Ian Fleming Books

Silverfin is just what the doctor ordered if you are looking for a book to interest tween readers - especially boys. The story is exciting and action packed, without being over the top. It was a great read for my 10 year old son and his friends - they read it in a Literature Circle Group at school and immediately begin clamoring for the sequel. We are looking forward to many more adventures from Young James Bond.

"The last thing he saw before he sank back into the black depths of the water was the man's face; only it wasn't a man's face . . . it was an eel's face, a nightmarish face -- chinless, with smooth, gray, utterly hairless skin pulled tight across it, and fat, blubbery lips that stretched almost all the way back to where the ears should be. The front of the face was deformed, pushed forward, so that the nose was hideously flattened, with splayed nostrils and bulging eyes forced so wide apart that they didn't look in any way human. The ghastly thick lips parted and a wet belching hiss erupted. Then the waters closed over the boy and he knew nothing more."

Alfie Kelly, a local boy from a Scottish town, goes missing under mysterious circumstances and people wonder what happened to him. He was going fishing alone and he was never seen again. I mainly read this book because I am a fan of James bond and I thought reading a prequel to his 007 years would be interesting. The plot turned out to be very interesting and original.

Young James Bond is on vacation from Eton, his boarding school, and James hears about Alfie Kelly's disappearance. James of course finds the whole situation entirely suspicious and in true Bond style decides o investigate. James Bond's character is captured as a restless boy who hates rules and restrictions but follows them when he has to. The character of Bond's aunt explains how James was raised to be so world-wise.

My favorite part of this book is something that would reveal the plot so I'll tell my second favorite part. It is when James' uncle Max tells him how a car works and teaches him how to drive. Because James learned to drive so early in life, that might explain why he is such a skillful driver when he is older. The theme of this book, besides seeing what Bond was like as a kid, is that you can't cheat life; money and drugs can't make your life better.

Any fan of James Bond should read this book because although its sad to say, the storyline is better than some of the Bond movies. Also if you have read any of the Alex Rider Adventures by Anthony Horowitz or if you just like action thrillers or mysteries then this book is for you. There could have been a little more action and blood-chilling suspense but overall, this book was very well written.

Young Bond: SilverFin, by Charlie Higson is an action-packed look back to the early days of James Bond.

James starts out at a new boarding school at the age of 13. He quickly makes a couple good friends, but has his share of bullies. When he goes home for break, James and another boy decide to investigate a missing boy from the area. But the missing boy seems to have disappeared on the land of one James' meanest schoolmates.

While the story is written for youth, it's a fast-paced thriller with fun characters and evil bad guys. A few times during the book, science and technology is explained in detail, so it could be considered almost educational as well.

James hasn't become a spy yet, but this is a fun look at his early years and what helped shape him into the man he will become.

Matt Dahlberg
SilverFin
By: Charlie Higson
ISBN:078683866-3

Let The Games Begin

Let The Games Begin
"You boy!"
"Yes sir."
"What's your name?"
"Bond, James Bond"

This action story begins with a boy named James. He is new at Eton, he starts making friends and keeping up with the curriculum. Unfortunately he makes a very bad enemy. Lord Helllebore practically owns the school. So when he has an idea to promote his son George, he does it in a big way. So Hellebore has a competition. James spoils George's chances of winning when James's wins the cross-country competition. On James's trip to visit his aunt he finds Hellebore and gets caught along in a mystery involving a small disappearance of a boy.

I liked this book for several reasons, for one it was a real page-turner. No stops just action that's the way I like a book to come at me. Also every chapter gave one more reason to keep going. Like one time when James was trapped in a room that was the end of the chapter and it made me want to read more. Finally I liked the surprise chase scene at the end. They did such a good job surprising me it hit me out of nowhere. A person who likes action and has some extra time on their hands, would love this book to death.

Are you looking for an action packed book ? Then Silverfin is the one to read. It's about a young boy named James Bond who is in all of Ian Fleming's original stories. Silverfin is set in the 1930's at Eton College and also in Scotland. The two main characters are James Bond and George Hellebore. The story is about a young boy who has to help his friend with his mean father who is a villan. The author Charlie Higson, starts the story out slow and then he speeds it up. I like that because it makes me not want to put this book down,it's so exciting! This book gives readers tons of suspense the whole way. For example when James is in a big fight and then the story transitions to an action sequence with another character in the middle of a different fight. Silverfin is also full of mystery like when James finally figures out what George is really up to and they get into a big fight. I would recommend this book to all James Bond fans from grades 6-9 because the vocabulary is somewhat easy. There is a sequel to Silverfin called Blood Fever. For fans of James Bond and action stories, Silverfin is the one to choose.

I have read all of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels and this novel was the least enjoyable. It almost seems as if Fleming was having sometime of life crisis or personal issue while writing this book.

The book is written in 3 parts, like 3 separate short stories. The main character is not James Bond, but a 20-something woman named Vivienne Michel. The first part of the book is about her past, the second part is about her present situation, and the third part is about her rescue.

You read through half the book before James Bond makes an appearance. What is unusual is that the book is mostly written from Vivienne Michel's point of view.

Usually I can read one of Fleming's Bond books in 3 to 4 nights because they hold my interest. This book was a struggle to get through. All the novels written before and after this book were far more superior. Not sure what happened to Fleming when he was writing this novel, but I am glad some resolution came before his next book.

If you want to get to the action, read the last chapter of the second part and the entire 3 part. If you are having trouble sleeping, start at the beginning (good luck and sweet dreams).

It takes all of one word to see that Ian Fleming's tenth James Bond novel, The Spy Who Loved Me, is exceptionally out-of-the-ordinary. The first word of the book is "I". Immediately, it is obvious that unlike any other Bond book, this one will be narrated in the first person. Even more extraordinary is that the narrator is not Bond but a young woman named Vivienne Michel.

Vivienne is working at an off-the-beaten-track motel in the backwoods of upper New York. How she got there is the substance of the book's first part. Essentially, she is running after having a pair of bad love affairs, first with a college age boy who is willing to tell her anything just to sleep with her, then with an almost stereotypical German who summarily dismisses her after she disrupts the order of his life.

