From Russia with Love by Ian Fleming #bookreview

Book review: "From Russia with Love" famously was one of President JFK’s top 10 favourite reads. It also inspired the second Bond movie which, being early in the series, is pretty similar to the book.

The book starts from the Russian side. Indeed it isn’t until chapter 11 of 28 that James Bond makes an appearance in the flesh.

The early chapters introduce “Donovan Grant or ‘Red’ Grant – Chief Executioner of SMERSH”, Rosa Klebb and Tatiana Romanova as they form a plot to kill Bond, although Tatiana, or Tania, is more a pawn in the plot than an instigator.

The plot is formed, to kill Bond, the spy who “has at least twice frustrated the operations of SMERSH” (see previous Bond novels for those occasions). He is to be “killed with IGNOMINY” with “great scandal required”, thus making it clear to the spying world that, after making some “stupid blunders, [which] has made the Soviet Union look foolish and weak throughout the world”, SMERSH is back.

Luckily for James Bond fans he manages to survive the plot, or does he? – the book ending in a cliffhanger.

Along the way, Bond displays his analytical thinking and eye for detail, useful traits for a spy, and the book is a thrilling read, with plenty of suspense, especially whilst he takes the Orient Express train home.

James Bond will return in Dr. No.

Available from Amazon HERE.

Diamonds are Forever by Ian Fleming

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER BOOK REVIEW:

"Diamonds are Forever" - the fourth of the James Bond novels. This edition features an intro by Giles Foden who writes "clearly, by the time of this novel, Fleming had established some of Bond's traits, including a love of women, alcohol, cigarettes and, above all, action." So you know what to expect - a girl, in this case (pardon the pun) Tiffany Case, the drink ("martinis, shaken and not stirred") and all the action which revolves around diamond smuggling.

The plot quickly gets into the action with the start of the diamonds journey. Then there is the usual meeting between M and Bond where the details as known are detailed. "The British got hold of the [Diamond] business at the beginning of the century and we've managed to hang on to it. Now it's a huge trade. Fifty million pounds a year. The biggest dollar-earner we've got. So when something goes wrong with it the Government gets worried." 

Bond is then sent into the pipeline acting as smuggler Peter Franks. He smuggles into America where he gets into contact with the gangs there, "violence and cruelty were their only weapon." Luckily he has a friend, Felix Leiter making a return to the books, and also the girl, Tiffany Case.

The plot (as briefly outlined above) sounds similar to that of the film but they are different. There is no Blofeld here, and no Bond being cremated alive. You still get the action-packed ride though.To quote the Shirley Bassey theme song you have here "all I need to please me".

James Bond will return in From Russia with Love.

Diamonds are Forever

Moonraker by Ian Fleming

MOONRAKER

Book review: Moonraker, the third of the James Bond novels, follows the normal formula, namely Bond being despatched to defeat the physically unusual villain, this time the scar-faced Hugo Drax, with a girl in tow, this time Gala Brand (not Holly Goodhead like in the movie). The only difference here is that it is set in England so there aren't the exotic locations you normally associate Bond with, such as Brazil, Venice and outer space no less as in the movie. 

The plot hinges around Sir Hugo Drax and his Moonraker, not a space shuttle but "a super atomic rocket with a range that would cover nearly every capital in Europe - the immediate answer to anyone who tried to atom-bomb London." So everyone thinks Drax is a national hero (hence his knighthood from the Queen) for building this rocket "designed exclusively for the defence of our beloved island", and that his intentions are honourable, when in fact they are not. M though has a problem with the man so confides in Bond - "There's only one thing... Sir Hugo Drax cheats at cards."

So the book starts with a high-stakes card battle between Drax and Bond, not unlike Bond's previous exploits in Casino Royale of course. Then strange going-ons at Drax's plant lead to Bond having to go there too.

There may not be laser battles, and a villain called Jaws but you do get a thrilling read all right.

AMAZON UK: MOONRAKER

Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming

Book review: Whenever I told people I was reading this book they would immediately, without fail, sing the “Live and let die” part of the Wings song of the movie. Interestingly the book is quite different to the movie. There is no crocodile farm or speedboat chase for example. There is Harlem though, and the scene with the bar table going through the floor, and other scenes that were subsequently used in the films “For Your Eyes Only” and “Licence to Kill”.

