Summary- James Bond is having severe headaches due to a head injury he suffered while in the Himalayas. He is given pills, but they aren't helping. Bond begins to have blackouts and hallucinations. He goes to see Sir Molony's, the SIS shrink's, assistant. They end up having sex, but afterward Bond blacks out. He wakes up to find the woman murdered, and his prints are everywhere. Rather than turn himself in, he hunts down the Union, whom he is sure is behind the act. A clue leads him to an adult book store where he finds the two men responsible for killing his assistant, Helena Marksbury. By following them, he is pulled deeper into a Union plot to use a Spaniard named Espada's desires to become Governor of Gibraltar to embarrass MI6 and Bond. The Union has a plastic surgeon "create" another Bond. They have this double perform some more horrible acts, like killing terrorists on a boat. Now his own people are after Bond. The plan is to then have the Bond double kill the British PM, the Spanish PM, and the Governor of Gibraltar. With the help of twins from the CIA, Bond evades prosecution and ultimately switches with the double, after killing him. Then, instead of killing the intended targets at the meeting, he kills the Union members who were there. My Grade- A+ Benson is really on a roll. His last three books have been great. This is an interesting novel in that Bond's major enemy is himself. He is not only fighting a double of himself, but he also has to fight his own body and mind. He has to stay convinced that he is not going insane, and he has to fight the headaches and blackouts so that he doesn't get killed. Best Moment- The best part of this book is when Bond fights both a bull and his double. Espada was a bullfighter, and he trains new ones. Bond is thrown in the ring with his hands tied behind his back. He then has to face a wild bull. If that's not hard enough, once he defeats the bull and frees his hands, his double enters the ring to finish Bond. Bond and his double fight, and Bond begins to black out. He does black out when the imposter's hands are at his throat. Apparently Bond still functions, however. He awakes to find he has killed his double, but can't remember doing it!
