Ian Fleming Books

Having read the Bio of Ian some years ago(first published in 1975),I have finally located a copy I am able to purchase for my collection.A wonderful insight to Ian written by his personal friend Ivar.

This is Ian Fleming's most mysterious and enigmatic James Bond novel. This is a direct follow up to "On Her Majesty's Secret Service." It starts out as a direct secret service story even though Bond is reassigned to the diplomatic section. As it progresses it becomes almost surrealistic as James Bond tracks down his arch nemesis on the island of Kyushu. This is a very well written and researched novel. The Japanese idioms and depictions of locale are exquisite. When the novel moves to Kuro Island and is on the threshold of Dr. Shaterhand's castle lair, Fleming approaches mythical horizons. I found this absorbing, haunting and prophetic novel very difficult to put down once I started reading it. You get addicted early on to such charismatic characters as Tiger Tanaka and the all too brief Dikko Henderson but it is the narrative of this epic tale that beckons the reader. The new retro-paperback cover is alluring.

This is Ian Fleming's most mysterious and enigmatic James Bond novel. This is a direct follow up to "On Her Majesty's Secret Service." It starts out as a direct secret service story but as it progresses becomes almost surrealistic as James Bond tracks down his arch nemesis. This is a very well written and researched novel. The Japanese idioms and depictions of locale are exquisite. When the novel moves to Kuro Island and is on the threshold of Dr. Shaterhand's castle lair, Fleming approaches mythical horizons. I found this absorbing, haunting and prophetic novel very difficult to put down once I started reading it. If you do decide to read it I recommend that you read "Thunderball" and "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" first. I will go one step further, if you read both of these novels then read "The Man with the Golden Gun" after "You Only Live Twice." These four novels are inexorably connected.

This is Ian Fleming's most mysterious and enigmatic James Bond novel. This is a direct follow up to "On Her Majesty's Secret Service." It starts out as a direct secret service story even though Bond is reassigned to the diplomatic section. As it progresses it becomes almost surrealistic as James Bond tracks down his arch nemesis on the island of Kyushu. This is a very well written and researched novel. The Japanese idioms and depictions of locale are exquisite. When the novel moves to Kuro Island and is on the threshold of Dr. Shaterhand's castle lair, Fleming approaches mythical horizons. I found this absorbing, haunting and prophetic novel very difficult to put down once I started reading it. You get addicted early on to such charismatic characters as Tiger Tanaka and the all too brief Dikko Henderson but it is the narrative of this epic tale that beckons the reader. The simplistic paperback cover is appealing.

This is Ian Fleming's most mysterious and enigmatic James Bond novel. This is a direct follow up to "On Her Majesty's Secret Service." It starts out as a direct secret service story even though Bond is reassigned to the diplomatic section. As it progresses it becomes almost surrealistic as James Bond tracks down his arch nemesis on the island of Kyushu. This is a very well written and researched novel. The Japanese idioms and depictions of locale are exquisite. When the novel moves to Kuro Island and is on the threshold of Dr. Shaterhand's castle lair, Fleming approaches mythical horizons. I found this absorbing, haunting and prophetic novel very difficult to put down once I started reading it. You get addicted early on to such charismatic characters as Tiger Tanaka and the all too brief Dikko Henderson but it is the narrative of this epic tale that beckons the reader.

Well I was ready to hate Moonraker because of the movie. So if you hated the movie...try the book. It isn't campy with the Space Shuttle at all. It has a rocket as the object, but it really isn't about that. The beginning part of the book is about cards. I loved it. However it starts getting bogged down in the middle section and then like all Ian Fleming books it wraps up really quick. I just felt the ending was just too contrived. I liked it because I was prepared to hate it, but it's still not that great. It's the best of the first three but that's not saying much. I would recommend it just for the beginning section because it shows how James Bond thinks and rationalizes things. Plus he doesn't get the girl at all in this book.

Hugo Drax is not in the first line of 007 arch-villains, and the plot of "Moonraker" likewise is not one of the most exciting James Bond yarns in the original run of novels by Ian Fleming. Yet both manage their moments of squirmy pleasure.

