K1Bond007.com » Raymond Benson

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty Released

K1Bond007 — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:01:10 +0000

Raymond Benson’s latest book Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty has been released in bookstores all over the United States. The novelization is based on Hideo Kojima’s highly acclaimed video game of the same name that was released in 2001 for the PlayStation 2. It was later released as Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance for the Xbox in 2003.

Next up for Raymond could be Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater which released for the PlayStation 2 in 2004.

Here’s the publisher’s pitch for this book:

In a torrential downpour, former FOXHOUND agent Solid Snake stands on the George Washington Bridge–ready to launch himself onto the deck of the U.S.S. Discovery as it passes below. Inside Discovery is a new generation of Metal Gear. But in the next hour, Snake’s world explodes.

Two years later, a young, unproven agent code-named Raiden must penetrate the mystery of what went so insanely wrong that night.

In a labyrinthine superstructure in New York Harbor known as the Big Shell, enemies, allies, secret agents, and double-dealers converge: Russian commandos, a cyber Vamp, a long-legged, leather-clad, rifle-bearing beauty named Fortune, a deformed, finely manicured bomber called Fatman, and a mysterious Mister X. Somewhere in the maze, as well, is the president himself–his biometrics coded to a bomb that can take out Manhattan, his loyalties unknown. Now the rookie Raiden is fighting his way to one discovery after another, including the rebirth of Solid Snake himself and a nightmare organization with a history, a plan, and a terrifying superweapon hidden in plain sight.

Link to buy: Amazon.com

Choice of Weapons Gets Listed, Slips to August

K1Bond007 — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:30:21 +0000

Choice of Weapons, the upcoming 007 compilation book that includes three of Raymond Benson’s James Bond novels is now listed on Amazon.com.

Choice of Weapons will include Zero Minus Ten (1997), The Facts of Death (1998) and The Man with the Red Tattoo (2002) as well as the short stories “Live at Five” and “Midsummer Night’s Doom”. The book clocks in at a hefty 864 pages. That’s 32 more pages over Volume I – The Union Trilogy which was released in October 2008.

Previously the book was said to be hitting shelves in “Spring 2010“, though now according to the listing it appears publication will be taking place in August instead.

Dark Side of the Morgue, Review

K1Bond007 — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:01:46 +0000

The second novel in Raymond Benson’s Spike Berenger rock ‘n’ roll series was released in March of this year, only a year after A Hard Day’s Death. While Dark Side of the Morgue is often a fun read and has much to like, most specifically Benson’s great knowledge and love for music that pours from the pages, it ultimately fails to surpass its predecessor.

As the story goes, private investigator Spike Berenger is called out to Chicago to investigate a mysterious serial killer who is bumping off musicians involved with a group called The Loop, which in the early 70s split into two different groups. It’s a solid premise, but where it begins to go wrong is how none of the former bandmates have any sort of self-preservation. Their friends are being killed off at a fast pace and they oddly just go about their lives. Worst of all they don’t even trust Spike to help them, who is offering his aid to the best of his ability. They’re stupid really, but the police department is probably even dumber. Several musicians in their city are being killed and the police can’t even confirm that the deaths are connected even when the evidence is hit-you-in-the-face obvious. Or maybe they just didn’t want to confirm it. I won’t really fault Benson for this, but what I did find rather annoying was how Benson continuously dragged out “secrets” to prolong the book. At least in my opinion. There was one point where Spike learns a “secret” then forgets to tell his partner when he has the chance – because telling his partner would be equivalent to telling us. So two chapters later, at the very end of a chapter he even throws out a “Oh I forgot to tell you…”, but then proceeds to do so between chapters. So that secret gets dragged on for another chapter. By the time this “secret” was exposed, it wasn’t a secret. Additionally, there were other little annoyances about how the author handled things that I thought were kind of ridiculous. For instance, Spike gets 3 voicemails, he conveniently only listens to 2. One of the voicemails was garbled because if it wasn’t one possible ending could have been struck from the list. Stuff like that.

So yeah, all in all, I will say that it’s entertaining for a good portion of the book, but is rather frustrating at times as you feel the book get stretched further and further. It’s a solid entry into the Spike Berenger series, but when all is said and done, A Hard Day’s Death was clearly the better of the two. All that said, I do hope Raymond Benson gets the opportunity to carry on the series because there is a huge amount of potential here. The characters are good, the rock ‘n’ roll premise is still fresh and unique – I just can’t say I’m not eagerly awaiting a third book. The short story “On The Threshold of a Death” (“A Spike Berenger Rock ‘n’ Roll Hit Single”) will hopefully tide me over.

A Hard Day's Death, Review

K1Bond007 — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 19:35:04 +0000

I have a pretty long list of books to read and one that I’ve had near the top for awhile is A Hard Day’s Death by Raymond Benson. It’s got a pretty good premise about a private investigator who specifically takes on cases in the world of rock n’ roll. It’s actually a pretty brilliant idea, it just requires an author who’s got a love and knowledge of the business. Benson surely is that. His love of music, specifically (roughly) late 60′s and 70s rock (i.e., classic rock), clearly shows on just about every page. The table of contents reads like an album’s track list and each chapter is titled after a song (e.g., A Hard Day’s Night – performed by The Beatles). Throw in a guy best known for thriller books like James Bond, Splinter Cell, and Metal Gear Solid, and you got the ingredients for an entertaining hit.

