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High Time to Kill is one of Raymond Benson's Bond continuation novels from the late 90s and early 2000s, the period when the official Fleming estate was producing them in steady rotation. The book sends Bond to Nepal, where a piece of microfilm has been lost in a plane crash on a Himalayan peak and a rival service is trying to retrieve it before MI6 does.
Benson handles the form with respect for the source. The Bond character is the Fleming-era Bond rather than the film-era Bond, with all the particular discomforts that implies. The mountaineering set piece in the back half is well-staged. The villain is more interesting than the form usually allows.
Three stars. Recommended only to Bond continuation completists. Not the entry point; the earlier Bensons (Zero Minus Ten, The Facts of Death) are stronger.
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