Having read Casino Royale for the fifth time, it's like visiting an old friend after a number of years. Inside the cover we are told that the book was finished on the eve of Ian Fleming's marriage to Ann Rothermere in 1952, so you can expect a slightly dated story. This was the beginning of what was to become of one of our coolest heroes, James Bond. Where his successors have failed is Fleming's eye for detail, the introduction of SMERSH which is conjunction of two Russian words Smyert Shpionam meaning 'Death to Spies' - used in Dalton's The Living Daylights. Also his pal, Felix Leiter is around to give support against the evil Le Chiffre. The glamour and Bond's conquest is in the shape of Vesper Lynd who comes to a different end for a Bond girl. The setting at Royale-les Eaux sees Bond in his 2nd home, a casino where his 'other' skills are to be viewed. I only wished that the film version could have been part of the series and not made as a silly rip-off with David Niven & co.
Update: Wishes come true as the new movie version was released on 16th November, 2006 with Daniel Craig as the new 007.

The second of Fleming's stories takes Bond, like the movie, to New York's Harlem and an encounter with a gangster called Mr. Big. He is smuggling gold coins ( see cover ) into America and we learn that he is "forty-five years old, born in Haiti, half Negro and half French" and is named Buonaparte Ignace Gallia, hence Mr. Big - no movie double identity as Dr Kananga.
Helped again by his CIA pal, Felix Leiter, the pair do a tour of Harlem's night-clubs in order to meet the bad guy. In the process, Leiter 'jazzes' his way out of trouble while James has to take care of some goons including Tee Hee ( not lasting as long as in the movie ). Bond escapes after being helped by the cards of the beautiful Solitaire who on turning them reveals "He tells the truth." She is slightly more 'adult' than Jane Seymour and is named Simone Latrelle, aged 25, brought over from Haiti by Mr. Big with her powers.
Parts of the story like Leiter's unfortunate capture which ends "He disagreed with something that ate him" and Bond's follow-up visit has been used for Dalton's Licence To Kill and the ending with Bond & Solitaire being dragged behind Big's yacht re-used for Moore's For Your Eyes Only.
It is the latter Jamaican action covered in the book's final 80 pages where we meet up with ex-Lt. Commander Strangways and his helper Quarrel who are to feature in Dr. No. Both provide expert support for 007 in his quest to stop Big and rescue poor, kidnapped Solitaire.
It's worth a read as one of Fleming's best Bond adventures helped by his knowledge and observations of America & Jamaica.

Personal Note: last read 6 years ago under a palm tree on a beach in St. Lucia ... aah heaven until a nearby Caribbean steel band struck up playing The Wedding March.

A week in the life of a British secret agent with Fleming breaking another story into 3 parts ( 1: Monday 2:Tuesday, Wednesday & 3: Thursday, Friday ).
M invites James to his Club due to a member cheating at cards ( no Goldfinger hasn't joined ). This is no ordinary cheat but Sir Hugo Drax who heads up a rocket project to safeguard Britain's security & future. The rocket is called The Moonraker. Of course James works out Drax's cheating methods and ensues an enjoyable card game.
Later Bond is assigned to Drax's security team at his Kent rocket base due to the death of one of his team. There he meets his Police contact Gala Brand ( the love conquest ? ) and both team up to find out what Drax is up to.
No exotic locations, just the Kent coast ( very familiar to this reviewer ) and plenty of the usual action & tension as Bond is involved in another race against time. The villain's ending is similar to something used in the movie The Spy Who Loved Me. Despite narrative being now over 45 years old this is Bond & Fleming at their best !

