You Only Live Twice

You Only Live Twice by Ian Fleming, 240 pages

Picking up a couple months after On her Majesty's Secret Service leaves off You Only Live Twice is the better half. Again the story is very slow in developing, but not too the point where you are bored. The novel takes place almost entirely in Japan and presents some interesting insights into the Japanese culture of that time.

The story itself revolves around Dr. Shatterhand (maybe the worst doctor's name ever) and his Castle of Death (an awesome name for a castle!). Dr. Shatterhand is a Swedish scientist that has created a botanical garden full of deadly plants and fish. This concentration of deadly things piques the interest of the local population interested in honorable suicide. Bond is hired to stop it.

While the story is interesting I truly enjoyed the descriptions and origins provided by Fleming for all of the dangerous plants in the garden. While most were unfamiliar general outdoorsy types would recognize the poison ivy and oak, along with the castor beans and others listed. Maybe its just me but I think it would be cool to visit a garden like that, albeit in a safe manner. And who wouldn't want a lake filled with piranhas!

If you want to know more about the origins of James Bond, and his history as a young lad than you should read this book, namely the second to last chapter...

Thunderball

Thunderball by Ian Fleming, 262 pages

By this point Fleming, and through him Bond, has come along way from the sexist and nearly racist person we saw in Casino Royale into an almost decent human being. Gone are the days of him saying women belong in the kitchen and not in the field to actively recruiting one to spy for him. Fleming does however return to describing card games which only he can keep interesting.

The overall plot is SPECTRE, SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion, has stolen two nuclear bombs and will destroy both property and a city if their demands are not met. Their demands are of course large amounts of money, in the form of gold. The Queen of England and the President of the United States, as they are demanding ransom from them as well, task all their agencies to solve who is behind this extortion and stop it before there is any loss of life.

So of course Bond, with the help of Felix Leiter, catch a lucky break and stumble upon the plan and SPECTRE themselves.

Thunderball looks into more of the life of James Bond as well. His excessive drinking, smoking and the injuries he has taken are taking their toll on him. Not only is he an alcoholic but he is also smoking up to sixty cigarettes a day. Fleming goes out of his way to point out that these are a type of blended cigarettes that are stronger than regular cigarettes as well. With all of this combining against him, he fails his health and fitness evaluation and must get treatment at a wellness center.

This is a departure from the Bond we see in the movies, that despite everything he is always fit and can do anything that needs done. But I can't see any of the Bond characters from the movies being able to smoke sixty cigarettes a day and still be able to chase people though the city.

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.

Goldfinger

Goldfinger by Ian Fleming, 318 pages

Goldfinger is one of my favorite Bond movies so I was really looking forward to reading this novel. The reason I liked it so much was because of the villain’s henchman Oddjob. In the movie Oddjob is played by a dwarf but the book has him somewhere around five feet. He is a master at karate and can chop through boards like toothpicks. But what makes him unique is his hat. The hats rim has a metal blade so when he throws it he can cut off people’s heads, at least in the movie. In the book the hat is not so razor sharp, and only knocks out the one person it is thrown at.

The plot is basically Goldfinger wants to rob Fort Knox and will kill the entire town and army base there to do it. While the movie does follow the book quite nicely, there are some minor changes. I can’t tell you what they are due to the fact we can’t post any spoilers on here. If you want to know you will just have to read the book.

Fleming does seem to be going to extraordinary lengths to tell the readers what the villain is planning. In Goldfinger Bond is captured, and instead of being killed is actually taken on by Goldfinger to work as a secretary. Bond is then allowed to attend the meeting where Goldfinger explains how they are going to rob Fort Knox. While this is better than the villain giving a monolog to the hero tied to a chair it makes you wonder why don’t these extraordinary villains would be foolish enough to tell their plan to anyone they captured.

Dr. No

Dr. No by Ian Fleming, 256 pages

When reading Bond novels I found that the villains tend to break into two groups; crooks that want to kill people for revenge or ones that want a lot of money. The first group of villain I can understand. They feel like they have been wronged in some way and have blown it way out of proportion and now want to destroy entire cities to get even. Crazy? Yes, but who hasn’t done something stupid or crazy when angry. Examples of Bond books with these villains are Moonraker and From Russia With Love.

Next are the villains that are trying to make millions. These are obviously motivated by greed and tend to be more violent the other group. They want money and will break the law to get it. Diamonds are Forever and Casino Royale are good examples. Again can see where they are coming from. In some cases they are still breaking the law, but at least they aren’t killing people. At least not until someone interferes with their plans.

Finally there is a third side group. This is the group of villains that are trying to make money but are killing animals to do it. The books with those villains are Live and Let Die and Dr. No. These are the villains that I cannot understand and find to be the worse. In both cases the killing of the animals was not necessary. In Live and Let Die they were smuggling gold bars and coins in the bottom of fish tanks and killing the fish at the other end. With Dr. No it involved a certain species of bird called the roseate spoonbill. Maybe it’s just my love for those birds but as soon as I read that Dr. No was adversely affecting their population I was hoping for his demise. It didn’t matter that he had killed fisherman and trespassers, but when he picks on the birds then it’s time for him to go. In both of these cases they never had to hurt the animals but didn’t care they just wanted their money.   

