upon a murder and a cabal of spies embedded in Manhattan. Hired to transport the impossibly beautiful and impossibly secretive Dora from New York to Texas, Felix is thrust into a non-stop adventure, where danger and deceit lie in wait around every bend in the road.
The Hook and the Eye is a mystery, a romance, a spy story, a road trip tale and a postcard of a lost Americana. It is also Raymond Benson at his very best."
Just announced, a new serialised novel by Raymond Benson starring Felix Leiter.
"Felix Leiter – James Bond’s trusted friend and ally – takes centre stage in a brand new adventure by legendary Bond novelist, Raymond Benson.
It is 1952. Felix has lost his job at the CIA and finds himself working for the Pinkerton Detective Agency. What starts as a simple surveillance job turns into a matter of life and death when Felix stumbles upon a murder and a cabal of spies embedded in Manhattan. Hired to transport the impossibly beautiful and impossibly secretive Dora from New York to Texas, Felix is thrust into a non-stop adventure, where danger and deceit lie in wait around every bend in the road.
The Hook and the Eye is a mystery, a romance, a spy story, a road trip tale and a postcard of a lost Americana. It is also Raymond Benson at his very best."
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Comments
This isn't really for me either (I like Felix as a character but I'm not sure if I'd be bothered to read an adventure with him and no Bond). Who knows though, I might get round to it eventually.
I admit there is something about that date that is wrong, in LALD Felix is still in the CIA and the novel was published in 1954 (probably set in 53).
You think they'll make him some sort of McCarthyism victim? I hope not. Later reinstated etc. That'd be too complicated for my liking. I'm ok with messing with timelines for narrative sake but it's got to make some sort of sense for the world it's in.
Yeah same here. Maybe he's improved in the twenty years or so since he last did a Bond, but I'm not sure I'd take a punt unless it gets great reviews. The whole Americana thing does sound quite Flemingy to be fair, but still doesn't really grab me.
But I have to say I’m bored of Ian Fleming Publications insistence on releasing Bond book without James Bond. It’s getting annoying now.
You can’t release spinoffs from a main character without releasing books with that main character too.
Casino Royale is set in 1951 according to Goldfinger (Du Pont says so), and then Live and Let Die refers to "last summer," in what is Jan/Feb of the next year. I do believe Griswold put LALD in 1952 as well. That would mean post-arm and leg as well, where Fleming had Felix leave the service.
I also remember hearing from someone that his writing improved post-Bond so I'd be glad to give him a try for the Felix Leiter project. His Bond novels do suffer from a heavy attempt to tie in with the films and some of the writing may come off poorly because of that (and perhaps a lack of a descriptive ability).
I did dislike Benson's Leiter in The Facts of Death as a bit silly, but maybe that was the Jack Wade influence: hopefully he pulls something good out completely uninfluenced by the films this time.
"Update: To answer some questions I've been getting about the 1952 setting... from my Author's Note in the book: Ignoring the actual dates of the original publications of Fleming's works, Bond historians have long conjectured when in the real world the events in these stories may have occurred. In the late John Griswold’s excellent study, "Ian Fleming’s James Bond—Annotations and Chronologies for Ian Fleming’s Bond Stories," the author speculates that Fleming’s second novel, Live and Let Die, actually takes place in January and February of 1952. Moonraker happens in May 1953. The action of Diamonds are Forever is between July and August 1953. Many online fan sites have adopted this perceived timeline (or very similar ones) as gospel. Given this conceit, Felix Leiter’s mishap with the shark in Live and Let Die transpired at the end of January 1952. He doesn’t appear in a Bond novel again until July 1953 in Diamonds are Forever. Thus, the tale takes place in between those two works, during the last half of 1952 to be exact."
And you have right about Dupont saying 1951.
I'm very much in agreement with this. I've not read any of the other spin-offs yet either. They're not really my sort of thing and they only serve to lead us away from the character of James Bond himself. It's sad they can't just focus on Bond and realise that's the goose that lays the golden eggs. We don't want to read about the chickens.
Like you I have no interest in the spin-offs, but this has peaked my interest as I'm an American like Felix and want to see him go an adventure of his own. It's not a globe-trotting story but a travelogue detective story in the States.
I …… i am gonna get drunk after reading this and since i am vacation in vegas no one will bat an eye bottoms up
https://www.vegas.com/shows/variety/wayne-newton-las-vegas/?_&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=2533394&utm_term=wayne newton las vegas show dates&adgroup=46548267068&target=kwd-805033162078&loc_i=&loc_p=9008150&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIz4Wa0uKojAMV705HAR1NXTxLEAAYAiAAEgJPQPD_BwE
Beyond the dead and company shows i go to for my … with my wife i prefer shows that raise more then my eye… shows that i wouldnt recommend uou google on a work computer and though 007 is about sex and violence i am nervous to say the names of these shows for fear i will get in trouble
Let's be thankful it's Raymond Benson coming back, and not Sebastian Faulks. Also, this can also make up for Dynamite Comics leaving their Felix Leiter Comic on a cliffhanger. I'm getting a feeling that an adult Bond announcement is on the way, sooner than we think. Same with a Bond villain spinoff.
You could say that it was a retro role reversal for both authors.
Yes, I thought this.
This sounds interesting. Benson’s Bond books were colourful with some good ideas but for me they read like semi bad fan fiction. I hope his writing has improved. He didn’t deserve the hate mail he received while writing Bond. This sort of behaviour is inexcusable.
In terms of spinoffs, I really enjoyed ‘The Moneypenny Diaries’ so I think I’ll check out this Felix yarn at some point. However, I don’t know if I’m interested in reading about Q. If it’s a good story though…