The narrative opens in the South African desert with a scorpion making a kill and getting smashed which leads to the start of a diamond smuggling ring ( shades of Live And Let Die ). James is sent by M first to check out The House of Diamonds with the Police in London's Hatton Garden run by Rufus B. Saye. He later replaces a diamond smuggler called Peter Franks and is sent to a London ( not Amsterdam ) hotel to meet the contact, Tiffany Case who is more interesting than her silly movie counter-part.
Arranging to transfer the diamonds in his golf balls, 007 heads for New York closely monitored by Miss Case. Here he meets a hunchback ( not a Vegas comedian ) called Shady Tree who arranges to pay Bond ( now using his real name not Franks ) at a race meeting in Saratoga. Joining up with his pal Felix Leiter, now ex-C.I.A. and with Pinkerton's Detective Agency, helps fill in the blanks of his diamond trail. Leiter drives James to Saratoga in order to collect his pay-off but things go wrong with Felix's helper, a jockey who ends up with 'hot' mud in his face.
Due to the payment error, James is sent to Las Vegas to collect his money where he meets up again with Tiffany now very handy with a deck of cards. It is in Vegas Bond has to get to grips with the Spangled Mob but he is captured and takes a hell of a beating. Miss Case comes to the rescue and helps him escape in a train but another train follows resulting with an explosive conclusion. Luckily old Felix drives them to safety and suggests a quick American exit, so they board the Queen Elizabeth ocean liner only to be pursued by two thugs called Wint & Kidd.
Will Bond close the diamond chain in South Africa ( not on a boat as in the movie ) and get back to Tiffany waiting in his London flat ? This story is slightly padded out towards the end but is a satisfactory case for our hero.

The latest print includes an introduction by Anthony Burgess ( written in Lugano in 1987 ) where he compares 007 to Sherlock Holmes and looks at his immortality. Fleming's story is broken down into 2 parts. The first, The Plan is 77 pages of SMERSH's planned efforts to trap our British spy with no sign of 007. We are introduced to Donovan 'Red' Grant, Chief Executioner of SMERSH and told his background. He disappears at the end of part 1, only to reappear in the train scenes at the end of part 2.
Of course there are differences to the '63 movie ( Turkish contact Kerim Bay is sometimes Darko Kermin and events take place in different order and for different reasons e.g. the Russian Embassy's explosion is for revenge of Bay's death not as an escape diversion ) but the main narrative thread is still 007 being sent to Turkey to recover a "brand new Spektor machine". M checks to see if James is over his liaison with Tiffany Case ( as this book follows Diamonds Are Forever ) and that he lives up to the expectations of the beautiful Tatiana Romanova.
It is interesting that the second part, The Execution concludes in Paris not Venice as the train passes this Bond film land-mark. The story's ending still has Rosa Klebb getting the point - but not deadly - and 007's life is left hanging ?
This Fleming novel with it's well researched narrative and thrilling climax proves an equal match to my favourite Bond movie.

Note. The dropped ',' from the latest prints of the book's title.

After surviving Rosa Klebb's poison, M believes James deserves 'a spell in the sun'. So he is sent back to Jamaica to investigate the disappearance of Commander Strangways ( who helped Bond with his Live And Let Die case ) and his secretary/assistant Mary Trueblood. M thinks that they have run off together but like the movie both have been murdered by 3 blind men. Before departing Major Boothroyd recommends some new firepower and M insists 007 changes from his Beretta to a Walther PPK 7.65 mm gun ( he is also issued with a Smith & Wesson revolver ).
At the airport there is no sign of Felix Leiter ( remember Jack Lord ) just his old fitness trainer from his last visit, Quarrel the Cayman Islander. This narrative follows similar to the '62 movie but there's no romantic liaison with the Governor's secretary and the nightly encounter is with a deadly centipede not a spider ( who appears later ).
On working out the Chinese connection Bond & Quarrel head for Crab Key, the lair of the mysterious & deadly Dr Julius No. The morning after arrival, James' first encounter on the beach is with a beautiful naked girl but with a broken nose called Honeychile Rider who has to tag along for his investigations.
Is there a dragon ( an improvement on the movie one ) ? Is Dr No just living off the island's bird dung ( guano ) or does he have a more evil plan ? Can James survive No's evil tunnel tests ? Will Honey meet a 'crabby' ending ?
All are answered in an enjoyable Caribbean adventure.