Bond encounters Drax first at a posh British gaming club, to which Bond's boss M belongs. Drax is England's hero of the hour, as he's building Great Britain's first nuclear rocket. But M suspects Drax is cheating at cards, and sets Bond against him in a game that ends unhappily for the rocket builder. Bond then finds himself pulled into Drax's orbit again when murder calls at Drax's rocket base. "HELL IS HERE" warns a flashing neon sign, and so it is.

Published in 1955, this third entry in the 007 series gets off to a leisurely start. We meet Bond in a typical light day at the office, practicing at the pistol range, reading dull reports, thinking about lunch. It's an arresting portrait of a superhero struggling with ennui and a sense of purposelessness. He wonders almost forlornly if he'll make it to 45.

The entrance of Drax, a red-whiskered dynamo with a fierce temper, shakes Bond out of his rut by plunging him into that most exciting of espionage activities, high-stakes bridge. It's a masterful sequence by Fleming, in large part because he doesn't stop and explain how bridge works. Fleming goes from strength to strength introducing us to the title figure, the rocket Drax proposes to send off in a test launch that will culminate in a splashdown in the North Sea...well, according to some figures.

"There the gleaming rocket stood, beautiful, innocent, like a new toy for Cyclops," Fleming writes. "But there was a horrible smell of chemicals in the air and to Bond the Moonraker was a giant hypodermic needle ready to be plunged into the heart of England."

That's a good foretaste of the masterful build-up Fleming creates, offering a bit more mystery than the usual Bond thriller. The resolution is where the novel pulls up short. Fleming doesn't do enough to throw you off the right scent, to the point you wonder why Bond can't add up two and two. There's another damsel-in-distress car chase straight out of "Casino Royale", and even an Austin Powers-style "My Fiendish Scheme" dissertation from the villain. The Soviets put in a totally unnecessary appearance.

"Moonraker" can still be safely recommended to the Bond novice. It's a fun ride with a lot of unusual angles. Certainly it wasn't spoiled by the film of the same name, and Fleming handles the novel's locale (southern England entirely) with his usual gimlet eye. You stride with Bond inside a century-old London club, walk along the white cliffs and smell the salt air. There's even a romantic subplot with a capable British policewoman that has a resolution quite unique for the Bond series, and wonderful for the way it gives you a glimpse of Bond's deepest self.

"The gain to the winner is always less than the loss to the loser" is how Bond thinks of life. "Moonraker" gives you an idea what he means; an enjoyable one all the same.

I've been reading all the Fleming James Bond novels in order, and so far this one is my favorite. It stands out for a couple reasons:

1) Bond never goes to outer space.

2) I won't spoil it for you, but something about the epilogue is unexpected, and sets the James Bond character of the books apart from the James Bond character of the movies. I was completely surprised, and it really rounded out the character and made him more human.

The adventure itself is fun. Tropical locale with a beautiful female companion--it's hard to get tired of stuff like that. But what I do get tired of is Bond being sent to beat some villain at gambling. He just did that in "Casino Royale," and it didn't sound like government work to me then, either.

Still, the rest of the plot is fun, and Bond's victory at the end is not without cost. Rather than portraying him as the super-spy of the movies who dashes around unscathed no matter what's going on around him, he gets pretty messed up. (And no, that's not the epilogue surprise I was talking about earlier.)

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. In that case, Star Wars must feel very flattered. Back in the late 1970s, everyone seemed to be trying to use what they thought were the lessons of Star Wars's success (mainly have a lot of lasers and space stuff) and came up with a long list of failures. The James Bond series, at something of a creative nadir, decided to get in on the act, using the closest thing Ian Fleming seemed to have to a Star Wars-based novel, Moonraker. Cinematically, it would not be a high point for Bond.

The book - which has almost nothing to do with the movie - on the other hand, is a lot of fun. After a slight drop in quality between the first two novels, Casino Royale and Live and Let Die, Fleming is again in fine form with Bond novel number three.