All this took place in England. Coming back to North America (she is Canadian) to escape her past, she winds up with a temp job at the Dreamy Pines Motor Court. After the motel has closed for the season, she winds up alone at the place while awaiting the arrival of the owner. Instead, on a dark and stormy night, two hoodlums arrive, intent on rape, murder and theft. Fortunately, by chance, another person arrives: James Bond.

Of course, as any Bond fan knows, this will end only one way, with bad guys vanquished and Vivienne falling for Bond. The title alone says it all, and points out one of the basic themes that run through many Bond books: no matter how damaged a woman is, a love affair with a real man (Bond) will cure all. This rather blatantly sexist message is definitely a product of Fleming's era and his target audience of men and comes off as more quaint than truly offensive.

If you enjoyed the movie, you will find the book unrecognizable; of all the Fleming books, this one shares only its title with its cinematic counterpart. While reasonably well-written, it is also a lesser Bond book. It has its appeal, but not as a Bond novel. The first part of the novel is pure soap opera and Bond himself doesn't appear until after the halfway point in the book. Nonetheless, if you're willing to read an offbeat Fleming novel, you should enjoy this book.

The Spy Who Loved Me is very different from the other books, as the story is told from the point of view of a woman, who eventually runs afoul of a couple of gangsters.

A long way into the book Bond turns up and has a confrontation with the crims and gets the girl. With SPECTRE finished, they are still looking for Blofeld.

When I found out that the content of this novel was entirely different from the content of the Moore flick, I decided to read the novel, and boy, am I glad I did. This is a moving, exciting, totally absorbing book, with terrific characterization and surprising tenderness. I couldn't have asked for a better "light" read, and I recommend it to just about anybody.

Having recently read Andrew Lycett's excellent biography of 007 creator Ian Fleming, I found rereading "The Spy Who Loved Me," his tenth James Bond novel, a very unconventional story.

James Bond doesn't appear until page 100. The novel is told from the perspective of Vivienne Michel, a Canadian woman traveling across the USA after two devastating relationships. "Viv" is an strong, sympathetic character--considering that her creator was generally the type of cad who broke her heart! She remembers her deflowering (Fleming had lost his virginity the same way) and her career before fleeing to America (like Fleming, she worked for a newspaper).

But she's a tough, resilient woman, just the type of female who would appeal to a secret agent like 007. Drawn into an insurance scam at a remote New England motel and menaced by two repellent thugs, Viv is threatened with rape and murder until a mysterious Englishman gets a flat tire on a nearby road.

"The Spy Who Loved Me" was an interesting experiment in Fleming's writing that didn't pay off for him. He discouraged any reprints and considered destroying all unsold copies. Who knows what other directions and what risks Fleming might have made if "Spy" had succeeded. In fact, when the producers of the Bond films were looking for their next entry in the series, the Fleming estate allowed them to use only the title of this one.

Reading the novel now in 2007, it appealed to me because Viv's painful past relationships and her determination not to be bitter reflect many women I know now--or wish I knew.

It was also fascinating that the unfeeling men in her past resembled the author more than the main characters. Viv was the strong, beautiful woman he wished he had. And James Bond, as usual, was the dashing super stud he wished he was. Just like the rest of us.

Of the fourteen James Bond books written by Ian Fleming, Goldfinger is the seventh, and when I finished it, I'd reached the halfway point in the series. With the previous book, Dr. No, we got the first true Bond villain, the man with truly megalomaniacal plans that is typical of most of the movies. In Goldfinger, we get another such villain, plus a new first: the first villain's sidekick. These sidekicks are usually the supertough hired muscle, and few are more intimidating than Goldfinger's servant, Oddjob.

Goldfinger actually begins similarly to Moonraker. In the earlier novel, Bond is initially introduced to the villain Hugo Drax when trying to catch him cheating at bridge. In this book, the game is canasta, but Bond still catches Goldfinger in the act. Auric Goldfinger is an extremely wealthy man with an obsession for gold and a mysterious past. With little in the way of scruples and possible ties to SMERSH, Bond's chance encounter develops into an assignment to derail Goldfinger's smuggling operations.

A second "chance" encounter will lead to a golf game between the two, with Goldfinger trying again to cheat to victory. Later, Bond will begin to get the goods on his foe, but will eventually wind up in Goldfinger's clutches. Like all Bond villains, Goldfinger is interested in explanatory monologues and elaborate schemes, in this case, one involving the theft of all the gold in Fort Knox.

Although it has some of the stuff that would later become cliches, this novel is still Fleming at his peak, maybe just slightly less good than From Russia With Love and Dr. No. If you're a Bond fan, this will definitely not disappoint.

More dodgy card players. This book was fun reading, being a canasta player at the time. Bond busts Goldfinger using a spotter to cheat, and makes him pay back what he owes to people.

Not knowing who he is, when Bond is back with MI6 resources available, he checks him out, and finds out he is a gold smuggler, and even worse, is working for those SMERSH super villain types.

Goldfinger has an audacious plan to bust into Fort Knox with some serious weaponry, and using nerve gas. Leiter and Bond work to oppose him, but Goldfinger has some seriously talented help. Pussy Galore and her Catwoman crew of acrobatic purloiners, and Oddjob, the asian anti-John Steed.

Luckily, during this book, Bond has more Q-Branch toys.

Very rarely does a film improve upon the source novel. I wrote a review of one, King's Ransom, which was made into a vastly superior film by Akira Kurosawa called High and Low. Goldfinger, the film, is one of the classic Bonds -- my favorite, to be sure. The novel, in contrast, is too long, is illogical in some parts, offensive in others and makes the reader realize what a superb job screenwriter Richard Maibaum did in adapting it for the film. These weaknesses stand out in particular:

First, the behavior of villain Auric Goldfinger is completely illogical during the torture scene. You might remember the terrific laser beam scene in the film where Goldfinger, played by Gert Frobe, threatens to slice James Bond, played by the great Sean Connery, in half. In the film, Bond gets out of the mess by bluffing, making Goldfinger believe that he knows all about Operation Grand Slam, Goldfinger's plan to blow up Fort Knox. Goldfinger reasons that he can keep the CIA and the British Secret Service at bay by keeping Bond alive and making them think that Bond is his guest, not his prisoner.

