“It’s just that I’d rather die of drink than of thirst.” SMERSH, the Soviet spy organization that was the main villain in the early Bond books, has died an alarmingly sudden, anticlimactic death. Based on an actual organization whose name was coined by Josef Stalin himself, SMERSH had been officially shuttered in 1946, long before … More Thunderball, by Ian Fleming: Book Review
“’Do people always fall in love with things they can’t have?’ ‘Always,’ Carol said, smiling, too.” The Price of Salt is alternately billed as a tale of forbidden love and a tale of obsession. Only one of those actually fits the novel. Because while it is true that Therese Belivet allows her life to be completely … More The Price of Salt (or Carol), by Patricia Highsmith: Book Review
“Never send a man where you can send a bullet.” Unlike the previous James Bond books by Ian Fleming, For Your Eyes Only is a collection of five short stories, not a single adventure (two of the stories, “Quantum of Solace” and “The Hildebrand Rarity” had been previously published in Cosmopolitan and Playboy, respectively). Elements of the stories … More For Your Eyes Only, by Ian Fleming: Book Review
I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later. Here we have it: the first Bond book by Ian Fleming that I actively disliked. Fleming churned one book out every year once he started writing about 007’s adventures in 1953 so it was really just a matter of time before he repurposed some of … More Goldfinger, by Ian Fleming: Book Review
“All the greatest men are maniacs. They are possessed by a mania which drives them forward towards their goal. The great scientists, the philosophers, the religious leaders – all maniacs. What else but a blind singleness of purpose could have given focus to their genius, would have kept them in the groove of purpose. Mania … More Doctor No, by Ian Fleming: Book Review
“Those whom the Gods wish to destroy, they first make bored.” Following the somewhat lackluster novel Diamonds Are Forever, From Russia, With Love nicely sets everything right in the world of James Bond. Following the events of that diamond-smuggling adventure, James Bond has found himself living ‘the soft life.’ Work has been slow and he’s been keeping … More From Russia With Love, by Ian Fleming: Book Review
“Death is forever. But so are diamonds.” You may recall from my last review that Moonraker turned out to be a terrific little book that was adapted into a seriously terrible movie. As fate would have it, I also despised the movie version of Diamonds Are Forever, but while Moonraker became my favorite book in the series so … More Book Review: Diamonds Are Forever, by Ian Fleming
“’They want us dead,’ said Bond calmly. ‘So we have to stay alive.’” The film adaptation of Moonraker is legendary for being awful. I called it the worst Bond movie ever, so you can understand that I was very curious to see how the book would fare. Thankfully, aside from the title and the villain’s name … More Book Review: Moonraker, by Ian Fleming
“In my job … when I come up against a man like this one, I have another motto. It’s ‘live and let die.’” Now that we’ve been introduced to the world of James Bond, 007, Ian Fleming gets right to the point in the second Bond novel, Live and Let Die. The events of Casino Royale don’t … More Book Review: Live and Let Die, by Ian Fleming
“History is moving pretty quickly these days and the heroes and villains keep on changing parts.” Although it was the 21st movie in the series of Bond films, Casino Royale was the very first Bond novel written by Ian Fleming. Appropriately enough, its film adaptation was essentially a reboot of the Bond series with Daniel … More Book Review: Casino Royale, by Ian Fleming
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