Another of Fleming's novels broken into parts ( 3 - Happenstance, Coincidence & Enemy Action ). Like the movie Bond's first encounter with the villain Auric Goldfinger is when he bumps into him cheating at cards in Miami. James resolves the problem and walks away with his girl, Jill Masterton as a 'hostage' but it's not until very later that he discovers Goldfinger's revenge.
Back in London M sends James after a serious gold smuggler who is revealed to be Mr. Goldfinger. Meeting up again at the Golf Club, James is challenged to a match by him in order to recover his lost Miami gambling money. In a more detailed match Goldfinger, without his henchman Oddjob as a caddy, is beaten on 'rules' but still invites James to his home for dinner. It is at this coast retreat that the Korean Oddjob demonstrates his deadly Karate skills on the furniture and his liking for cats.
Next Bond, in his Aston Martin DB III, follows Goldfinger's Rolls-Royce across Europe. Along the way he has to reverse into another following car driven by Tilly Soames. She hitches a ride to Geneva but later that night gets captured along with 007 near our villain's gold melting factory. Avoiding a cutting moment ( no laser in this version ) James talks his way into Auric's plans along with Tilly ( revealed as Jill's sister ) who lasts longer than her movie counter-part but still comes to the same fateful end.
When they wake up in New York, Goldfinger reveals his criminal master plan to break into Fort Knox to some tough gangsters ( NB. Mr. Solo doesn't turn down the offer and become an Oddjob cube ! ). Among them is the lovely Pussy Galore, a gang leader who is more interested in Tilly than James.
So can James stop the biggest gold robbery ever and get Goldfinger & Oddjob ? Will James melt Pussy's heart ? Without giving too much away there is a similar plane blow-out ending but it's not Goldfinger getting sucked out into oblivion.
This is enjoyable Bond to the very end.

Described in the opening as 'five secret occasions in the life of James Bond', this book has 5 short stories about our hero.

1. From A View To A Kill
   Bond is sent to Paris to find out why a bike messenger has disappeared from SHAPE HQ. While in Paris he meets Mary Ann Russell who proves useful assistance with the case. Who is behind the disappearing act ?
   NB 'From' dropped from Moore's movie.
2. For Your Eyes Only
   Back to Jamaica ( not Greece ) and a Cuban gangster is trying to buy the property of The Havelocks who turn down the offer and are murdered. Their daughter Judy ( not Melina as in the movie ) seeks revenge with her bow & arrows ( updated to a cross-bow for the movie ). Meanwhile M, best man at the Havelocks' wedding, sends James to Canada to take care of the fleeing villains led by Von Hammerstein and Major Gonzales. On setting up the target Bond encounters Judy who reluctantly agrees to join forces in eliminating the enemy.
3. Quantum of Solace
   Bond has to go to a Governor's party in Bermuda where the host tells him an after dinner story of a government man called Philip Masters and his encounter with an air hostess called Rhoda Llewellyn whom he marries and brings to the island. Life doesn't turn out rosy for the couple. The narrator while showing James the exit delivers 'a sting in the tale' to conclude this marital affair.
4. Risico
   M sends 007 to Rome to track down a drug ring on PM's orders. There he meets up with Kristatos who want money to reveal any clues, eventually he names Enrico Columbo. This short story was re-used as part of Moore's For Your Eyes Only, nationality of characters may have changed ( Italian to Greek ) but Bond still views Columbo & Lisl Baum ( the latter not a fake Countess ) across a restaurant while their own conversation is monitored. After getting Baum a taxi , he has to travel to Venice later to meet her where he is tricked near the Lido peninsula. He is captured by the rogue Columbo ( like his movie counter-part ) who proves to Bond that he's not the bad guy. In this version as a reward for James, lady Baum doesn't get run over by a buggy !
5. The Hildebrand Rarity
   While in the Seychelles ( one of Fleming's travel haunts ), James is asked by a friend to join a fishing party as 'the local underwater ace' aboard a yacht looking for marine specimens. On this occasion a rare little fish called The Hildebrand Rarity. Leading this hunt is a rich American Milton Krest on his expensive sailing craft The Wavekrest ( both the boat's & owner's name to be used in Dalton's Licence To Kill ). Millionaire Krest has a young wife called Liz whom he likes to 'correct' with a stingray-tail ( something Sanchez does to Lupe in the opening of Licence .. ). Bond reluctantly captures the rare fish which still has the final say in this short adventure.