The novel, in contrast, has Goldfinger threaten Bond with a saw. Bond doesn't mention Operation Grand Slam and has been a constant thorn in Goldfinger's side. Goldfinger has Bond dead to rights and, unlike in the laser beam scene in the film, has no logical reason to spare his life. However, just before Bond is about to be sawed in half, Goldfinger inexplicably spares him and forces Bond to pose as his secretary. There's a running joke that Bond villains seal their own fate by devising elaborate ways to kill him that allow Bond to escape. However, Goldfinger's action in this scene in the novel completely defy logic and cripple the story's credibility. Bond novels are an escape from reality -- an adult comic book -- but this plot development makes absolutely no sense.

In the novel, Goldfinger's plan is to rob Fort Knox of its gold supply. Fleming, unlike Richard Maibaum, apparently never realized how logistically impossible this is. Connery rightfully points out in the film that to rob Fort Knox would require a whole fleet of trucks and several days to complete. Maibaum's plan, while still fantastic, makes more sense -- detonating a nuclear weapon in Fort Knox to irradiate the U.S. gold supply and drive the value of his own supply up ten times over.

In the novel, Pussy Galore begins as a hardened lesbian who has no interest in Bond whatsoever. Of course, by the end of the novel, Bond has "heterosexualized" and overwhelmed her with his masculine charms. It's a very 1950's view of homosexualtiy -- that is, that a homosexual could be "cured" of his/her sexual desires like it was a disease. The attitude seems very backward and ignorant by today's standards.

The film strongly suggests Pussy's lesbianism, but it also shows Pussy, played by Honor Blackman, flirting suggestively with Bond. Blackman's Pussy may have lesbian tendencies, but she clearly also has a strong attraction to the opposite sex. When she falls for Bond, it makes sense, unlike in the novel. Bond still converts her, but the conversion stressed is more along the lines of Pussy joining the good guys rather than going from staunch lesbianism to being a Bond girl.

The film has a lot of Asian villains. Harold Sakata is terrific as Goldfinger's superpowered Korean henchman Oddjob, Burt Kwouk (Kato in the Pink Panther films) is Mr. Ling, a Chinese nuclear scientist who supplies Goldfinger with the bomb and most of Goldfinger's henchmen are Korean. However, the film, for the most part, avoids extreme racial stereotyping. Many of the villains are Asian, but there's no suggestion that simply being Asian is a source of evil. Asians would later play a prominent heroic role in You Only Live Twice.

The novel, in contrast, is vicously racist in nature. The nadir of this being Bond's statement that Koreans "are lower than apes." It's hard to believe that even in the pre-civil rights era of the 1950's, this statement could slip by without triggering a major protest from an Asian rights group. Today, it seems so ugly and hateful that I immediately lost a lot of respect for Ian Fleming. This is his hero who believes these vile things, so clearly what Bond believes, Fleming believes -- there's no way to separate the two. One wonders which other racial groups Fleming was bigoted against. It's a disgraceful moment in the Bond saga and a shameful comment on Fleming's view of the world.

Novels like Casino Royale, From Russia With Love, Dr. No, On Her Majesty's Secret Service and You Only Live Twice are classics and rank among my favorite novels. Goldfinger, however, falls way short of that standard. When I finished Goldfinger, I was left wishing that I had not read it and instead had left my impression of the story to the vastly superior film. The novel not only disappointed me, it made me think much less of Ian Fleming as a person.

You won't find perhaps the most quoted lines from "Goldfinger" in the novel that were heard in the film:

Bond: "Do you expect me to talk?"
Goldfinger: "No, Mister Bond, I expect you to die."

That's because the filmmakers, in this case anyway, wisely decided to rewrite the entire story for their script.

I've been rereading all of the 007 novels and have just finished reading Andrew Lycett's insightful biography of Ian Fleming, so I've been pretty immersed in the whole James Bond experience (why not? It is, after all, 2007). I bought the new special edition DVD collections and can't wait for "Casino Royale" to hit DVD this spring as seeing it several times in the theatres.

Of the first seven novels, I'm standing by "Casino Royale" and "From Russia, With Love" as the best. I liked them 20 years ago and I like them now.

But I would probably put "Goldfinger" with "Moonraker": worth reading but not as good as the others.

The ambitious plot to rob Fort Knox just doesn't come off. Bond himself even sums up the absurdity of it in the film version ("...now you've only got a few hours before the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines show up to make you put it all back"). In the novel, Goldfinger proposes to use a small atomic device to blast the safes of Fort Knox--a explosion that would probably require some serious excavating to get the irradiated gold loaded up and out of there. In the film, he wants to blast the US gold supply with a dirty bomb to increase the value of his own stockpile.

Goldfinger's plan and Lex Luthor's San Andreas land scheme from the first Superman movie are the two great evil plots of hero movies, as far as I'm concerned.
As Bond concedes in the film, "My apologies, Goldfinger, it's an inspired plan."

Although she has the most infamous name of all the Bond girls, Pussy Galore shows up as an afterthought, an undeveloped character whose sexuality is gossiped about and then chucked aside for the obligatory final coupling with 007. Fleming devotes far more time to Bond's golf game with Goldfinger than he does Pussy's character. The movie spends more time fleshing her character out!

Some scenes were actually funny, such as when Oddjob demonstrates his karate by splintering Goldfinger's staircase and fireplace before dinner as Goldfinger admits that he doesn't really care for his house. It was also funny and somewhat racist for Goldfinger to hand over his pet cat to feed Oddjob when kitty got blamed for something. There were actually two foul swipes in this novel: the insistence that Koreans love eating cats and that American Southerners rape their sisters (Pussy Galore asks Bond at one point, "What do you call a little girl in the South who can outrun her brother? A virgin.")

The novel was more interesting this time when I pictured new 007 Daniel Craig in the scenes. The "blunt instrument" Bond makes more sense in this one.

But here's something I've almost never said about any adaption: the movie was better.

First of all, let me disclose that I really like all of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels, and I particularly like and admire Fleming's lean, understated style of prose. Fleming is underrated as a writer, and James Bond is more than a comic book cutout character.

