Brian James Smith reviews The Hook and The Eye – a Felix Leiter adventure by Raymond Benson

By: Brian Smith

Published:
2025-06-24

The Hook and the Eye, Raymond Benson, review

From Sweden with Love reader Raymond Benson returns to the world of James Bond with a new Felix Leiter adventure, The Hook and The Eye. Benson explains that the new book is, ‘appropriately set in Ian Fleming’s timeline of the 1950s between the character’s appearances in Live and Let Die (1954) and Diamonds are Forever (1956).’

The Hook And The Eye was originally to be rolled out as an eBook serial. Episode One appeared on Tuesday, 27 May, with a new episode to be released every two weeks until the tenth and final instalment on 30 September. However, due to problems with third party eBook retailers, the entire book is available now! In addition, the novel will appear in paperback in October, featuring a beautiful cover artwork by Thomas Gilbert who did such a splendid job on last year’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang reissue.

The Hook and The Eye, Raymond Benson, ebook, serialisation

The Hook and The Eye, Raymond Benson, ebook, serialisation

Synopsis for The Hook and The Eye written by Raymond Benson

Felix Leiter – James Bond’s trusted friend and ally – takes centre stage in a brand new adventure by legendary Bond novelist, Raymond Benson.

It is 1952. Felix has lost his job at the CIA and finds himself working for the Pinkerton Detective Agency. What starts as a simple surveillance job turns into a matter of life and death when Felix stumbles upon a murder and a cabal of spies embedded in Manhattan. Hired to transport the impossibly beautiful and impossibly secretive Dora from New York to Texas, Felix is thrust into a non-stop adventure, where danger and deceit lie in wait around every bend in the road.

The Hook and the Eye is a mystery, a romance, a spy story, a road trip tale and a postcard of a lost Americana. It is also Raymond Benson at his very best.

Review of The Hook and The Eye written by Raymond Benson

From the off I was hooked! No pun intended. The opening line is a doozy.

I’m holding in my hand the fate of the world and I don’t know what the hell I should do with it.

The first-person narrative made me grin a grin as wide as Felix Leiter’s. Raymond Benson’s Texan cadence and Ian Fleming’s original vision for Felix Leiter is the perfect combination. Benson imbues the character with an honest-to-goodness legitimacy. Through Leiter’s interactions and internal dialogue, Benson brings all his dramatis personae to life. New characters and real people pepper the story, as Benson skilfully weaves fact and fiction to construct a gripping tale of romance, deception and adventure that takes our hardboiled spook-turned-detective on a road trip across America with the enigmatic Dora Wysocki.

The first chapter teases events from later in the tale, a device often used by Fleming. Chapter Two begins a couple of days after the Live and Let Die shark attack, which allows from some gallows humour. We know that by Diamonds are Forever Felix is working for Pinkertons, in charge of their Race Gang squad. This opening episode efficiently joins the dots and describes Leiter’s change of career from CIA officer to private detective via his convalescence and fitting of a 50’s-era artificial leg and mechanical hook. The plot begins to emerge when Leiter is assigned night guard duty at the Ansonia Hotel in New York which leads to an exciting sequence of events. He’s then hired through Pinkertons by his ex-CIA handler, and again by Dora to drive her to Texas, for reasons I do not wish to spoil.

Once on the road, a landscape of billboards, diners and motels serves as a backdrop as much as the real-world events which anchors the story in the specific period between August and November 1952. The journey is not without incident, whether it’s enemy action or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The events of Chapter 25 will remain one of my favourite episodes of the entire literary Bond universe.

Benson writes with a confidence and smartness that is at times Chandleresque in its execution combined with a Fleming-eye view of the world. It’s in the detail – the cars, the gunmanship, the geography and locations. New York is a thrilling city Benson knows well, as is Texas, the author’s home state. The essence of 1950s Americana oozes from the page as Benson brings it all authentically to life.

The Hook And The Eye marks the return of the genuine Felix Leiter, and a master storyteller at the top of his game.

Review by Brian James Smith. Copyright © 2025 From Sweden with Love. All rights reserved.

Editor's Note:
Order The Hook and The Eye from Ian Fleming Publications.

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Brian James Smith reviews The Hook and The Eye – a Felix Leiter adventure by Raymond Benson

Synopsis for The Hook and The Eye written by Raymond Benson

Review of The Hook and The Eye written by Raymond Benson

The Hook And The Eye marks the return of the genuine Felix Leiter, and a master storyteller at the top of his game.

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