The book is worth reading if only to see how elements were used for the later movies.

This is the novel that gave Fleming all the legal trouble with Kevin McClory. It resulted with McClory getting credit, along with Jack Whittingham, for the 'screen treatment' that the novel is based.
One of points that this 007 adventure proves is that it doesn't need loads of locations with the Bahamas taking centre stage after a brief stop in the UK countryside. Following closely the movie's narration ( more Never Say ... ) with Bond sent to the health farm Shrublands by M, the stolen atomic bombs from a Vindicator plane ( not a Vulcan as in the movie ) flown by a money grabbing Guiseppe Petacchi who meets a gruesome ending and then an evil organisation holding the world to ransom . The love interest is the beautiful Dominetta Vitali with a slight limp. Later 007 discovers that is her stage name and she turns out to be Domino Petacchi, the sister of the pilot. It has a Roman-type villain called Emilo Largo who makes a good adversary for Bond and of course Blofeld who makes an early appearance with SPECTRE stating his deadly terms & instructions ( Mind where you sit ! ).
Being Fleming you get so much more detail and background than from watching the movie. It's one of Bond's best adventures aided by The Man From The CIA, a man called F.Larkin who turns out to be .. ?
It's a 'must' read for Bond fans.
Update 2004: Penguin release the book as a Modern Classic with a photo of Sean Connery as Bond on the cover. Alas it's an off-set photo of the actor drinking a Bloody Mary next to a bottle of vodka ? This new paperback will set you back £7.99 in the UK.

This story is told through the eyes of a Canadian girl called Vivienne Michel who is credited as co-author to Fleming. She writes in the opening summary "The spy who loved me was called James Bond, ..." and goes on explain how she is able to tell her story.
The book version, from my local library would have cost £ 6.95 in 1980 when published by Jonathan Cape, has a two page drawing* of the lay-out of the Dreamy Pines Motor Court with surrounding trees & chalets. This is where the action takes place north of New York State.
Fleming again breaks the narrative into segments, part 1 ( Me ), 2 ( Them ) and 3 ( Him ... that's James Bond ). So like Russia, 007 doesn't make an appearance until two thirds into the story by which time we are told of Viv's earlier life & lovers, Derek & Kurt when living in England.
Apart from a short bed-time story about spies ( & SPECTRE as this follows Operation: Thunderball ) which James tells to Vivienne to pass the time, this is a basic gangster story with Bond playing the knight in shining armour saving the damsel in distress from two tough guys called Horror & Sluggsy. Then he rides off into the sunset after a couple of love-making sessions.
Of course it bears no relation to the Moore/Bond movie but it's a different adventure & view-point of our famous spy whose number Viv soon forgets at the conclusion.

Note. * The drawing is omitted from my old Pan paperback last read in 1977.

Published a year after the cinema release of Dr. No, this adventure has 007 going after Ernst Stavro Blofeld again now set up in Switzerland. This time his evil plan is 'biological warfare' on dear old Britain.
When you now re-read this story from Fleming you naturally compare it to the '69 movie. It is very similar in narrative to the movie except on a smaller scale e.g. the girls that Bond meets at Piz Gloria are British not 'International' & during the air-raid on Piz Gloria only one helicopter is used.
As we know along the way Bond meets up with the lovely Tracy, in this book she comes to his rescue as in the movie but isn't captured by the evil Blofeld. Also the marriage proposal takes place in an airport lounge not a barn with farm animals. Later the marriage's location is different in a British Consul General's drawing room with no sign of a 'weeping' Moneypenny or 'advising' Q. While Bond's final dialogue is as delivered by the under-rated Lazenby when we reach the sad ending.
It's good to go back to a book that you haven't read for a number of years and enjoy again. Watch out for a brief appearance by Ursula Dr. No's Honey Andress in a Swiss restaurant.

