According to Benson, this is 'My From Russia With Love'. Also like Fleming's FRWL, this is Benson's best novel to date, and in my opinion it will probably remain so. Doubleshot is on a par with Colonel Sun as the best non-Fleming Bond, and even betters a number of Fleming's own efforts.
Tensions are high.
At the end of the chapter the events are unconcluded, and in Flemingian style we switch back to events of a few days before, leading up to the current situation. The result is great tension, much more than in Colonel Sun or the Gardner books, and ahead of many of Fleming's effort. The implication of this stylistic change is that Benson's confidence is growing enough for him to alter the famed 007 formula. After this first chapter, the book is divided into the three acts of a bullfight. Doubleshot will turn out to be the second of Benson's Union trilogy.