High Time to Kill

High Time to Kill
First edition cover
Author Raymond Benson
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Series James Bond
Genre Spy fiction
Publisher Hodder & Stoughton
Publication date
 6 May 1999
Media type Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages 304 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBN 0-340-73876-6 (first edition, hardback)
OCLC 40681844
Preceded by Midsummer Night's Doom
Followed by The World Is Not Enough

High Time to Kill, published in 1999, is the fourth novel by Raymond Benson featuring Ian Fleming's secret agent, James Bond (including Benson's novelization of Tomorrow Never Dies). This is the first James Bond novel copyrighted by Ian Fleming Publications (formerly Glidrose Publications). It was published in the United Kingdom by Hodder & Stoughton and in the United States by Putnam. The novel's working title was A Better Way to Die.[1]

Plot summary

The world of James Bond is introduced to the ruthless terrorist organization called "The Union", whose brutal trademark is slashing the throat of those who cross them. Bond and his girlfriend Helena are attending a dinner party thrown by the Governor of The Bahamas. The Governor, who has a gambling debt with a member of The Union, has refused to pay up since he feels that he had been cheated, so there is much security detail at the event. However, the assassin disguises himself as one of the guards and kills the Governor, just as Bond realizes the danger. Bond almost catches the assassin but he commits suicide before he can be interrogated.

A top secret British formula hidden in microfilm, codenamed "Skin 17", is stolen by traitors; scientist Steven Harding and RAF officer Roland Marquis. The microdot is surgically implanted in the pacemaker of an unhealthy old man, who is a former Chinese intelligence agent. James Bond is sent in to recover it before the Union can sell the microfilm to a foreign power.

Bond tracks Harding and the Chinese ex-agent to Belgium, but the latter two slip away while Bond narrowly kills Harding's bodyguard Basil. MI6 tracks the Chinese man to Nepal. It turns out, however, that Harding planned to double-cross the Union, by having the plane of the pacemaker's host hijacked. Le Gerrant, the blind leader of The Union, immediately deduces Harding's double-cross and has him executed; Harding's body later washes up on the beaches of Gibraltar.

The plane containing the pacemaker's host crashed into the Himalayas, so a deadly race commences to recover Skin 17. Bond, sexy mountaineer Hope Kendal, and Roland Marquis, also Bond's schoolboy-days rival, lead one of the expeditions. Early on, they successfully destroy the Chinese base camp, forcing that team to withdraw. Not long after, however, everyone on the British expedition has been killed, save for Bond, Hope, and Marquis. The race climaxes with Bond battling Marquis atop the peak of Kangchenjunga. It turns out that Marquis had collaborated with Harding to steal Skin 17, though they were not planning to sell it to The Union. After a physical high elevation fight, Bond trades oxygen to receive Skin 17 from a mortally wounded Marquis. As Bond and Hope return to base camp, they realize that it has been infiltrated by The Union as Paul Baack, having earlier faked his death while killing the rest of the team, demands Skin 17. Bond and Hope manage to kill Baack and Skin 17 is returned to the British.

Bond's now-estranged girlfriend Helena reveals herself to be in the employ of The Union due to blackmail and threats of violence to her family. However, she is killed just before Bond can reach her.

Locations

Locations where the book takes place include:

Publication history

See also

References

  1. ↑ Benson on Bond - The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers Archived 2007-07-20 at the Wayback Machine.
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