For Your Eyes Only

For Your Eyes Only by Ian Fleming, 252 pages

For Your Eyes Only is a collection of short stories or cases involving James Bond. The short stories are odd to read as they tend to leave you wanting more of what happened and the details of everything that fill the novels by Fleming. The five short stories are “From a View to Kill”, “For Your Eyes Only”, “Quantum of Solace”, “Risico”, and “The Hildebrand Rarity”.

According to an online chronology the stories as presented in the book are out of order and should be read `4, 3, 5, 1, 2. Having no real opinion either way I took that advice. I can’t say there were any references or clues that indicate one should come before the other, and I would likely have been fine reading them as presented.

“Risico” involves a heroin smuggling ring that Bond is sent to investigate. This is my favorite short story of the collection as it has some of the best dialogue, and likeable characters. It also has a golf course that has a minefield hazard for the out of bounds which seems like a great way to make golfing more interesting.

“Quantum of Solace” is nothing like the movie based off of it and is quite dull. It is nothing more than the governor or Jamaica telling Bond a story.

With “Hildebrand Rarity” I am split between liking the story about an abusive husband and overall jerk getting his comeuppance and dislike for the needless and wasteful killing of a small section of an ocean reef. I know that the use of poisons like that to collect fish and animal specimens was used in those days but it just seems so wrong and evil.

“From a View to Kill” is a well written short involving a missing dispatch rider. It is quite short for everything that happens in it and is fun to read. It also shows more of the political side of things then previous novels do.

Finally “For Your Eyes Only” is basically M using Bond to get revenge on a couple of murders that killed some friends of his. He justifies it with some legalese but the concept is the same.

Of course every single one of these short novels has an attractive woman that Bond falls in love with, but it wouldn’t be a Bond story if there wasn’t.