This story opens with Bond recruited by M to do a personal mission. One of the members of M's club is apparently cheating at bridge (which is being played for high stakes cash); since Bond is a master card player (as demonstrated in Casino Royale), M asks him to prove that the member, Hugo Drax, is actually cheating and to stop him with a minimum of embarrassment. This Bond does, with a rather clever maneuver. (A side note: unlike Casino Royale, where Fleming explains the rules of baccarat, elementary bridge knowledge is assumed; if you are totally unfamiliar with the game, you might get a little lost).

Drax does more than play cards, however; he also is a wealthy man who is currently building a new type of missile for England called Moonraker. When a killing takes place at his facility, Bond is asked to help investigate and check out the security; with the first missile test just days away, it is imperative that all sabotage attempts be stopped.

Is Drax a generally okay guy who just cheats at cards, or is there something more sinister going on? It wouldn't be much of a Bond book without a grand villain, and Drax fits the bill. In fact, he is in certain ways, the first true Bond villain that fits the standard stereotype: he will eventually explain his whole plan to a helpless Bond and then leave the super-spy alone in a supposedly inescapable trap.

Outside of the villain's name and the fact that a rocket is involved (although one never intended to go into space), the book and movie are completely dissimilar. What's nice about the book is that we get to see what Bond does between assignments and a little bit about his background. Even his age - thirty-seven - is mentioned. As a minor thriller, Moonraker is quite successful and is an entertaining read.

While I always knew that many films of the James Bond series drifted into camp and outright cheesiness, I never realized how much of a disservice some of them did to the source material until I read the novels. And wow--Moonraker in particular, while one of the better '70s entries in the film series, bears no relation to the gritty homeland security thriller written by Ian Fleming.

The titular Moonraker is an missile designed by British hero Sir Hugo Drax. Drax's invention is set to thrust Britain into the forefront of the Cold War arms race--with the Moonraker, the British will be able to target any European capital with a rocket capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. When the novel begins--on Monday--the Moonraker is set to be tested in just a few days--Friday, when a missile carrying a dummy warhead will be fired into the North Sea. Security is tight on the project--British prestige is at stake.

But 007's boss has other things on his mind. Drax is a fellow member of Blades, a gambling club, and M is convinced that Drax cheats. At bridge. Since Bond is between missions at the time, M drags him along to a late-night game of bridge, where Bond outfoxes Drax to the tune of £15,000. Unbeknowst to them, the same night one of Drax's subordinates was killed by a German engineer in a murder-suicide.

Mere hours after fleecing Drax at the cardtable, Bond is sent to him as a replacement. It seems the murdered man had misgivings about the security of Drax's project, and with so much at stake and so little time on hand, the Ministry of Defense wants no mistakes. Things are not, of course, what they seem, and it soon becomes apparent that the Moonraker is in the hands of madmen.

Like the Bond film, there is a certain measure of predictability about the whole proceeding; of course Bond will live, of course he will save Britain. Unlike the film, Fleming's novel has Bond make all-too-human mistakes, get battered and bruised, and even--spoiler alert--get rejected by the girl. And the novel moves so briskly, investing each and every point of the plot with tension and suspense, that even the mystifying bridge game at the beginning is exciting. Moonraker is pure entertainment.

Highly recommended.

Bond's revival is in high gear. QUANTUM of SOLACE is to be released on/near USA-election day 2008(solace is well what US electorate may need);teaser-trailers thus far released are spectacular(outdoing CASINO ROYALE).
Fleming novels(another reincarnation~Devil May Care,by Sebastian BIRDSONG Faulks,is presently in circulation to very mixed reviews)are getting deserved literary exhumation. First~Ian Fleming was an excellent thriller writer.(Only his last effort~THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN disappoints).Second~ there is more verisimilitude in these
(pulp)thrillers ...Ian Fleming used to knock-them-off at Goldeneye,
Jamaica in a month...than anointed literati ever credited. Fleming...unlike Le Carre whose TINKER,TAILOR SOLDIER,SPY might be best spy-genre novel in English, but even his later work--beginning with THE LITTLE DRUMMER GIRL--suffers from left-leaning political whining...did not attempt to write literature. In tradition of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes,and Sax Rhomer's Dr.Fu-Manchu,he wrote(what would become)mythological adventures.JAMES BOND...to all but most ignorant or pretentious literary "critics"...is now recognized as canonized mythical hero in Western tradition of Hercules,King Arthur,Superman and others among HERO(s)WITH A THOUSAND FACES...

