Summary-James Bond takes part in a raid of a supposed Union ammo site at a movie studio in Hollywood. Bond shoots a gasoline tank to prevent any Union members from escaping, but several innocent people die in the ensuing fire. Rene Mathis, Bond's friend from the French secret service is suspended due to his involvement. Bond is also nearly kicked off the Union case. M gives him two weeks to discover something important. He does, when he discovers that Union members have a special tattoo on the back of their eye. This leads to the information that a famous movie maker, Leon Essinger, is a member of the Union. Bond goes on his trail, and meets Essinger's wife, a model/actress named Tylyn. At first he uses Tylyn to get close to Essinger, but falls in love with her. While Bond is doing this, Mathis is hunting down the Union on his own. He discovers their headquarters, but is captured. Le Gerant, the leader of the Union, forces him to write a letter to Bond. Meanwhile, Bond blows his cover as a press agent for an English newspaper when he is caught snooping around the set of Essinger's new movie, Pirate Island. Bond escapes the set explosions meant to kill him, and convinces everyone he is dead. Bond hears about the letter and goes to find Mathis. Bond is caught, and Le Gerant has his doctor, Dr. Gerowitz, torture Bond by using a laser to burn his eyes. Mathis is already blind from the torture, but Bond escapes before any permanent damage is done to his eye. Bond unravels that the plot is to blow up the Cannes Film Festival using stolen explosives. Bond, with help from the French RAID team, discovers the bomb and prevents the tragedy. It turns out that a man names Yoshida is responsible for hiring the Union to blow up the festival. He wants to strike at the decadent West. (He will be the major villain in the next novel.) Bond returns, with help, to the Union headquarters. He frees Mathis, and kills Le Gerant, effectively ending the Union. My Grade- A This novel is almost as good as the other two parts of the Union trilogy. The only thing was that I expected more of a showdown between Le Gerant and Bond. The fight takes only a page or so. After building up Le Gerant as the main villain for three books, I expected more. Best Moment- The best moment is when Bond escapes from the Union dungeon. He kills a rat with his bare hands, uses his teeth to dig out the rat's femur, whittles the bone to a point, and uses it to stab a guard. Bond at his gritty best.
