The story was written after the film Dr. No was released, literary 007 gotten some of cinematic Bond’s persona.
Mr. Fleming realized that after World War II, England was no longer the world power it once was and lets it all out on the page in a dialog which must have been torturous to write between Bond and the head of the Japanese Secret Service.
The lighthearted story of a bunch of rogues and misfits who did not fit in the regimented military, turns into a dark narrative as the book shifts into the European theatre and the end of World War II.
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.
It seems to me Mr. Fleming had some stories in his head and somehow tried to tie them up into a common character (Bond).
The story, told in style and grace, features a young, conceited Winston Churchill on his way to cover the Boer Wars in South Africa, 1889.
The novels of du Maurier rarely end with a happy ending.
Mr. Engel’s sense of humor comes through the narrative, I find myself laughing at his macabre narrative way to often then I thought when it comes to reading a book of this subject.