Third~Fleming's best:they're consistently good to excellent(& fun as hell).IMO,FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE is his masterpiece-not-manque. Rosa Klebb is among the vilest,most memorable villains in lit hist. She ranks down there with Lady Macbeth and Madame Defarge(whom Fleming references in description of this sexually perverted murderess).Red Grant...KGB assassin...is the most evil/accomplished,sociopathic killer to precede Hannibal Lector. Plot is fast moving(and believable:MOGULS of DEATH~the Cheka-Stalinists and their heirs are still murderous and power mad). The geographical sweep/vista of FRwL is THRILLING CITIES accurate and exciting.And Romanova,SMERSH's "Honey Trap-Mata Harri"clone(poised to seduce Bond) is ultra-non-plus tOO7 deadly.

Fourth~Climax to FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE is startling and unsurpassed in BOND canon and much of thriller mythology.If you intend to read only one JAMES BOND,007 adventure,accept my--and many reviewers--recommendation:
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE is For Your Eyes Only,License-to-Kill it(007stars)

They couldn't write a book like this today. For example, the main character--Bond--doesn't even show up until page 123! The entire first third of the book is a detailed following of the villains plotting Bond's death. It's not until we get to the execution that we meet James Bond.

Be that as it may, I found it to be an interesting change of pace, and I was never bored. There is more espionage than action, but when the fighting occurs, it is quick and brutal. Fleming can make you cringe with his viscious descriptions of down-and-dirty combat.

Aside from the lengthy intro without Bond, the movie version seems to have followed the book rather closely (especially compared to some others). However, the Bond of the books is a different man than the Bond of the movies. He's fallible, and prone to getting his heart broken. This, I like. But as another reviewer mentioned, he makes some pretty serious mistakes that nearly cost him his life. It can be hard to root for him as a secret agent at times like this. Still, I do.

And, at least once in each Fleming Bond novel, there seems to be something "inappropriate" by today's standards. This is half the fun of reading them. (In "From Russia With Love," Tania asks Bond to beat her if she overeats and gets fat, and Bond readily agrees. Hilarious!)

This is one of my favorites! Author Fleming has an interesting style all his own- he is very creative when it comes to his description of characters and gadgets. It is a little quirky and kinky in parts. That seems odd and out of place, but it is a really fun story.

I am not a big spy novel reader. But, I had heard that the Bond novels were a great read. I was not disappointed. Fleming's writing style is excellent. The word that comes to my mind to describe the style is smooth. Unlike the Bond movies, the action is delayed until the middle of the book, which creates exciting tension. I think I will try some of the other Bond books and see some of the movies again.

Among the many James Bond movies, From Russia With Love has always been my favorite, a feeling that I know is shared by many others. It seems fitting, as the novel upon which it is based is also one of Ian Fleming's strongest.

Interestingly, in this top notch Bond novel, the British super-spy is not even mentioned until after page 50 (in my 378 page version of the book) and does not appear until page 123. Superficially, this might be a weakness, but it actually makes the book stronger, as we are introduced to a couple of the best villains in the series. Red Grant is a psychopathic killer who has defected to Russia to be allowed to murder more freely as the chief executioner of SMERSH. Even more sinister is Rosa Klebb, the top SMERSH officer who will oversee a conspiracy to kill Bond.

Why kill Bond? The simple answer is to embarrass the Western Intelligence agencies. This is not to be a simple assassination, but a carefully plotted homicide designed to humiliate the British Secret Service. To lure Bond into the appropriate place, the beautiful Tatiana Romanova is recruited to pose as a defector who has fallen for Bond after seeing his picture in a file. Bond and his boss M suspect a trap, but they have no idea what it might be. In case Tatiana is sincere, however, Bond meets with her in Turkey and starts the process of bringing her west.

