The Man with the Red Tattoo
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2003 Coronet Books British paperback edition. |
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Author | Raymond Benson |
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Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Series | James Bond |
Genre(s) | Spy novel |
Publisher | Hodder & Stoughton |
Released | 2 May 2002 |
Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
Pages | 320 pp (first edition, hardback) |
ISBN | ISBN 0340819146 (first edition, hardback) |
Preceded by | Never Dream of Dying |
Followed by | Die Another Day |
The Man with the Red Tattoo, first published in 2002, was the sixth and final original novel by Raymond Benson featuring Ian Fleming's secret agent, James Bond (including film novelisations). Carrying the Ian Fleming Publications copyright, it was first published in the United Kingdom by Hodder & Stoughton and in the United States by Putnam. It was later published in Japan in 2003.
After the publication of The Man with the Red Tattoo, Benson wrote the novelisation of Die Another Day which was published later in the year. Die Another Day is considered Benson's final James Bond novel and also the final James Bond novel featuring 007 as an adult; the following Bond stories being about a teenage James Bond in the 1930s by Charlie Higson (see Young Bond). On August 28, 2005, Ian Fleming Publications confirmed it is planning to publish a one-off adult Bond novel in 2008 to mark the 100th anniversary of Ian Fleming's birth. Although no author has been approached for the project, the idea is to have the book written by a well-known and established author [1].
Benson at one time had plans to release a collection of Bond short stories, but after abruptly announcing his retirement in early 2003 from writing Bond novels, the project was never pursued. Not counting novelisations and short story collections, The Man with the Red Tattoo marks the 33rd original James Bond novel since Ian Fleming introduced the character nearly 50 years earlier.
Contents |
[edit] The museum
The people of Japan have always been big fans of James Bond so after being the main location for a second time (the first, Fleming's You Only Live Twice) the people and government of Naoshima (where the story takes place) erected a permanent museum to commemorate the novel and James Bond in general. "007 The Man With the Red Tattoo Museum" was opened on July 24, 2005 in the Kagawa Prefecture [2].
Additionally, the city of Naoshima has also begun a petition and committee (the "007 Location Promotion Committee") to EON Productions, the production company behind every official James Bond film starting in 1962 with Dr. No, to have a future Bond film take place in Japan.
[edit] Plot introduction
On a flight from Japan to the United Kingdom, a young Japanese woman dies of a mysterious illness. The illness is a mutated version of the West Nile virus. James Bond finds out that not only was she the daughter of an important Japanese businessman, her entire family is also dead. James Bond travels to Japan in search of the killer. Here Bond re-meets with his longtime friend Tiger Tanaka who introduces him to a female Japanese agent who is later killed by the mutant virus.
[edit] Trivia
Benson's original title was "Red Widow Dawn". Other titles considered were "The Man With The Cold Tattoo" and "BITE".
[edit] Publication history
- UK first hardback edition: May 2, 2002 Hodder & Stoughton
- U.S. first hardback edition: June 6, 2002 Putnam
- UK first paperback edition: June 9, 2003 Coronet Books
- U.S. first paperback edition: May 2003 Jove Books
[edit] References
- ^ New lease of life for 007's licence to kill. Retrieved on July 20, 2006.
- ^ Inside the '007 The Man With The Red Tattoo Museum'. Retrieved on August 31, 2005.
[edit] External links
- Official Japanese 007 museum website
- CBn The Man With The Red Tattoo Review
- CBn Raymond Benson Interview, Part III
Ian Fleming
Casino Royale (1953) • Live and Let Die (1954) • Moonraker (1955) • Diamonds Are Forever (1956) • From Russia with Love (1957) • Dr. No (1958) • Goldfinger (1959) • For Your Eyes Only (1960) • Thunderball (1961) • The Spy Who Loved Me (1962) • On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1963) • You Only Live Twice (1964) • The Man with the Golden Gun (1965) • Octopussy and The Living Daylights (1966)
R.D. Mascott
003½: The Adventures of James Bond Junior (1967)
Kingsley Amis (writing as Robert Markham)
Colonel Sun (1968)
John Pearson
James Bond: The Authorised Biography of 007 (1973)
Christopher Wood (novelisations)
James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) • James Bond and Moonraker (1979)
John Gardner
Licence Renewed (1981) • For Special Services (1982) • Icebreaker (1983) • Role of Honour (1984) • Nobody Lives For Ever (1986) • No Deals, Mr. Bond (1987) • Scorpius (1988) • Win, Lose or Die (1989) • Licence to Kill (1989) • Brokenclaw (1990) • The Man from Barbarossa (1991) • Death is Forever (1992) • Never Send Flowers (1993) • SeaFire (1994) • GoldenEye (1995) • COLD (a.k.a. Cold Fall) (1996)
Raymond Benson
"Blast From the Past" (1997) • Zero Minus Ten (1997) • Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) • The Facts of Death (1998) • "Midsummer Night's Doom" (1999) • High Time to Kill (1999) • The World is Not Enough (1999) • "Live at Five" (1999) • Doubleshot (2000) • Never Dream of Dying (2001) • The Man with the Red Tattoo (2002) • Die Another Day (2002)
Charlie Higson (Young Bond series)
SilverFin (2005) • Blood Fever (2006) • Double or Die (2007) • Young Bond Book 4 (2007) • Young Bond Book 5 (2009)
Samantha Weinberg (writing as Kate Westbrook) (The Moneypenny Diaries series)
The Moneypenny Diaries: Guardian Angel (2005) • "For Your Eyes Only, James" (2006) • Secret Servant: The Moneypenny Diaries (2006) • "Moneypenny's First Date With Bond" (2006) • The Moneypenny Diaries Book 3 (2008)
Unofficial/Unpublished
Per Fine Ounce (1966) • The Killing Zone (1985) • "The Heart of Erzulie" (2001-02)
Related works
The James Bond Dossier (1965) The Book of Bond (1965) The James Bond Bedside Companion (1984)