The World Is Not Enough

The story, without spoilers

Bond becomes involved in an operation where wealth, revenge and international power converge. The protection of Elektra King and the threat associated with Renard place personal loyalties beside a larger geopolitical danger. Oil interests give the conflict its commercial setting.

Benson adapts the 1999 film rather than continuing the Union novels. The film novelisations sit alongside his original writing, so readers can choose this familiar screen adventure without using it to bridge High Time to Kill and Doubleshot.

Can I start here?

Yes, for the 1999 film's story in prose. It is not a required instalment of Benson's original sequence. Read the Union trilogy in its own order if that is the storyline you are following.

What stands out

The practical distinction is its film origin. Choose it to revisit the screen adventure through a novel, or choose High Time to Kill for the original Benson mission published in the same year.

Who wrote it

Benson wrote The James Bond Bedside Companion before becoming the first American commissioned to write Bond; his official work includes The World Is Not Enough. He wrote six original Bond novels and three film novelisations.

Where it fits in Bond’s life

The World Is Not Enough follows its film’s story and screen continuity. Read this author’s film adaptations separately from Fleming’s originals.

Content notes

Adult readers. Terrorism, revenge, killings, coercion and adult espionage violence.

Setting

• The film’s oil-industry and international locations

Main characters

James Bond, Elektra King, Renard.