The novel is not unreadable, it is enjoyable for the Bond fans, but it is far from being one of the best in the series

I truly enjoyed Ms. Mantel’s writing, it is sharp, distinct and lively.

The story was written after the film Dr. No was released, literary 007 gotten some of cinematic Bond’s persona.

The story has many surprises and some twists which kept up my interest to the end.

The author writes about the challenges of living in the region for both Jews and Arabs, especially for young people who struggle with identity and family.

James Bond, agent 007 of British Secret Service, returns to London from a vengeance mission in Helsinki and resumes the boring duties of the 00 section. Soon enough he gets a new mission, this time in Berlin to break a drug trafficking cartel.

The story is, of course, dated and some of it seem downright laughable or cringe worthy if not keeping in mind the attitudes at the times towards women and minorities.

This is a well written, post World War II spy drama which moves forward the character of Bond and enhances the notion of the gritty world he lives in.

What I thought would be tedious, turned out to be a great and unexpected read.

Mr. Gaiman is a master of the modern fairytale, a genre he helped create, abstractly manipulating physics and using legends as histories (“It all depends on how you look at it”, he says). The real power of the novel lies in the author’s writing and voice, he can describe scenes, people and events without much detail or verbiage, but the reader can draw a picture of the scene and get a feeling for the mood.