This book does have its little problems - such as the standard villain monologue in which a bad guy explains all to Bond - but overall, this is Fleming at his best, probably because there is no grand conspiracy of destruction or conquest; instead Bond himself is at the center and the opposition is formidable. This is a must-read for Bond fans.

This book was a load of crap. It was nothing but a bunch of boring common knowledge. They name a subject then give you 1/4 of the info on it. And there was only a couple pics of the bond actors except for Pierce who there was a lot of pics of. I think the author is gay for Pierce. The book was written like someone watched the movies once and wrote down a few facts here and there. I love the bond films but I wouldn't pay a dollar for this book.

This book is done in typical DK style, a fabulous pictorial representation of the people and items associated with the James Bond series of films. If you want to know more about some of what you see on the screen, this is a good choice.

But I have a bone to pick with a couple of the reviewers on this page. First of all, Ray Walker (2/14/03) doesn't seem to realize that "Never Say Never Again" was NOT one of the "official" Bond films; the reason it resembles "Thunderball" is that that was the only Bond script in the public domain, and thus the only one available to another producer. Although not a bad film (thanks in part to Sean Connery), most Bond purists do not include it when discussing the Bond series, and neither the author nor publisher should be blamed for excluding it from this book.

And the reviewer on 5/7/03 needs to realize that this book is not intended to be an in-depth study along the lines of "The Essential Bond", which is another excellent book. The reviewer should have taken into account that this is essentially a picture book, and should be purchased in addition to, and not in place of, the type of book he claims to prefer.

This turned out to be a truly wonderful book!!!! Very detailed, very accurate(besides for a few mistakes in fight sequences). Great thing to read to become even more acquainted with James Bond.

I've been a Bond fan since my Dad used to take me to the public library so I could take out the hardback versions of Fleming's master spy.

I honestly like this book, although it IS for a younger audience. The cutaway views of the "Bondmobiles" and "Little Nellie" are well rendered and make for a detailed insight behind the sheetmetal.

I would have liked to have seen a newer edition, featuring Brosnan's last film as 007...DIE ANOTHER DAY. I think the VANQUISH and the Jaguar would have only added to the fun aspect of this book.

It's definitely NOT a wordy book, but does offer the missions (films) in a nice concise chronological order, complete with places in these movies of note such as Dr. No's island base, Blofeld's oil rig, Stromberg's "Atlantis", etc.

All in all, a nice addition for ANY Bondian library...or even a good starter book for the "next generation" of 007 fans!

((that's SHAKEN...not stirred))

This book was really amazing. It has almost every little detail of every Bond movie from Dr. No to The World Is Not Enough. Book also contains some spectacular large photos from the movies. For each section of the movies, it describes basically what it was about, and it gives some of the information about charcters, villains, settings, and the "gadgets" used in the movie. It also contains hand-drawn pictues of scenes and places from the movie. Labels are also on the pictures (pointing out what is what). Really amazing, and you might learn a thing or two as well which is nice. At the end of the book after it has discussed all of Bond's missions, it has info on the movies themselves like the cast and crew. Then there is the index. This is a MUST BUY for any true James Bond fanatic. It is a fun book to look at, and to this day, I look through it as well and it sparks many memories. If you are not too familar with Mr. Bond, then do not bother with this item. A tremendous book, definitly worth your hard earned money.

With Thunderball, Ian Fleming's James Bond books take a new direction. Gone is the Cold War threat of SMERSH; now Bond must contend with villains motivated not by ideology but instead simple greed. In particular, Thunderball begins what I think of as the SPECTRE or Blofeld trilogy (along with On Her Majesty's Secret Service and You Only Live Twice), in which Bond battles his greatest opponent, the cunning Ernst Stavro Blofeld (who is also the inspiration for Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers movies).

Actually, Blofeld may be the ringleader of the Special Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion (no glossing over the evil of this group!) or SPECTRE, but it is actually his number two man who is the main villain. Emilio Largo is the head of operations for a global extortion plan: either pay 100,000,000 British pounds or SPECTRE will use two stolen nuclear bombs in a week.

