History Literature / ZeroMinusTen

* AsianAirhead: Averted with Sunni Pei: besides her physical features, what attracts Bond the most about her is that he can have an intelligent conversation with her about history and politics when they first meet.
-->''It was a typical crude solicitation from this type of woman. For some reason, though, when she said it to Bond he became aroused. The girl was extremely sexy. He chalked it up to her genuine intelligence, usually conspicuously lacking in bar girls.''
--> ''Bond watched her, captivated. Never having gone in much for strippers, he admitted to himself that she was something special. Her beauty was extraordinary, though once again it was the intellect behind her seduction that made her so appealing. He found he wasn't playing the British tourist in search of a good time anymore. He was really enjoying this.''

* ChristmasCake: Bond estimates that Sunni Pei is in her late 20s as she is noticeably older than the other hostesses at the Zipper nightclub, which she later confirms when she mentions that her mother was always worried she was almost thirty and still not married.

* ShesGotLegs: Sunni Pei has long, sexy, wonderful legs that further enhance her beauty. Her unusually tall height for a Chinese woman makes her even more attractive.

-->''She opened up to him that night, over and over again. He filled her with strength and security, helping her achieve a release from the demons that had tormented her since the evening began. She needed the climaxes, for they allowed her to forget her troubles and lose herself in a floating world of ecstasy and passion. It was three or four horus later when, totally spent, they finally fell asleep in each other's arms.''

* VagueAge: Bond's first impression of Li Xu Nan is how difficult it is to tell his age. He could either be "a man of forty or a youngster of nineteen" with the proper cloths and posture. His actual age is closer to the former.

On the eve of UsefulNotes/HongKong being [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transfer_of_sovereignty_over_Hong_Kong handed back to the People's Republic of China]] after 150 years of British rule, several important government and business figures are assassinated there, with all fingers pointing to China being the culprit. In order to stop a potential war between England and China, Bond is sent to look into the matter since all deaths are suspiciously connected to [=EurAsia=] Enterprises, one of the most powerful shipping companies in the world, which has its main offices located in Hong Kong.

* EvilPlan: [[spoiler:Angry at both England and China for making him lose his family business due to contract that his ancestor made with the Triad in the past, Guy Thackeray is going to make them to go to war with each other by blowing up an atomic bomb in Hong Kong]].

-->''She opened up to him that night, over and over again. He filled her with strength and security, helping her achieve a release from the demons that had tormented her since the evening began. She needed the climaxes, for they allowed her to forget her troubles and lose herself in a floating world of ecstasy and pssion. It was three or four horus later when, totally spent, they finally fell asleep in each other's arms.''

-->''She opened up to him that night, over and over again. He filled her with strength and security, helping her achieve a release from teh demons that had tormented her since the evening began. She needed the climaxes, for they allowed her to forget her troubles and lose herself in a floating world of ecstasy and pssion. It was three or four horus later when, totally spent, they finally fell asleep in each other's arms.''

The first ''Literature/JamesBond'' novel by Raymond Benson, published in 1997.

In the eve of UsefulNotes/HongKong being [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transfer_of_sovereignty_over_Hong_Kong handed over to People's Republic of China]] after decades of British rule, several important government and business figures are assassinated there, with all fingers pointing at China being the culprit. In order to stop a potential war between England and China, Bond is sent there to look into the matter since all deaths are suspiciously connected to [=EurAsia=] Enterprises, one of the most powerful shipping companies in the world, which has its main offices located in Hong Kong.

** Bond tells agent Lane that while [[GroinAttack a kick to the testicles]] is painful, it's nothing compared to [[Literature/CasinoRoyale a carpet beater]].
** When attention is given to Bond's Walther PPK, he tells agent Lane that he had replaced it with an ASP 9mm for a short while in the past. ASP was his gun of choice in John Gardner's novels.
** Narrative brings up Bond's past habit of smoking about seventy cigarettes per day, which he reduced to twenty "around the time of the Literature/{{Thunderball}} case".

* GirlOfTheWeek: Sunni Pei, a hostess in a Triad-owned club who provides Bond with vital information. He has to work for the triad to save her life (and his), and she accompanies him into Australia.

* ShownTheirWork: To the point of {{Infodump.}} The Opium Wars and how the UK came to own Hong Kong, Kowloon, and the New Territories are accurately summarized in Bond's premission briefing with M. Bond stays at the Mandarin Oriental hotel and has dinner at [[https://www.mandarinoriental.com/hong-kong/victoria-harbour/fine-dining/lounges/the-chinnery The Chinnery]] lounge, which even mentions the lounge was a mens-only location until 1990 when women were admitted. The history of [=EurAsia=] Corp, though fictional, bears enough of a resemblance to many other British import-export ventures from the 19th century, and it's even compared to [[https://www.jardines.com/en/global/home.html Jardine Matheson.]]

* RedRightHand: The three Chang brothers are all [[EvilAlbino Evil Albinos]] with white hair and pink-blue eyes.

* EvilAlbino: The CoDragons are three Chinese brothers who are all albinos with white hair and pink-blue eyes.

* TitleDrop: When M tells Bond that [[YouHave48Hours he has ten days]] (until July first, the day when Hong Kong is handed to China) to find the truth behind the assasinations, Bond answers with "Zero minus ten. [[SarcasmMode Plenty of time. No pressure at all]]."

** When attention is given to Bond's Walther PPK, he tells agent Lane that he had replaced it with an ASP 9mm for a short while in the past. ASP was his gun of choice in John Gardner's ''Bond'' novels.

** While Bond feels guilt over [[spoiler:T.Y. Woo's death]], he knows that he'll get over it eventually, like he did with similar cases in ''Literature/LiveAndLetDie'', ''Literature/FromRussiaWithLove'' and ''Literature/DrNo''.

* StageMagician: Before taking the reigns of his family business, the CEO of [=EurAsia=] Guy Thackeray worked as a magician. He even had his own television show for a while. He uses the skills learned from the trade to cheat at TabletopGame/{{Mahjong}}.

** Bond warns "Harry" Chang about the dangers of firing guns in a pressurized plane cabin by telling him that there was "[[Literature/{{Goldfinger}} a Korean fellow]]" he once knew before distracting and attacking him.

* DamselInDistress: Sunni Pei is captured by the BigBad, and [[spoiler:is tied on to he boat which has the nuclear bomb that is set to destroy Hong Kong]].

* BroadStrokes: While Benson references some of the elements from John Gardner's ''Bond'' novels, he lefts out major things like how Bond was appointed be the leader of the Double-O section (and how before that it was disbanded for over a decade) and [[spoiler:his longtime relationship with Flicka, which ended with her death in ''Literature/{{COLD}}'']].

** Bond warns "Harry" Chang about the dangers of firing guns in a pressurized plane cabin by telling him that there was once "[[Literature/{{Goldfinger}} a Korean fellow]]" he once knew before distracting and attacking him.

* StageMagician: Before taking the reigns of his family business, the CEO of [=EurAsia=] Guy Thackeray worked as a magician. He even had his own television show for a while. He uses the skills learned from the trade to cheat at UsefulNotes/{{Mahjong}}.

* StageMagician: Before taking the reigns of his family business, the CEO of [=EurAsia=] Guy Thackeray worked as a magician. He even had his own television show for a while. He uses the skills learned from the trade to cheat at UsefultNotes/{{Mahjong}}.