Goldfinger as a novel has some appealing attributes. The scene in which Bond plays a game of golf with Auric Goldfinger (with the stakes higher than they seem) is a masterpiece. Goldfinger the villain is an ingenious character. The reason I deprived this novel of two stars is first of all that the ending is tacked on almost as an afterthought. Sorry, it just didn't work, and it almost seemed like Fleming reached his page limit, and realized that he needed to wrap up the novel in the next twenty or so pages. Secondly, "Operation Grand Slam" involving a hodgpodge of criminals, seemed highly underdeveloped, and SMERSH would not have dared have a Soviet vessel upload the goal and hightail it to Russia. Nor would it have involved the sweepings of the US underworld in such a plan. It just did not work. Now mind, the idea of robbing Fort Knox is brilliant, and Fleming could have made it work. But here, in my opinion, it did not.

All these criticisms aside, I enjoyed "Goldfinger" the novel, and I recommend it, along with all of the other Bond novels, to anyone who enjoys good writing, a suspension of one's critical facilities for an afternoon, and, of course, James Bond.

To commemorate what would have been Ian Fleming's 100th birthday, on 5/28/08, and in anticipation of the latest James Bond film, "Quantum of Solace," I recently reread Fleming's 1960 offering "For Your Eyes Only" for the first time in 30+ years. Of the 14 Fleming books featuring the exploits of the world's best-known secret agent, only "For Your Eyes Only" and the author's posthumous "Octopussy" (1966) consist of short stories, and the five collected in this earlier volume are a particularly good batch indeed. Two of them had been published previously; the other three were originals for this volume. All feature what is popularly known as the "Fleming Sweep"; the ability of the author, through fast pacing and a remarkable amount of picturesque detail, to make the reader accept even the most improbable of scenarios. And although two of these stories are not exactly espionage tales per se, they all provide insights into the fascinating character that is the literary 007.

The collection starts off strongly with "From a View to a Kill," in which Bond is given the task of finding out who has been murdering governmental dispatch riders on their motorbikes and stealing top-secret documents. The tale takes place in the suburbs of Paris and features some exciting gunplay at the conclusion, as well as an intriguing female ally, Mary Ann Russell, who we unfortunately do not get to know overly well.

In the title story, "For Your Eyes Only," Bond goes on a personal mission for his boss, M, whose old friends, the Havelocks, have just been killed by an ex-Gestapo agent named von Hammerstein and his Cuban hitmen. In the northernmost wilderness of Vermont, Bond finds these men in a mountain lodge, and (as in the 1981 film, which otherwise is completely different from this story) encounters the Havelocks' daughter, hot on the vengeance trail herself. The suspense quotient in this tale is very high, as Bond uses all his commando skills to sneak up on the villains' lair, and, as in the collection's first story, an explosive finale caps things off. A most satisfying tale indeed.

The book's third offering, "Quantum of Solace," originally appeared, of all places, in the May 1958 issue of "Cosmopolitan" magazine. This is a most unusual story in the Bond canon; indeed, it is one that is narrated TO Bond by the governor of Nassau, where 007 had just completed an assignment involving Cuban revolutionaries. The governor's after-dinner tale concerns a couple that he once knew in Bermuda society; one whose marriage went sour after infidelity, jealousy and bitterness poisoned it. It is a fascinating story of domestic hell, and one that makes Bond realize that his (previously regarded) exciting life may be a little dull when compared to some others'.

In "Risico," M, much against his will, condescends to involve his Secret Service in drug busting, and sends Bond on a mission to Rome and Venice to smash the heroin ring that had recently started to corrupt British youths. Bond encounters two rival smugglers in Rome, Kristatos and Colombo (again, two characters that feature in the "For Your Eyes Only" film, in a wholly different context), as well as the mysteriously motivated Austrian Lisl Baum (ditto), and participates in a ship raid on a drug-storage warehouse. The story is fast paced and generally exciting, and features an incredible amount of travelogue detail to add to its realism.

The collection concludes with "The Hildebrand Rarity," which initially appeared in the March 1960 issue of "Playboy." Like "Quantum of Solace," this is not really a secret agent tale, but rather an adventure that Bond is involved in, after investigating certain security arrangements in the Seychelle Islands for the British Admiralty. He and his friend Fidele Barbey (similar to the Quarrel character in 1958's "Dr. No") are hired by a boorish American millionaire, Milton Krest (a completely different character than the one portrayed by Anthony Zerbe in 1989's "Licence to Kill"), to go on an expedition to capture a rare tropical fish for the Smithsonian. Aboard Krest's luxury yacht, Bond meets Krest's attractive and abused wife and gets involved in a sudden murder. Fleming's love of scuba diving yields effective results here; his detailed descriptions of undersea life are both gorgeous and evocative. This story, although lacking any real action per se, features wonderful characters, great suspense and a nicely ambiguous conclusion. Like "Quantum," it is an unusual Bond story that succeeds marvelously, bringing to a conclusion this rather winning collection of (as the book's subtitle puts it) "Five Secret Exploits of James Bond." The book should serve as proof positive that novelist Ian Fleming had a sure hand with the shorter form as well. It is required reading, needless to say, for all fans of 007.

All of Fleming's Bond novels, and most of his short stories, are such a relief to read in today's relativist, anti-patriotic, multi-cultural, male-bashing or emasculating culture. These novels (and also Mickey Spillane's) are my measure of what a cultural norm should be. They are such an antidote to the weepy, pseudo-introspective rubbish that passes for popular literature today.

For those who have made their way through the first seven James Bond books, the eighth book in the series, For Your Eyes Only, is a bit of a change-of-pace, a collection of five short stories. Not only are these stories shorter, they are also simpler, with no grand villains or complicated plots. For those familiar with the movies, two of the stories would, at least nominally inspire movies; the titles of the other three tales would be less familiar.

Three of the stories are typical spy type tales. The first story, A View to a Kill, opens with the murder of a courier in France carrying valuable information for NATO. Bond is in the neighborhood and recruited to assist in the investigation and uses his skills to outshine the allied intelligence agencies. The second story, For Your Eyes Only has Bond planning an assassination of a Cuban/German thug who killed a couple who happened to be friends of M's. Things get more interesting when the couple's daughter has her own plans for vengeance. The fourth story, Risico, puts Bond in the middle of a feud between two smugglers, forcing him to join up with the lesser of two evils.

