So, the first book to be completed in this new reading year of 2015 is Moonraker by Ian Fleming, which I read in print format. This is the third outing for James Bond, the most famous spy in fiction. As per the comment kindly left regarding Live and Let Die, this is soooo not like the film which starred Roger Moore. It is, in my opinion, much better. It is taut and tense and the villain of the piece is Hugo Drax, a self-made multi-millionaire with a shady past (of course) who is being heralded as the saviour of the country with his defence project called Moonraker, which has been designed to combat the threat of nuclear attack. M asks Bond to take a look at Drax over the card table in an exclusive London club as a favour to the owner of the club who is convinced that Drax is cheating his fellow members. Nobody wants the scandal if this turns out to be true. Of course, Bond catches him out and Drax does not take it too well. There are only a few days to go before the test launch of Moonraker and the world is watching. Things are already tense, and are not helped by one of Drax's employees being murdered, and the murderer promptly committing suicide! Bond is sent in to assess whether there is any threat to Moonraker, and is asked to work with an undercover Special Branch Officer - the beautiful Gala Brand - who is has been in situ for months as Drax's personal secretary. Almost as soon as Bond arrives at Drax's base, it becomes apparent that he is not welcome and feels threatened but cannot quite put his finger on what is going on. But when he and Gala are almost killed by a "rock fall" he knows he's onto something ...
This is a really good read. The action races along, with the tension building and building. Even though you know Bond will come out on top in the end, you are left wondering how he's going to get there for quite some time. As usual with these books, the details about clothes, food, drinks and cars are all there, but with the added bonus of some technical bits about the Moonraker project thrown in too. Gala Brand is good foil for Bond. She is brainy and brave and, for once, Bond DOESN'T get the girl (hoorah!). Entertaining and edge of the seat stuff, this short book is worth a few hours of anyone's time!
My STAR rating: FOUR.
Length: 247 print pages.
Price I paid: free, borrowed from local library.
Formats available: print; unabridged audio download; ebook.
So glad you enjoyed it .. although as you said, I was a tad disappointed that on this occasion he lucked out with the girl! Interesting .. or at least I think so, I've just looked out one of my 'Collecting 007' magazines from 2002 in which a Tim Browne wrote an article on a journey he took in 1993, some 38 years after the book, to retrace Bond and Drax's steps in the driving they did between Dover and London. It is a good read, showing how well - as with the food references - Fleming researched his writing, Tim Browne being surprised throughout his investigations on how little things had changed and how close fact is to fiction.
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