"Introducing James Bond: charming, sophisticated, handsome; chillingly ruthless and licensed to kill. This, the first of Ian Fleming's tales of secret agent 007, finds Bond on a mission to neutralize a lethal, high-rolling Russian operative called simply "Le Chiffre"--by ruining him at the Baccarat table and forcing his Soviet spymasters to 'retire' him. It seems that lady luck is taken with 007--Le Chiffre has hit a losing streak. But some people just refuse to play by the rules, and Bond's attraction to a beautiful female agent leads him to disaster and an unexpected savior." (description from book cover)
Book Rating: *** (out of five)
Movie Rating: **** (out of five)
Strengths:
- Plot. Fleming's inaugural James bond novel is certainly gripping. Bombs, hit men, torture, gambling, sex. This book has it all, and the mixture is entertaining. Fleming's world of espionage is based backstabbing and double agents, and he knows just how far to go before it gets ridiculous.
- Lack of Judgement. I like authors who present their characters on their own merits,without trying to force a ready-made definition of good or evil down the audiences' throats, and Fleming often succeeds at doing just that.
- Dialogue. Fleming may be able to spin a yarn, but his characters could use some better self-expression. It's not that it is overtly cliched, it simply seems stilted at times.
- Sex and Violence. As I think most people know to expect, the book has plenty of, well, sex and violence. There are also less than flattering observations made of the women in the book, though the sexism is more tempered than I anticipated.