Once I got past my anger at Fleming for targeting one of my favorite birds to be the victim in the novel I started to enjoy it. Fleming knows how to get your attention and keep it. In Dr. No he does this in two ways. The first is his vivid descriptions of the wildlife that Bond comes across. From describing a sea snail climbing up a glass wall to the giant squid his attention to detail is astounding. His second method is the time proven method of adding an attractive naked woman. Of course the woman instantly falls for Bond and comes with him on the journey. This makes for an interesting novel that makes the pages fly by. If you have enjoyed any of the other Bond books this one is worth the read.

From Russia With Love

From Russia with Love by Ian Fleming, 268 pages

From Russia with Love is easily my favorite Bond novel so far. Not only does it have some of the best characters, but it also is the first novel that depicts more of the theatrical James Bond people have come to know.

The basic story line is SMERH, Russia’s anti spy division, has setup a trap for Bond involving a beautiful Russian agent named Tatiana Romanova. She is to pretend to be obsessed with Bond and when he comes to escort her to Britain she will bring along a brand new Russian decoding device.

In Bonds travels to extract her he meets Drako Kerim, head of Britain’s Turkey division. Drako is a man that is so full of life you can’t help but cheer for him and enjoy his company. He brings back the classic spying motif. From sliding bookcases, to secret tunnels and even a gun disguised as a cane.  But Bond is also being hunted by a man named Red Grant. Grant is a psychopathic killer who loses control over himself and feels the need to kill people when the moon is full. He is also SMERH’s head executioner. All of this comes to a thrilling finish on a four day ride on the Orient Express.

From Russia with Love is also unique in the fact it ends with a cliff hanger. At this point Fleming was losing interest in the Bond series and was trying to decide what to do. The ending allows him to either wrap up the series and finish the Bond story or pick up and continue. As there are like 35 more books after this one I wonder which option he chooses.

 The novel like all of the ones before it has also been made into a move. Unlike some other Bond movies this one follows the book. 

Diamonds are Forever

Diamonds are Forever by Ian Fleming, 218 pages

At first I thought I would have to wait a couple weeks to read this novel as our patrons seemed to conspire against me. Despite having four copies of this novel in the system all of them disappeared a couple days before I went looking for them. Luckily I managed to find it in a collection of Bond works.

Having finished the fourth James Bond book by Ian Fleming, I think Fleming has established a theme with card games and gambling. In all except Live and Let Die there have been high stakes card games and or other gambling. In Casino Royale it was roulette and baccarat. Moonraker had bridge and a couple other card games. And finally Diamonds are Forever has horse racing, slots, blackjack, and roulette. Of course Bond comes out ahead on anything involving lots of money.

In Diamonds are Forever James is selected to replace a smuggler and bring some diamonds into the United States for some American gangsters. His escort from the mob is an attractive Tiffany Case. Naturally Bond develops a crush and wants to get her out of the mob business. Throughout this thrilling story Bond travels from Britain to New York and across the United States trying to unravel a multinational diamond smuggling ring. All of this leads to a climatic final that has plenty of shooting and explosions.

There is a movie with the same title, but the only similarities are the names and that Bond goes to Las Vegas.

Moonraker

Moonraker by Ian Fleming, 256 pages

Moonraker is the third James Bond novel written by Ian Fleming. Fleming works hard to incorporate both of his previous books into Moonraker. He mentions the dark tan/sunburn Bond got in Live and Let Die, along with Bonds famous card playing skills from Casino Royale. The book is divided into two main parts each involving a popular millionaire name Sir Hugo Drax.

 In the first part Bond is called upon to investigate a claim of cheating in a bridge game at the elitist gambling club Blades. Much like Fleming did in Casino Royale with the baccarat game, he walks you through the playing of the hands. Despite my minute knowledge on the playing of bridge Fleming manages to make the walk through not only interesting but in a way thrilling. Unlike my learning of baccarat from Fleming in Casino Royale I still have no idea how to play bridge. Bond quickly learns how the culprit is cheating and repays him in kind.

The second part of the novel involves Britain’s first attempt at making a nuclear missile capable of reaching most of Europe’s capital cities. When the head of security for the project is killed at a bar under mysterious circumstances Bond is brought in to make sure the project is not in danger. Bond being Bond quickly finds himself drawn to the attractive Gala Brand and with her help they uncover a plot that could change the world.

Moonraker is the first novel that has given us a deeper understanding of how Bond spends his time. Fleming describes everything from target practice, to chatting with secretaries, and even mundane paperwork at the office. While it was mentioned previously that there are only three double-oh agents at a time, Fleming reveals that the current three are 007, 008, and 0011. It is also mentioned that Bond only makes £2000 a year which seemed very low to me until research showed that in today’s values it would be closer to £300,000.

Overall Moonraker is a good book but is slightly off the pace of Flemings first two. While deduction and skill were heavily relied upon in the first two, this one seems to rely entirely on luck and a blind eye from the government. This didn't make the story less thrilling, just less believable.