Bond has initially gotten tangled up with SPECTRE in an inadvertent manner. During an idle period between missions, Bond has partied too hard and now requires time at a health spa; while recovering there (and briefly becoming something of a health nut), he crosses paths with Count Lippe. Their quarrel will inconvenience Lippe, a minor SPECTRE operative, and in turn cause a temporary setback for Blofeld, Largo and company.

Once out of the spa, Bond is briefed on the extortion plot and is sent to Nassau in the Bahamas to see if there are any leads there. He meets up with old CIA friend Felix Leiter and soon has reason to suspect Largo, who is maintaining a cover as a treasure hunter. In today's era, when there it is common to arrest possible terrorists and worry about due process later, Bond and Leiter's concerns about legality and probable cause seem almost quaint, but they do delay any action against Largo.

In a way, this is the first "cinematic" Bond novel. The copyright page indicates that this was not even fully Fleming's book; instead it was based on a screen treatment by Fleming, K. McClory and J. Whittingham. This shared copyright has definitely had its effects on the Bond movies, allowing an "unofficial" remake of Thunderball, Never Say Never Again. It has also stood in the way of a "resurrection" of Blofeld as a Bond villain, whose apparent death at the beginning of For Your Eyes Only was rather ignominious for the bad guy most closely associated with Bond.

Back to the book, Thunderball is a good enough read, but this is not Fleming at his peak (which is really From Russia With Love, Dr. No and Goldfinger). Perhaps his hope that this novel would be made into a movie made this tale a little shallower (although none of the books are really deep). Bond fans, however, should be reasonably pleased with this effort.

M has received Bond's medical report. Basically it says two packs a day smoking ain't good. He sends him to a health farm to get himself back together. He comes across a man from a Macao tong, who is also working for Blofeld, head of SPECTRE. A confrontation between the two is violent, and Bond is helped out by a nurse. He gets some of his own back.

Bond ends up in the Bahamas, and working with Leiter again, now back in the CIA. Emilio Largo is working there with his bombshell woman, Domino, and he is Blofeld's top man.

SPECTRE had hired Domino's brother to nick a couple of warheads, having access as a military officer to at transport flight. Then they offed him.

When Bond tells Domino this information, he turns her and uses her to his advantage. The book ends with a confrontation between Bond and babe vs Largo, and an American submarine vs Largo's crew.

Published in 1961, THUNDERBALL hit the bookshelves a year before Sean Connery debuted in the first film, DR. NO.

The Bond novels have always been very fluid and visual but THUNDERBALL reads as the most cinematic of the stories up to this point. That's for a very good reason: the project began as a screenplay between Ian Fleming and a producer, Kevin McClory, along with a screenwriter, Jack Whittingham. After finishing the short story collection of FOR YOUR EYES ONLY and suffering some health problems that would increase until his death, Fleming wasn't sure what to do with James Bond, especially after trying to kill him off in FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE several books before.

The THUNDERBALL film project appeared to be stuck in development hell, so Fleming took the script and wrote a novel from it. Which promptly put him in court with McClory for the next several years. Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, the producing team who eventually did put 007 on the silver screen, had wanted to make THUNDERBALL their first film but as the court case continued, they moved ahead with DR. NO. The case was eventually settled but probably not to many of the participant's liking since Fleming had to share the rights to THUNDERBALL and another producer outside of Broccoli & Saltzman could legally use the character (which led to the "renegade Bond film" of 1983, NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN).

The novel is fun to read because it has so many elements of what made the Sixties Bond films so much fun. A plot that involves saving the free world. The master villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld is introduced. The setting is incredibly exotic and beautiful. Domino is one of the more livelier Bond girls of the novels.

It's nice to have Felix Leiter along but...his condition after being fed to sharks in LIVE AND LET DIE stretches an already-strained believability to almost Austin Powers levels. I could accept him working for Pinkertons in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER but to get back into the CIA for THUNDERBALL...a bit much.