Note. My old Pan paperback cost 30p ( that's £ 0.30 ) in the Seventies, now this version in the Nineties will cost you nearly £ 6 !

In this sequel to On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Bond has gone to pieces over the death of his wife, Tracy. After 2 botched assignments, M gives our hero one last chance with an 'impossible' mission to Japan.
Under the guidance of Dikko Henderson, who is more developed than in the film and doesn't get killed off in this story, Bond is put under the orders of 'Tiger' Tanaka of the Japanese Secret Service. Tanaka, much older than in the film, introduces 007 to the ways of Japan.
The book is divided into 2 parts ( I - 'It is better to travel hopefully ...' and II - ' ... than to arrive'. The title appears half way into the narrative when Bond is asked by Tiger to write a 'baiku' ( like Japanese poet Bashõ ) - the verse of seventeen syllables.
James comes up with ..

"You only live twice:
Once when you are born
And once when you look death in the face."

Note. Yes another price check ... my old second-hand Pan paperback cost 3/6 ( that's 3 shillings & sixpence that's £ 0.175 ) when printed in the Sixties, now this Nineties' version will cost you nearly £ 6 ! My thanks to my local library.

After going AWOL for a year Bond resurfaces and has to prove his identity. When he finally meets up with M, he tries to kill his boss. Discovering the reasons why James is soon dispatched on another mission to dispose of Francisco ( Paco ) "Pistols" Scaramanga, a deadly assassin known by the book's title and who carries "a gold-plated long barrelled, single-action Colt .45".
On route to Havana, Cuba James has to wait for the next flight in Kingston Airport and recollects memories of Honeychile Rider who is now married to a Philadelphia doctor with 2 children. While waiting he makes the connection that Scaramanga is on his way to his beloved Jamaica. So James changes his travel plans and discovers his old secretary Mary Goodnight is now working on the island as assistant to Commander Ross who is Strangways' replacement ( see Dr No ). She now drives the deceased's old Sunbeam Alpine car.
It is interesting that James is now travelling undercover as Mark Hazard working for Transworld Consortium which has replaced Universal Export. Will he meet up with Scaramanga and carry out his orders ? .. he has easy chances to pump a bullet in the back of his target's head. There is no sign of Nick Nack ( Scaramanga's assistant ) who was created for the movie and James acts this role for part of the story. Who does James meet again working at the hotel ? It seems strange that of all 007's world-saving missions that this is the one that the Queen offers him a knighthood ( like Sir Sean ), will he accept ?
This novel has slightly larger print than normal and it's light narrative is padded out to fill the 191 pages ( normally around 230 ). Published a year after Fleming's death it is easy to imagine the author writing this one from memories of his travels around the beautiful island & 2nd home of Jamaica.
Worth reading but not the best of Bond adventures.

Published around the time of England's greatest soccer moment in The World Cup, perhaps this is why a doctor called Jimmy Greaves ( an English footballer ) pops up in the first of three short stories.
Fleming gives 3 small 'unimportant' cases to our super-spy ...

1. Octopussy
   Bond is sent to Jamaica ( no hardship ) to sort out some paperwork concerning a retired Major Dexter Smythe, OBE, of the Royal Marines. 007 fleets in & out of the story which concerns some German war time gold. On uncovering the mystery, Bond gives the elderly Smythe one week to think over the matter which is where the title comes in.
2. The Property of a Lady
   Bond has to go to an auction to track down who is paying Miss Maria Freudenstein for her years of deception. The object for sale is The Terrestrial Globe designed in 1917 by Carl Fabergé ( aka the title of the story ). 007 needs to spot the buyer in order to send him packing out of the country.
3. The Living Daylights
   Bond is trained and sent to kill a sniper in Berlin. Of course being James, his eyes are distracted by a beautiful blonde who carries a 'cello. When he finally makes the shoot, there is a surprise which scares 'the living daylights' out of his target.