The out-of-the-ordinary stories are the third and the fifth. In the first of this pair, Quantum of Solace, Bond doesn't really do anything beyond listen to a tale told by the Bahaman governor. This story-within-a-story involves the marriage of a civil servant and a flight attendant, one that goes sour quickly due to her blatant affairs and leads to her harsh comeuppance. The final story, The Hildebrand Rarity is another story of a marriage gone bad: Bond is cruising on the yacht of an abusive millionaire and his cowed wife; it's the sort of relationship that will wind up with a dead body by the end of the trip.

All of the stories are passably entertaining, with the spy tales slightly outdoing the offbeat ones. What's missing are the elements that make the Bond stories stand out: the adventure, the psychotic villains and the threats to England and the rest of the West. What's left is decent, but unexceptional. This one won't win many new fans, but it should satisfy the ones who already exist.

This grouping of short stories doesn't hold up to the normal standard that i think most of the Ian Fleming's James Bond novels do. It is still a good read and if you like the other James Bond novels then give this a toss.

Not a novel, but a collection of five stories.

From a View to a Kill, For Your Eyes Only, Quantum of Solace, Risico and The Hildebrand Rarity.

So, Bond investigates the death of a NATO employee, then looks into the death of a friend of M's as a favour, then is told a story at a boring dinner party, looks into drug smuggling in Italy, and finally goes on a fishing trip where he learns about some extraordinary methods of wife discipline.

For Your Eyes Only : 01 From a View to a Kill - Ian Fleming
For Your Eyes Only : 02 For Your Eyes Only - Ian Fleming
For Your Eyes Only : 03 Quantum of Solace - Ian Fleming
For Your Eyes Only : 04 Risico - Ian Fleming
For Your Eyes Only : 05 The Hildebrand Rarity - Ian Fleming


Motorbike murder trail.

3.5 out of 5


Bowhunter beautiful daughter.

4 out of 5


Dull dinner party dirt dished.

2.5 out of 5


CIA drug caper.

3 out of 5


Millionaire stingray tail spousal corporal corrector is stuffed, piscatorially.

4 out of 5

Bond, presumed dead from his previous mission, reappears at HQ and in a brainwashed state attempts to kill M. After some reprogramming by the scecret service - which we are not privy to unfortunately - bond is given an assignment to kill a well known assasin. M figures that if Bond succeeds he will have earned back his status - if not - he will be dead. What follows is a somewhat atypical Bond novel. I have read about half of the Bond novels and this one is a little different. Bond seems tentative, morose and haunted in his return to Jamacia. There are also some plot devices that are difficult to take seriously (for example, Ms. Goodnight coming in though his hotel window?). The master assassin in the story is only vaguely interesting, and the organization he is a part of reminds me of the crime sydicate from Dr. No. All in all it is not a bad book - but there are certianly better in the series.

Very Good Book! Own Now and yo'll be the man with the Golden Book! A lot of action and all! I had a hard time putting it down! Own now!

I had to write this to on the one hand recommend this; the last of the "Ian Fleming" Bond novels, and to rebuke the earlier review by Kevin Johnson who obviously has the film and book terribly mixed up. Also, FYI this is one of the best Bond books and it was turned into an attrocious movie, nuff said.

First I have to say, beware of the review by Kevin Johnson below. For whatever reason, his review describes the ridiculous plot of the movie version, not that of the book.

"The Man with the Golden Gun" was the final adventure of James Bond authored by Ian Fleming, and for that reason alone is a classic in the series. While a complete story in itself, it also can be regarded as the completion of an enjoyable trilogy that began with "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" and is followed by "You Only Live Twice." That has always been my favorite way to read this book, which I have done every few years.

There are very few books which I am tempted to read again and again as I have with those three. It is fitting that Fleming's last Bond book has Bond returning to the island of Jamaica, which was the setting for two other Bond novels, and was a place that Ian Fleming knew very well, having owned a home there. Like in many of these novels, the setting's ambience becomes as every bit as critical to the story as the characters themselves.

The story is refreshing because of its simplicity. No worlds on the brink of disaster plot here, as in the cartoonish films and Bond novels by other authors. Bond's mission is to assassinate an assassin in an attempt to recover his standing in the Secret Service. And the story unfolds from there.

Those who expect the lack of subtlety of the films will probably deplore this book. But those who have enjoyed the Bond series by Fleming will relish the opportunity to share this last adventure with an old friend. Subsequent authors have never been able to recapture the Fleming magic.

To a certain extent, it feels unfair to criticize The Man With the Golden Gun, the last of Ian Fleming's original James Bond books. It is generally agreed that Fleming, seriously ill while writing this book, died before having a chance to rewrite his initial, sketchy drafts. The book itself was rushed out by Fleming's publishers and therefore, if it often reads like a first draft that's because it is.

This is the book that finds James Bond returning to MI6 after being briefly brainwashed by the KGB. Needing to redeem himself in the eyes of M (who, in this book's rushed characterization, is at his most coldly unlikeable), Bond is sent to take out international assassin Paco Scaramanga, whose trademark is that he kills with a golden gun. As said, the entire book reads like a sketch of an idea (a short story really) and Fleming's prose and dialouge are (through not fault of his own) rough and unpolished. However, the book does have a few good points that are all the more remarkable when you consider the duress Fleming was under when he wrote it. Scaramanga is a potentially fascinating character, a wonderfully image of James Bond as if reflected in a funhouse mirror. Indeed, it is hard not to feel that if Fleming had lived to write a second draft, Scaramanga would be remembered as one of his most memorable villians, in league with Dr. No and Goldfinger. As well, there is wonderfully elegiac about the book's final chapter where Bond spends a few pages considering his legacy as a secret agent and his future in espionage. Fleming, surely knowing that this would be his final novel, uses the chapter to sum up all that he had written over the past 15 or so years and it serves as a nice tribute for the fans of the original James Bond, confirming everything that made us a fan in the first place. The Man with The Golden Gun isn't a book that accurately reflects the depth of Fleming's talent or the potential of the literary James Bond but it still has a few shiny moments that shows why Bond has endured.

Not horrible, kind of lengthy in parts of the book that didn't need the extra detail. The author does acknowledge in the afterword that the letter was too long. I was half way through the book and was tempted to move on to a new book. This book needed better plot and character development. The devlin chase kind of drug on for a long time...

