More Benson Bond Dreck
I recently finished the next in the "Union Trilogy" of James Bond novels by Raymond Benson. It was called "Doubleshot" and had a fairly standard doppelganger plot. You know, the one where the secret agent has an exact double about to commit some nefarious deed, only to be replaced by the actual secret agent who tricks the bad guys into thinking he or she is the double.
It's really standard fare in the spy genre, particularly on television shows. I can probably think of at least a half dozen variations of this theme covered in the Avengers, for example. Unfortunately, it doesn't really work in novel form (although I must admit "Point Blank" in the teen spy Alex Rider series was a variation on the "replacing important people with obedient doppelgangers" plot that didn't suck). Unfortunately, Benson writes next to nothing about the action surrounding the doppelganger, choosing to focus on Bond stumbling around from one plot point to the next.
After suffering through this novel, I felt compelled to watch the Avengers' episode "They Keep Killing Steed" (One of the better Tara King efforts). One of the reasons doppelganger plots work so much better on television is that you actually see that the doppelganger looks just like his or her victim (because they are played by the same actor). If it's an actor as talented as Patrick Macnee, you can also tell by his basic mannerisms that, even though the doppelganger looks just like the main character, he is not actually John Steed. No wonder they kept going back to this plotline again and again.
I did have to laugh because the back cover promo for "Doubleshot" said that this adventure would take Bond to the "seedy" side of Soho. Basically, it meant that Bond visited an adult bookstore.
It's really standard fare in the spy genre, particularly on television shows. I can probably think of at least a half dozen variations of this theme covered in the Avengers, for example. Unfortunately, it doesn't really work in novel form (although I must admit "Point Blank" in the teen spy Alex Rider series was a variation on the "replacing important people with obedient doppelgangers" plot that didn't suck). Unfortunately, Benson writes next to nothing about the action surrounding the doppelganger, choosing to focus on Bond stumbling around from one plot point to the next.
After suffering through this novel, I felt compelled to watch the Avengers' episode "They Keep Killing Steed" (One of the better Tara King efforts). One of the reasons doppelganger plots work so much better on television is that you actually see that the doppelganger looks just like his or her victim (because they are played by the same actor). If it's an actor as talented as Patrick Macnee, you can also tell by his basic mannerisms that, even though the doppelganger looks just like the main character, he is not actually John Steed. No wonder they kept going back to this plotline again and again.
I did have to laugh because the back cover promo for "Doubleshot" said that this adventure would take Bond to the "seedy" side of Soho. Basically, it meant that Bond visited an adult bookstore.