The story involves an old classic rocker by the name of Flame. This guy is pretty huge in the world of rock n’ roll, once jamming with the likes of John Lennon and David Bowie and having two successful bands of his own as well as a solo career before going into rehab and coming out a reformed man. Now Flame is doing religious music and everyone isn’t too happy which ultimately leads to his demise. So it goes. The problem is practically everyone in the book is a suspect from former bandmates, to family, to producers to a rock n’ roll gang, to even a religious cult that operates out of Jamaica. They all have motive and many, given Flame was kind of an ass, didn’t even give a damn that the guy died. This leads to the introduction of the protagonist, Spike Berenger. He’s 50, he’s been in the world of rock n’ roll as both a musician and a producer, and he’s even dated Flame’s first wife, but now he’s a private investigator in New York City where the story mostly takes place. He’s got his own security firm filled with a number of other investigators with specific specialties and it’s really up to them to put all the pieces of the puzzle together and solve the case.

A Hard Day’s Death is a damn good read and a real page turner. I quite enjoyed it, though I must say that while I was really into it, the ending wasn’t as great as I would have liked. The problem is Spike being an actual private investigator for about 80% of the book then the final 20% becoming something more, something like a watered-down James Bond. I hate to say it. The book just didn’t feel like an action book at all, but that’s where it eventually went. Nothing too wrong with that, I guess. All in all though, A Hard Day’s Death is a thrilling and unique read. I could say that those that dig music a lot will really take to it, and that’s probably true, but I don’t really consider myself one of those – not like Benson, and I enjoyed it. So there you go.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty Cover

K1Bond007 — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 19:07:37 +0000

Cover art for Raymond Benson’s upcoming book Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty has been unveiled. The novelization is based on Hideo Kojima’s highly acclaimed video game of the same name that was released in 2001 for the PlayStation 2. It was later released as Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance for the Xbox in 2003.

Nothing too special about this cover art though since it’s almost identical to the box cover of the game, but now you’ve seen it. The book will be released on November 24th. Pre-order on Amazon. The first novelization, also by Benson, was released in May 2008 (Amazon).

About the book:

In a torrential downpour, former FOXHOUND agent Solid Snake stands on the George Washington Bridge–ready to launch himself onto the deck of the U.S.S. Discovery as it passes below. Inside Discovery is a new generation of Metal Gear. But in the next hour, Snake’s world explodes.

Two years later, a young, unproven agent code-named Raiden must penetrate the mystery of what went so insanely wrong that night.

In a labyrinthine superstructure in New York Harbor known as the Big Shell, enemies, allies, secret agents, and double-dealers converge: Russian commandos, a cyber Vamp, a long-legged, leather-clad, rifle-bearing beauty named Fortune, a deformed, finely manicured bomber called Fatman, and a mysterious Mister X. Somewhere in the maze, as well, is the president himself–his biometrics coded to a bomb that can take out Manhattan, his loyalties unknown. Now the rookie Raiden is fighting his way to one discovery after another, including the rebirth of Solid Snake himself and a nightmare organization with a history, a plan, and a terrifying superweapon hidden in plain sight.

Cover Art for Choice of Weapons

K1Bond007 — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 21:32:57 +0000

Cover art for Raymond Benson’s second James Bond anthology, titled Choice of Weapons has been released. It’s pretty much in line with the first anthology The Union Trilogy that was released last year. Choice of Weapons will include Zero Minus Ten (1997), The Facts of Death (1998) and The Man with the Red Tattoo (2002) as well as the short stories “Live at Five” and “Midsummer Night’s Doom”.

Choice of Weapons will be published sometime in the spring of 2010, though last we heard it could be in June.

New Benson Short Story Published

K1Bond007 — Fri, 22 May 2009 21:18:54 +0000

Raymond Benson announced that a new short story titled “On the Threshold of a Death” has been published in CrimeSpree Magazine (Issue 30, May/June 2009). It’s part of the Spike Berenger series of books by Benson that includes A Hard Day’s Death (2008) and Dark Side of the Morgue (2009). Staying in theme the short story is referred to as a “single” and is likely a take on The Moody Blues’ album On the Threshold of a Dream.

Benson's Hunt Novel – Cover and Extract

K1Bond007 — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 05:48:06 +0000

Awhile back I reported on former Bond author Raymond Benson being hired by Hard Case Crime to write the final novel in a series of a books about the adventures of Gabriel Hunt. The sixth and final book called Hunt Through Napoleon’s Web isn’t due out till August 2010, but already we have cover art and an extract of the novel online.

Here’s a synopsis:

Of all the priceless treasures Gabriel Hunt has sought, none means more to him than the one drawing him to the rugged terrain of Corsica and the exotic streets of Marrakesh: his own sister’s life. To save her, Hunt will have to challenge the mind of a tyrant two centuries dead—the calculating, ingenious Napoleon Bonaparte…

You can find the extract online at the series’ official website Hunt For Adventure. (Extract).

Radio Interview with Benson Online

K1Bond007 — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 19:08:53 +0000

Yesterday former Bond author Raymond Benson did a radio interview where he promoted his latest book Dark Side of the Morgue. He talked about The Union Trilogy, Choice of Weapons, and his methods for writing some of his books; mostly James Bond, but also Splinter Cell and Metal Gear Solid. He claimed that his publisher is currently in a wait-and-see mode and that if Dark Side of the Morgue does okay, he’ll likely write a third.

You can find the full thing here. The interview lasts roughly 10-15 minutes at the very beginning.

Choice of Weapons Due June 2010?

K1Bond007 — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:50:43 +0000

Raymond Benson claims in a new interview that his upcoming second omnibus of James Bond stories will be published in June 2010. Before we just had a range of spring to summer. You can check out the full interview here. The interview is mostly about Benson’s latest book Dark Side of the Morgue, but he does discuss the locations where his stories take place. Another good interview is up over here.