The gimmick of this book is that it has two thrillers inside of one narrative. There is a run-of-the-mill modern thriller about a woman with no personality and a manuscript she is bequeathed that is written by Ian Fleming, and the efforts of some modern evil-doers to capture the woman and confiscate her manuscript.

Then there is the engaging and exciting WW2 conspiracy part featuring historical figures such as Rudolph Hess and Winston Churchill. This thriller, purportedly by Ian Fleming, is actually a fictitious non-fiction account of a massive betrayal by members of the English Royal Family. It is fast-moving and the dots are connected very cleverly by Mitch Silver. Luckily, the Fleming thriller takes up a bulk of the book.

Worth reading.

This is an unusual novel. The author has gone to great lengths to include many, if not most, of the conspiracies of the last half century or so in one book, and the conclusion is, to say the least, a bit much. That being said, this is an interesting novel that bears examination.

Our heroine is an American academic from Yale. She is summoned to Ireland to empty a mysterious safety deposit box owned by her father in a bank there, since her dad's dead. When she arrives she discovers a manuscript written by Ian Fleming (the creator of James Bond) and purporting to reveal a conspiracy going back more than half a century, and involving Britain's Royal Family. She reads the book on the plane on the way back to New York, with interludes as people try to kill her or steal the manuscript.

The modern-day half of the plot of the book is at times a bit annoying. Our heroine proves very hard for the assassins to do in, in spite of the fact that she's at times clueless and then incredibly naive. The various characters who try to help her are annoyingly dumb at times, also. Since things are so improbable, the plot's kind of hard to follow. Why then did I like the book as much as I did?

The Fleming book itself, which encompasses maybe half the length of the book, is fun. Peopled with characters as diverse as Anthony Blunt, Prince Philip (Prince Charles' dad), Winston Churchill, and Wallis Simpson, the plot of that book moves right along, and the characters are interesting. The modern day part of the book does by contrast not so well, though it's at least short. The Fleming half of the book is peppered with fragmentary documents from the era: notes written on cocktail napkins, dental records, the title page of a book dedicated to someone, other flotsam and jetsam. It's very clever.

I enjoyed this book. I wouldn't say it's the best I've ever read, but it was interesting and amusing. I would recommend it, especially to history buffs.

See storyline above.

I thought this to be a very good first novel. I was impressed with its originality and the way it sucked me into the story. It was well researched and Mitch Silver did a wonderful job mixing the fact with the fiction (more fiction, of course). I did not particularly like the end. It didn't satisfy me like the rest of the book.
I do look forward to another novel by this author.

From inside: "I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dryrot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time." Jack London

"In Secret Service" is a compelling, nail-biting homage to Ian Fleming from first-time author Mitch Silver; a gripping historical thriller which, I am certain, would have pleased the old master himself. Silver has carved himself a vast historical canvas, and has rendered a gripping yarn about a dark secret dating from World War II. A secret ferreted out none other than by Ian Fleming himself, and recounted in a "memoir" that comprises much of the novel. Four decades after Fleming completes his unpublished "memoir", a young American art historian travels to Ireland, and there, claims her odd literary inheritance, which Fleming has bequeathed to her. Soon she realizes that Fleming's unpublished work is not just a compelling memoir that's been hidden deep within the vaults of a Dublin bank, but one whose dark secret will take her on an epic, almost nonstop, relentless journey back home. Pitting herself against secret agents and assassins eager to use every deadly foul means at their disposal towards retrieving that manuscript, she realizes soon enough that her trek home is a desperate struggle to stay alive. Silver's historical research is quite admirable in both its scope and detail; readers will wonder whether many the events described are real, especially when we are introduced to such major real-life figures as Winston Churchill, Edward, Duke of Windsor, and Anthony Blunt. But, most importantly of all, Silver takes his readers on a glorious fictional saga worthy of comparison to James Bond's, and giving us more than a mere glimpse as to what the real-life adventures of former British naval spy Ian Fleming were during the course of World War II.

Having read the other 13 books in the series, there was nothing, short of death, that was going to stop me from reading every page of this, the final of Ian Fleming's James Bond Adventures. Unfortunately, though, this collection of Bond short-stories, published after Fleming's death, just wasn't very good and if I wasn't determined to read it from cover to cover, I probably would have given up.

The Bond series started off extremely well, and I thoroughly enjoyed all of the books up to and including "Goldfinger" (including "Casino Royale", "Doctor No" and "Live and Let Die", among others), but the later Bond books (written after Fleming's health started to fail) have thin plots, little excitement, and feel like little more than extended short stories. This book, "Octopussy", is, in fact, a collection of three or four (depending on the edition that you have - the Coronet edition which I read did not contain "007 in New York") short stories, only one of which is really worth reading ("The Living Daylights"). There are no "Bond girls" and very little action throughout and I found the first story, "Octopussy", so boring that I actually fell asleep while reading it.

If you are working your way through the Bond books, like I did, then you will read this book regardless of what I say. However, if you are new to the series, start at the start with "Casino Royale" and don't let the later books put you off what is, in general, a wonderful series of books.

Octopussy/The Living Daylights is actually not a Bond "book". Rather it is a series of short stories about 007 or involving 007. A couple of the shorts were very good but I was dissappointed in the title stories. If you're expecting stories similar to the movies of the same name, skip this book entirely. If you're just looking to complete the series, probably still worth reading.

Another Bond book that is a collection of shorter pieces, Octopussy, The Living Daylights and The Property of a Lady. The first story is about a villain, the second Bond is sent as a sniper to kill a female assassin, and in the third he investigates a double agent involved with selling a Carl Faberge egg.

Octopussy and the Living Daylights : 01 Octopussy - Ian Fleming
Octopussy and the Living Daylights : 02 The Living Daylights - Ian Fleming
Octopussy and the Living Daylights : 03 The Property of a Lady - Ian Fleming
Octopussy and the Living Daylights : 04 007 in New York - Ian Fleming


Motorbike murder trail.

3.5 out of 5


Cello chick too cute to shoot.

4 out of 5


Cooking up egg auction will get you fried.

3.5 out of 5


Bond's Big Apple boyfriend blaming.

3 out of 5

I've just finished rereading all of the James Bond novels in order twenty years after reading them for the first time.

