Return of the Gaijin

As James Bond bade a final farewell to the criminal organization called the Union in Raymond Benson's last work, "Never Dream Of Dying," one might expect a letdown. Instead Benson improves upon the previous book and presents a well-written yarn, full of adventure in his sixth original Bond novel, "The Man With The Red Tattoo."

The setting is Japan, from Tokyo to Sapporo and beyond. Bond greets an old ally, Tiger Tanaka, who is an emeritus of the Koan-Chosa-Cho, the Japanese Secret Service. Ostensibly to baby-sit world leaders heading to a summit conference, Bond works with his old friend to investigate the mysterious deaths of Britisher Peter McMahon and his Japanese wife and family. If Benson used the existing news to set his plot points before (the Hong Kong turnover in "Zero Minus Ten" and the Cyprus fighting in "The Facts Of Death") this time he released a story whose plot elements began surfacing in the American news afterwards. A Japanese yakuza, their mafia, led by a fascinating leader, are working on a treatment to produce mosquitoes with an advanced lethal strain of West Nile virus.

The bad guy, so-to-say, is an exiled Japanese extremist and terrorist named Goro Yoshida, who has pledged war upon the west as the Yami Shogun of the yakuza. He is also the book's title character, sporting a near full-body sized tattoo depicting an ancient battle of samurai battling dragons. Yoshida's body art is a striking red masterpiece, applied through traditional Japanese means of irezumi without the benefit of any electronic devices.

Yoshida followed in the footsteps of another Japanese nationalist who carried out a seppuku upon a lack of interest in his followers, literally thrusting a dagger into his abdomen and moving it about in self-disembowelment before having a second lop his head off.

Benson makes use of Japanese folklore and customs, but much as Ian Fleming did in "You Only Live Twice," still manages to prevent the characters from seeming too foreign. The reader will appreciate the rituals the characters follow and not merely scoff at them. Alas, the one feature that seemed most odd was the meishi, the constant practice of exchanging business cards upon an introduction. At the end, he also gives Bond the chance to rebuke, with respect, the adherence to those customs that will seem outlandish to the average western reader. James Bond has been a solid character throughout Benson's tenure as author, never becoming part of the scenery in the worst of John Gardner's works. Benson also introduces the colorful supporting characters á la Fleming. Here we are treated to a dwarflike Kappa named Junji Kon, whose own body is his biggest prowess.

The one weakest link in the story is Mayumi, the missing daughter of Peter McMahon, who seems distant and maddeningly garrulous too often to be just another tryst for Bond. Her character is too weathered to be as naïve as the story demands. Much more enticing is the alluring Reiko Tamura, a beautiful agent of Tanaka's who Bond can easily, er, orientate with.

It should be noted that Major Boothroyd appears in this book still at the helm of MI6's Q Branch. Bond's cast at headquarters, all mainstays excepting his recent personal assistant, Nigel Smith, are spun in easy style to set up the mission. Bond is again sent to Japan on a diplomatic styled assignment on the surface. But in looking into protecting world leaders and fighting the planned release of West Nile as well as the death of a prominent pharmaceutical maker and his family, not to mention seeing if they intersect, Benson gives Bond the chance to cast out old ghosts and re-examine his own state. Benson uses fewer allusions to Fleming and Gardner, though a few are brought front and center. This time, they actually get in the way of an enticing story.

Benson has gotten beyond finding the right footing. He has mastered the ability to capture the classic Bond character from the original books and place him in the current day, which is the only way Bond can avoid being a relic of a time long past. He does not attempt to match Fleming's flowery prose, yet he does not lose sight of his evoking of feeling. He wisely avoids Gardner's use of plot by virtue of character evaporation.

If Benson writes no more original novels, he already stands as the writer who carried Bond past the Cold War and kept him vital. The man who made Bond novels worthy of their cinematic counterparts. He sends Bond off in "The Man With The Red Tattoo" with a kiri kudashi. Its finishing blow will resonant well after the book is put down. James Bond is as vital today as fifty years ago.

The tradition continues.

Purchase "The Man With The Red Tattoo" from Amzon.com