Book excerpt: 'Before there was James Bond, there was Gregory Sallust.' Tina Rosenberg, Salon.com The Island Where Time Stands Still is the ninth in Dennis Wheatley's bestselling Gregory Sallust series featuring the debonair spy Gregory Sallust, a forerunner to Ian Fleming's James Bond. On a pleasure cruise on the South Seas, Sir Pellinore Gwaine-Cust's yacht hits a coral reef and sinks in minutes. Only one survivor is washed to the safety of the shore: Gregory Sallust. But this is no ordinary Pacific island. When Gregory regains consciousness he finds himself among a Chinese community, ruled by descendents of the ancient Imperial House. Within days the throne becomes vacant, and Gregory joins an expedition to find the true heir - a hazardous search that takes him to San Francisco, and deep into the forbidden heart of China itself.