My favorites remain CASINO ROYALE, FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE and ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE (and LIVE AND LET DIE coming real close to my top tier). Since the release last year of Daniel Craig's debut as Bond, those three are also my favorite films as well.

While rereading the books, I also read Andrew Lycett's insightfuly bio of Fleming and could see how each book was a reflection of Fleming's own life at the time. Fleming could write fluid action scenes in exotic locations...but he quickly became jaded and bored with his superspy creation. As his own health seriously deteriorated after a massive heart attack, the books got darker and more preoccupied with death. YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, the last book he sent off to be published before his death, was part Japanese travelogue and part death lit about a culture mired in hara-kari and kamikaze. The Fleming touch comes to life in that novel when Bond hears about a Garden of Death encircling a castle, a collection of every deadly plant, animal and fish that becomes a suicide attraction for the throngs of Japanese looking to kill themselves.

The last novel, the "rough draft" of THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN, is tired and spent.

But the final book in the series, OCTOPUSSY AND THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS, is back to form, as good as the stories in FOR YOUR EYES ONLY (perhaps better). I can't remember when Fleming wrote these stories but they're certainly better than the previous book and well worth reading.

In "Octopussy", Bond visits an rich old man in Jamaica to confront him over a post-WWII crime that touched Bond personally. What struck me about the story was that it appeared Fleming was describing himself as the older man (the boredom, the health issues) and that the crime that's come to light all these years later took place in a location Fleming dearly loved as a young man.

Elements from "The Property of a Lady" would end up in the 1983 film of OCTOPUSSY, but the story is clever in how spy games work--at least in the world of 007 (KGB mole is paid off by using a London auction).

"The Living Daylights" has Bond in West Berlin, looking to take out an East Berlin sniper before he (or she) can kill an agent making a break for the West. The idea would show up at the beginning of 1987's THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS. The bleak setting alone reminded me of John Le Carre's THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD.

This Penguin edition also includes the very brief "007 in New York" which is of interest in how Fleming and 007 each saw NYC and how Bond likes his scrambled eggs. No huge revelations there.

As I finish these novels though I wished Fleming had dug a little deeper into his creation. Bond more or less remains the same "blunt instrument" he started out as. Missions come and go, so do women. He may visit the grave of Vesper Lynd and grieve somewhere off the page for the murder of Tracy, but Fleming shrugs them all off--along with any soul-searching--as another mission pops up. Bond's jovial flirting with the Japanese geisha girls in YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE a chapter or two after M is discussing his state of mind after the murder of his wife was a little jarring.

Bond was a safe character for Fleming as long as he remained a blunt instrument. The image had already taken over the character before Fleming could give him anymore than everyone expected or wanted.
We got our hero.

Although by copyright date it is the last of Ian Fleming's James Bond books, Octopussy is not actually not the chronologically final Fleming book. That would be Octopussy's immediate predecessor, The Man with the Golden Gun. Instead, Octopussy is a brief posthumous collection of four Bond short stories which are only impressive in their unimpressiveness.

The title story has Bond back in Jamaica, visiting the retired Major Dexter Smythe. Bond suspects Smythe of a crime, and the story has Smythe recounting the crime in question. The title refers to an octopus that Smythe is trying to train.

The Property of a Lady has Bond using the auction of a Faberge Egg to ferret out a Soviet Spy. The Living Daylights has Bond hunting a sniper, and 007 in New York has, well, 007 in New York, not doing much of anything.

The big flaw in this collection is that Bond doesn't really do anything outside of The Living Daylights. There are no grand villains and very little action or suspense, so all the stuff that makes the James Bond stories good is missing. If you've read all the other Bond books, you might as well read this one too to complete the set, but it is sadly a disappointing conclusion to an entertaining series.

Though a bit dated in its technology and political descriptions, this Bond story still holds up pretty well. A new Nazi organization is attacking communist interests around the world with well organized terrorist attacks, and Bond finds himself working with agents from the Soviet Union, the United States and Isreal to try and bring down these Nazis before they can consolidate their power. This unhappy alliance of agents is ocmplicated by deceptions and crossed agendas, leaving Bond on his own to try and bring down the elusive Count von Glöda. This story includes a number of interesting twists and provides a sufficiently thrilling ride to qualify as a successful Bond novel.

In his 3rd book, John Gardner pits 007 with agents from the CIA, KGB and MOSSAD working against a Neo-Nazi force. Another masterpice thanks to John Gardner. Not as good as the first two, but is absolutely stunning anyway!

Grab a seat and enjoy this best seller! I sure did! Loved it all! Bond stays irristible! Great storytelling by the late Gardner! Never give up on three famous numbers! 007! great action at its best! Fast and Furious! Lively Imaginative.

As John Gardner's third Bond novel, Icebreaker shows an increasing understanding of the character. The novel shows a good deal of creativity as far as situations and the Neo-Nazi villains are concerned, and keeps the reader guessing as to who on Bond's team are actually on his side, especially as the book progresses. All in all, a nice adventure for Bond, and a nice time for any Bond fan.

In this, my favorite James Bond 007 continuation novel Gardner pits his character against a Neo Nazi force inside the Arctic Circle. Intricate plot twists, interesting locations and tense, suspenseful action highlight this novel which also proves to be a fan favorite among a number of people in the 007 fan community. Definately recommended.

I gave this 4 stars for being the best Fleming biography. The Pearson bio wasn't nearly as detailed. One reviewer of that book said it glossed over many things; that is true. This book gives details to the core. But you have to realize that Fleming did not live an interesting life. Sure, he was a journalist, he went into banking, and he was even around for WWII, unfortunately, the most he did with his time was live in luxury. That is what caused his boredom and depression, as well as his need to be surrounded by the most interesting people who could stand his reserved, English behavior.

Love affairs, dreamy getaways to safely exotic locations, and this and that are all told in this book, in every last detail. I'd recommend this book if you're looking for something on the James Bond creator. Sadly, do not expect a fascinating individual. He spent too much time smoking and being your everyday playboy to be adventurous.

Lycett gives great insight into Fleming's character and also the world he lived and wrote in. Also, this book gives a great overview of World War II and the Cold War. I highly recommend this book to Bond fans and anyone else who enjoys reading about exciting persons, such as Fleming.

