Summary- A mysterious person has been perpetrating crimes, while leaving numbered clues after each one. Meanwhile, several cities start experiencing horrible, deadly epidemics. The last straw that sets Bond on the case is the murder of Alfred Hutchinson, M's new lover and Goodwill Ambassador to the World for Britain. Bond follows the initial trail to Greece, where he teams up with a Greek special agent, Niki Mirakos. They discover that a seemingly harmless New Pythagorean Society may have evil motives. The leader of this group calls himself the Monad, and believes that the ancient Greek gods talk to him and gave him the spirit of Pythagoras. He is on a mission to complete a Tetraktys, which is a set of ten missions, that once complete, will start a war between Greece and Turkey. He may have got away with it, but his second in command, the Duad, betrayed and killed him. She has bigger plans, namely to unleash more of a germ that her accomplice created; the same disease that is already killing hundreds. With the help of the Greek army, Bond destroys the helicopter the Duad is escaping in, and retrieves the antidote. My Grade- B This book reminds me of Never Send Flowers, in that Bond is hunting a killer who leaves a distinctive calling card. In both books, Bond is up against a formidable enemy, but prevails with style. Best Moment- The best moment in this book is taken by Felix Leiter, who appears for the first time in a Benson book. While the FBI are attempting to attack a barn in Austin which has biochemical supplies in it, the bad guys manage to hold them off, and grab Manuela, Leiter's girlfriend. When no one is able to break the stalemate, Leiter decides to take matters into his own hand. He drives out into the middle of the skirmish on his high powered wheel chair, causing a distraction allowing Bond to get a shot off on Manuela's captor. Also, Leiter busts threw the cow pen, causing a stampede right through the bad guys. Well, when in Texas...
