The Killing Zone is an unauthorised James Bond novel by Jim Hatfield. It was privately published in paperback in 1985 under the guise that it was officially sanctioned by Glidrose Publications (later Ian Fleming Publications), the company that held the rights to publish James Bond literary works. At the time, the official author of the Bond series was John Gardner who wrote from 1981 to 1996.

It was first published in the United Kingdom as “A Charter Book” but is no longer in print. The text is available on the Internet, however.

Plot summary: The novel begins with the murder of Bill Tanner by Klaus Doberman, a German-South American drug lord. Much like he does after Felix Leiter’s maiming in Licence to Kill, Bond goes off for revenge. The synopsis of this book is as follows: “In this new high voltage spy thriller, Secret Agent 007 must “liquidate” ruthless billionaire kingpin Klaus Doberman. But James Bond has his hands full as he battles a luscious lady assassin who offers lethal love Russian style and a slit-eyed Oriental sadist who is an elusive and deadly Ninja. Aided by his sex-galore confederate Lotta Head and his old CIA buddy Felix Leiter, 007 is pitted against Klaus Doberman in his heavily armed fortress high in the Mexican Sierra Madres… in the most bloodcurdling death duel in the great Bond saga.”

See also:

• Bond-related fiction