This was an excellent book. The research was excellent, and Lycett's ability to portray characters from the early to mid 19th century should not be overlooked. My only gripe was there seemed to be two oft-repeated phrases: "In a letter to Evelyn Waugh, Ann..." and "En route to Jamaica in New York, Ian...." But all things considered, this is an essential read for any 007 fan - casual or the vodka-martini drinking type.

This book covers an interesting life story and has great detail, but unfortunately much of that detail has nothing to do with Mr. Fleming's life, instead focusing on the bloodlines of every British person he ever met. A typical sentence would read "While at the party Ian met John Blankenship of Eddileshile, who would later become the Duke of Ipswitch and marry the Dutchess of Flem, whose mother, the Dame of Foppishnich, once had lunch with Sir Henry Handllberg" - and NONE of these people would have had anything to do with the story, the party, or Ian Flemming. It is as if a Flemming biography was inadvertantly been mixed with a "Complete Peerage of the Brittish Isles" and they went ahead and published it anyway. If you must, get the print version, so you can skim over the irrelevant stuff that pops up every other sentence - if you listen to the Audible audio version (like I did) you will find it had to follow and boring to boot.

In a fashion, Mr. Lycett's biography is as detailed as Carlos Baker's biography of Ernest Hemingway. Nearly every movement of Ian Fleming's adulthood is covered. What is revealed is not a pleasant personality. Ian Fleming was a selfish, egocentric fellow who was very much a rake and a cad, especially in the years before World War Two. Scion of a wealthy family, he was a true-to-life example of England's decadent ruling class as much as the Marchmont family was in Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited.(Interestingly, Fleming's wife, Ann, was friends with Waugh though Waugh did not know Fleming very well when Brideshead was written). Lycett paints an unflattering portrait of this ruling class. The ruling circle which Fleming was part specialized in divorce, arrogance, selfishness, the lapping up of assorted luxuries. They lacked fidelity and self-discipline. It is also noteworthy that in the middle of the Depression, Fleming was so set in society that he seemed to be able to vacation at a whim and not lose his job. Fleming would have died a spoiled cad if not for the discipline of war, in which he served well as an intelligence officer. Egocentric as always, Fleming later claimed to have drawn up the blueprint for the American O.S.S., later known as the C.I.A.. During the war, Fleming fell in love with Jamaica. This love led eventually to Fleming's routine of writing a James Bond novel each winter at his place, Goldeneye, in Jamaica during his ordinarilly 2-3 month winter vacations. The James Bond pop phenomenon was slow to take off and by the time that it did, Ian Fleming's health was in severe decline due to years of a diet of cigarettes, large amounts of alcohol and greasy foods. The Bond novels will never be known as great literature but they are tersely written in fine, spare prose. The plots are usually ridiculous but, after all, they were to be fun books, not serious literature. Sadism is laced within many for Fleming was a sexual sadist. What is most fascinating about the biography is the chummy relationships within the British ruling class where Fleming would have the homosexual Noel Coward as his best man, rent Goldeneye to Prime Minister Eden after the Suez fiasco and Fleming's wife, Ann, would carry on an affair with Labor Party boss Hugh Gaitskill with Fleming's acceptance.

I'm reading the James Bond Series in order and now I'm on Goldfinger , but of the ones I've read so far this is the best! Fleming attaches you to this book! It's so exciting when Bond is at the Everglades and Felix getting eaten by the shark, the warehosue fight, and the chilling climax and Bond's swim from Morgan's Harbour! It's a great book and my favorite so far. It has the girl, the villian eveyrhting needed in a Bond book! The best bond I've read!

This might not be the best of the Bond tales(that priviledge goes to "From Russia with Love") it is still one of the most pulse-pounding of the lot! The excitement almost makes you shiver: Bond almost gets ripped in half by shark, barracuda, octopuses, the lot! He almost gets killed by mega-sharp corals! Yep, the action is darn good. The only reasons I didn't give this book 5 stars is because the plot doesn't exactly set the world alight(unlike some of his others) and the character of the Bond girl, Solitaire, isn't very well written/characterized, but at least she isn't some bimbo who lacks common sense of any sort just like the ones in the movies! Anyway, I highly recommend this book. As the reviewer before me said, don't let the movie fool you, the book has almost nothing in common with it! That's what makes it even better!

I enjoyed this book, I did, it wasn't bad...It just wasn't great either. This is Fleming's second "Bond" book, and compared to his first one,"Casino Royale," it's not that great. Don't get me wrong, bond fan's will love it, it has great action sequences, but it just lacks something that Casino Royale had...I don't know, just forget everything I've just said and read the book, you'll like it. Really, you will.

This book was a good book to the James BOnd series, but it was not the best. Although a movie was made about it, they are almost completly different. It seems that the movie, 'License to Kill' was closer to the book 'Live and Let Die' than the movie, 'Live and Let Die.' This book features the part where Felix is fed to the sharks (but he lives), just the same as the movie 'License to Kill.' The plot in the book is almost completely different than the movie 'Live and Let Die.'

But don't get me wrong, this book is definitly worth reading. In fact, you should read it if you plan on reading James Bond books that occur after this book. It contains some helpful information. Over all, this book was not bad, it just wasn't the best.

The couple of generations who formed ideas of Ian Fleming's James Bond from the movies are unlucky, because when the films started rewriting the books wholesale (from the 5th, You Only Live Twice, film on), they lost much of Fleming's special color. This second Bond book, set in the first Eisenhower administration, takes 007 to New York's Harlem, by coastal train to Florida, and to the West Indies in pursuit of Mr. Big, an African-American criminal mastermind. (Of course the book doesn't use phrases like "African-American;" Fleming's offhand racism, like his male chauvinism and anti-Communism, are the givens of his time and place which we either overlook or avoid.) But there are splendidly evocative descriptions of America passing from the pinched pursestrings of the Depression and war years into the fattened 50s, especially the train journey Bond undertakes with Big's psychic gal-trophy, Solitaire. Nobody else managed to mix nostalgia for Britain's waning empire with envy for America's growing Cold-War power quite like Fleming -- and he was a keenly observant (if sometimes insufferably self-satisfied) and resourceful storyteller.