YOU simply can't get away from Japan at the moment. Not only is it jointly staging the World Cup in a few days time, but it is also the location for secret agent James Bond's latest assignment.

In Raymond Benson's The Man With The Red Tattoo (Hodder & Stoughton, £18.99), 007 is sent to the Land of the Rising Sun to investigate the death of a British businessman and his family from a virulent form of a tropical disease.

Terrorist Goro Yoshida, head of one of Japan's deadliest yakusu (Mafia) gangs, is believed to be behind both the deaths and also plans to assassinate politicians at the G8 summit in Toyko, which the British Prime Minister is attending.

Bond, armed with a new set of gadgets, including, rather bizarrely, explosive indigestion tablets, teams up with his old friend Tiger Tanaka, head of Japanese state security, and the beautiful agent Reiko Tamura.

The hunt for Yoshida (he's the one with the red tattoo) and the deadly biological weapon he has created, takes Bond across Japan, culminating in a fight-to-the-death battle in the city of Sapporo where, coincidentally, England play arch-rivals Argentina on June 7.

Red Tattoo is Benson's best Bond tale for some time. There is non-stop action from page one, a great set of villains and, surprisingly for a Bond novel, a plausible plot.

But is our hero losing his touch with the women? Although surrounded by Japanese beauties, he only manages to score twice. Let's hope Sven's men can do a little better!

I had some reservations about Harlan Coben's latest thriller, Gone For Good (Orion, £12.99). How could he surpass, or even equal, Tell No One, probably the best thriller of 2001.

Well he's done it, and done it in style. Gone For Good is an absolute belter. Better, in fact, than Tell No One and that's saying something.

The story is about betrayal, family loyalties, love and murder. All the right ingredients for a stunning read.

Will Klein lost his first love and his big brother at the same moment. On October 17, 11 years ago, Julie Miller was found strangled in the basement of the home she shared with her parents and younger sister in a small New Jersey town.

Will's brother, Ken, was there. His blood was found at the scene, and so he became the number one suspect. Problem was he had vanished.

He became the subject of an international manhunt, but no one could ever find him.

Will, who refused to believe his brother was a killer, has tried to get on with his life. He has a new girlfriend, Sheila, and a job working with the homeless.

But when his mother dies, Will discovers that Ken is still alive.

Soon after, Sheila disappears, and then he learns from the police that she is wanted for a brutal double-murder. That's when Will's life really starts to fall apart.

Coben doles out more surprises than Cilla Black. Just when you think you have it all sussed, he comes up with another twist to send you spinning. Brilliant.

By coincidence, David Morrell's gripping new novel, Long Lost (Headline, £17.99), is also about a missing brother. Twenty-five years ago, Brad Denning told his pest of a nine-year-old brother, Petey, to get lost. Petey, with tears in his eyes and head bowed, cycled off - and was never seen again.

Now a successful architect, Brad is still haunted by the incident. He blames himself for Petey's disappearance and he thinks about his brother every day.

Then, after appearing on television and mentioning the incident, he is approached by a stranger who claims to be his long lost brother.

Sceptical at first, Brad realises that this man must be his brother and welcomes him into the house he shares with his wife and son.

Things seem to be working out well, until Petey disappears again. But this time he's taken Brad's wife and son with him.

Long Lost is an exhilarating read from the man who created Rambo. Be prepared for shocks.

Stephen Coonts, former Air Force pilot turned author, adds a new dimension to his writing with Saucer (Orion, £12.99), a far-fetched but fun tale about, you guessed it, a flying saucer.

Rip Cantrell, a student on a seismic survey crew in the Sahara Desert, discovers the saucer embedded in a sandstone ledge.

The crew seeks help from an archaeologist digging a nearby site, who reveals that the saucer must be at least 140,000 years old.

Soon, the US Air Force detects the saucer with satellite imagery and sends a team of UFO investigators from its top-secret Area 51 base. They are soon joined by a band of Australian thugs, hired by billionaire Roger Hedrick.

Then the Libyan military arrives on the scene and Rip, together with former Air Force test pilot Charlotte "Charley" Pine, risk their lives by flying the saucer out of harm's way.

Their adventures lead to War Of The Worlds-type hysteria in the States, as frightened citizens prepare for an alien invasion.

The pair are determined to learn the saucer's secrets and keep it away from the Government, which would deny its existence, and Roger Hedrick, who wants to sell it to the highest bidder.

Saucer is unlikely to win any literary awards, but it kept me amused for a while.

Updated: 08:49 Wednesday, May 29, 2002