From reading Fleming's biography, I thought it was interesting that he would create SPECTRE about this time, the terrorist organization introduced here. In reality, he was bored with making the Russians his baddies all the time and--I thought this was funny--Fleming believed that the Cold War would be over before he could finish writing FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE!

Two atomic bombs disappear and the free world gets a blackmail letter. Cough up 100,000,000 British Pounds in gold or lots of people and lots of property is going to be destroyed. Now James Bond must use all his skill and luck to found the bombs, defeat SPECTRE and safe the world. And of course, get the girl.
I happen to think SPECTRE, Special Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion is the base invention in any novel EVER. SMERSH is nothing when compared to SPECTRE. Cold, logic and calm, they make the greatest enemy Bond will ever have.

This is the original Thunderball novel that was based on a screenplay suggested for the first James Bond movie, and was ultimately filmed as the fourth installment of the series. It's written by Ian Fleming, but also credited to Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham, who sued for the rights later on (all reviews should mention this fact, since McClory never let people forget it).

Like the movie Bond must travel to the Bahamas to stop SPECTRE, who have stolen two nuclear warheads. There are similarities to the book, and there are differences. The character of Fiona Volpe does not exist in the novel, nor does her sequence in the Kiss Kiss Club. Bond and Domino's first meeting is different, and Felix Leiter plays a larger role. Still readers will recognize enough key sequences in the right order to see that the film was a stronger adaptation of Fleming's work than the later movies.

It's a fast, thrilling read, and if it's fun by today's more "sophisticated" standards you can only imagine what a thrill it was back in the 60's. You can sometimes picture Sean Connery's Bond as you read, but other times this Bond is more brooding and human, more reluctant serviceman than debonair spy. What I particularly like about the novel over the book is that there's a greater sense of urgency, and that Bond is never sure if he's actually right as he follows the very circumstantial evidence. On the other hand, the movie definitely brings a greater sense of scale to the final underwater battle.

Great on it's own, or as a companion to the movie. Classic escapist reading.

Well I liked this one better than Casino Royale. I felt there was a better storyline. Still not much detail about what or how Bond thinks. I want to get into his head and see what makes him think or feel what he does. I can't stand Leiter and am hopeful that he won't be back. Who knows maybe he will. I felt the girl, Soltaire, wasn't fully developed. Although I'm getting the idea that Mr. Fleming doesn't care for female charactes but realizes that they are a "necessary evil." I'm going to read Moonraker then I'm not so sure about continuing the Bond series.

I don't know about you guys but I bought this one exclusively for the cover. This broad makes all the coarse black hair on my back stand up and do a jig. Are you kidding me? When me and my old lady are in bed at night reading, she's the only one reading, trust me. I'm looking over this here broad. The fine curves, the jack and the queen and all the subliminals make this a hot-to-trot number that I can't put down. When the old lady asks me what the book's about, I show her the cover. Let her cuss. I'm thinking about maybe reading the back cover or something, I don't know, I guess I still ain't figured out the front cover. When I do, maybe I'll write a review about it.

While the first James Bond novel , 1953's "Casino Royale", introduced the character of 007, it was left to this, the second Bond novel published in 1954, to establish what constituted a James Bond Adventure.

"Casino Royale" kept Bond penned up in a single locale playing cards, not physically hurting anyone. "Live And Let Die" gives us a more peripatetic and lethal hero, journeying from London to Harlem to Florida and finally Jamaica leaving a trail of death behind. He's still a one-woman man, but this time it's a different woman: Solitaire, psychic consort of SMERSH's African-American ally Mr. Big.

The result is a terrific read. If not the hard-edged, rather refined psychodrama that was "Casino Royale", "Live And Let Die" is the first Bond novel that makes you want to read another Bond novel. A lot of people rate it higher than "Casino Royale". I don't, but understand the enthusiasm.

It's one thing to watch Bond kill a lot of people in a ruthless and effective manner. But even his breakfasts get your attention the way Fleming writes them, Bond noshing on paw-paw and guava jelly as he stares out across the "green flanks" of the hilly Jamaican coastlands to Mr. Big's island haven, in preparation for his final assault. Or staring blankly as an adversary gets chomped on by a shark, hearing "one terrible snuffling grunt as if a great pig was getting its mouth full."

This is Fleming the detail maven, the master of setting vivid scenes and then sending you off on what is called by his aficionados "the Fleming sweep". The best in this book carries you with Bond as he snorkles under a moonlit bay, evading octopus and barracuda as Fleming puts you so tight against his narrative you feel yourself wanting for air.

"Live And Let Die" suffers from a storyline that doesn't actually need Bond. Mr. Big's big scheme, involving recovered pirate treasure, hardly appears illegal, let alone warranting a British spy's help in upsetting it. The fact Big belongs to SMERSH, the Soviet assassin force that did Bond wrong in "Casino Royale", is a strained tangent, as is the presence of Solitaire, a pale substitute for "Royale's" haunting Vesper Lynd.

For the record, I don't think Fleming shows himself a racist with his handling of the novel's black characters; in the ways he writes of jazz, Harlem, and Jamaica's predominately black culture, he was refreshingly open-minded about things other middle-aged Brits of the period would have scoffed at or ignored.

What I enjoy most in this novel are things like the Jamaica section (Fleming's home, and it shows) and the welcome return of Felix Leiter, affecting company as the story centers on his friendship with Bond. We even get the debut of Bond's sense of humor, as when Mr. Big tells a strapped-down-and-bloodied Bond he will die at six o'clock, give or take a few minutes.

"Let's give those minutes," replies Bond. "I enjoy my life."

You will, too, reading this introduction to 007 on the go.

The Bond books are always fun and easy to read. They appeal to the adventure, gadget, and sex side to all men. It also often amazes me that women are interested in watching the movies, but I have yet to find a woman reader of the Fleming books. This book deals with Voodoo but is greatly aged when talking about gang activity and black culture. So, don't be surprised by a few nasty words here and there.

One of the distinctive characteristics of the James Bond movies has always been the opening credit sequence. Over the years, a number of big name artists have done songs for the openings, some of which have been memorable (such as Goldfinger or The Spy Who Loved Me) and others that are completely forgotten (can anyone but a true Bond aficionado remember the opening song in On Her Majesty's Secret Service?). If there is a truly immortal Bond tune, however - one that still gets plenty of playing time even three decades after the movie - it is Paul McCartney's Live and Let Die. The song may be well-remembered, but what of the book that inspired it? It may be one that many wish was best forgotten.

I say this not because it is a bad book; it is actually decent enough, but it has a view of race that is, to put it kindly, rather antiquated. The story sends Bond to New York to assist in stopping the crime boss and SMERSH operative, Mr. Big. Mr. Big is a large black man who - through his appearing as the voodoo figure Baron Samedi - appears to hold sway over most of the blacks on the East Coast and the Caribbean.

Bond teams up with his CIA friend Felix Leiter and the battle with Mr. Big is on, going from New York to Florida to Jamaica. Mr. Big's plot involves the smuggling of old gold coins from a pirate treasure as part of a plot to fund crime and Communism. Since it is a Bond story, there is a beautiful woman too, in this case, the fortune-telling Solitaire who Mr. Big intends to marry whether she likes it or not. Bond has other ideas.

I don't know if I'd go as far as to call this book racist, as Fleming doesn't seem to look upon blacks with contempt or believe they only merit a second-class place in society. He nonetheless resorts to stereotypes and treats the race as almost a monolithic unit. Of course, this is a fifty year old novel written before the Civil Rights movement really kicked into gear, and Fleming is a product of his time and place. What may have been relatively common writing at the time is now dated and may be unpleasant to many readers.

Still, in its context, this is a decent enough novel, rating a low four stars. The Bond of the first novel, Casino Royale, wasn't involved in much actual action, but here the bullets are flying and bombs are exploding. Already in the second novel, Bond is becoming more of the superheroic spy, although he is still human enough. If you are a fan on the Bond novels, then this is worth reading, but for a casual thriller fan, this might be one to skip.