Inside of this version of the book is a neat intro written in 2012 by Andrew Taylor (who?). He talks eloquently about this book, how “Fleming had the gift of narrative” and how Fleming applied his classic formula for the first time: "Bond is sent to an exotic location to deal with an amoral and physically unusual villain with limitless wealth and a superhuman lust for power.” In this case it is Mr. Big, “the head of the Black Widow Voodoo cult…. a soviet agent… a known member of SMERSH” who is the villain. Mr. Big is also said to be “the Zombie or living corpse of Baron Samedi himself, the dreaded Prince of Darkness” giving him “the best protection of all… Fear.” That’ll explain the shadow of an oversized hat on the front cover above the “D”, and not because there is an appearance by Jamiroquai within.

The plot hinges around a famous pirate’s treasure trove of huge quantities of gold being smuggled out of the Caribbean and distributed around Harlem with the proceeds suspected of “being used to finance the Soviet espionage system, or an important part of it in America”. Bond of course is the man sent along to make things good, meeting up with old friend Felix Leiter, and of course getting the girl, in this case Solitaire.

Being the second Bond book this is certainly a more ambitious affair than the prior “Casino Royale” with more exotic locations, food and wildlife featuring. It is a thriller that thrills, is probably grittier than the film, with Bond suffering more injuries, not to mention Mr. Leiter, and enjoyable in its own right.

James Bond will return in Moonraker.

BOOK AVAILABLE ON AMAZON HERE.

Casino Royale by Ian Fleming

Book review: "The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning." And so begins the career of probably the world's most famous secret agent for those are the opening words of Casino Royale, the book that Ian Fleming wrote introducing Bond, James Bond to the world.

The plot seems simple enough and is well known. Bond is sent on a mission to bring down Le Chiffre whose investments have left him needing to make a lot of money. "Le Chiffre will endeavour to make a profit at baccarat of fifty million francs on a working capital of twenty-five million (and, incidentally, save his life)." That's because Le Chiffre is an agent of the USSR, and they know of his bad investments which he foolishly used "Leningrad Section III" monies for. Now they want it back and SMERSH, an organisation specialising in death to spies, are after him. Bond is to out-gamble Le Chiffre so that he can't repay his money. And it is HM Treasury who put up the money for him to do this. I can't imagine George Osborne doing that these days but this story wasn't written in these days.

Then the other part of the plot involves Bond meeting Vesper Lynd who is also assigned to the job, and trying to rescue her after getting herself kidnapped but instead getting caught and tortured.

The way the book is written is fantastic. Fleming is a great writer. You meet Bond already in the heart of the action at the glamorous casino. Then he introduces the mission and Le Chiffre via a dossier, an excellent tool to introduce the villain and his back-story, before returning to Royale, France. He also inserts the rules of baccarat into the novel seamlessly to allow non-casino goers like me understand what is going on (something I didn't understand from the films where it was assumed people would know, and I don't think Bond uses the Evelyn Tremble method in the book either, although he does explain his method in detail).

Bond the character is of his time. He smokes 70-a-day, loves his drinks, although a "vodka Martini, shaken not stirred", is not one of them, and is terribly sexist. "These blithering women who thought they could do a man's work. Why the hell couldn't they stay at home and mind their pots and pans and stick to their frocks and gossip and leave men's work to the men." He is also very meticulous, which is probably what makes him such a good spy.

There are other bits in here too that are classic James Bond like the car chase, the narrow escapes and Felix Leiter.

But once the main thrilling part of the novel finished the story seemed to meander off course a bit with Bond recovering in a hospital bed, discussing "the nature of evil" with Mathis, before falling in love with Vesper rather too easily it seemed to me.

Still thanks to this book we have James Bond and we can all be grateful (or not as the case may be) for that.

Originally published: 13 April 1953

Available on AMAZON

World War Moo: An Apocalypse Cow Novel by Michael Logan

Book review: “World War Moo” is the second book in the Apocalypse Cow series. If you’ve read the first you know what to expect from this one, zombies, OTT characters taking the mickey out of each other and cows. 

This story begins where it left off in the previous book, the zombie outbreak that started in cows has spread to humans and taken over the whole of Britain which is now cut off from the rest of the world. To bring the virus to an end the rest of the world is considering eliminating Britain, rather than find a cure for the disease, and it is the task of a group of individuals, some zombies who have learnt to control themselves, and some humans, to stop this. 

I got this book through entering a competition for the author to put my namesake in the book. Therefore there is a Tim Roast in this story, and needless to say I was most interested in how this particular character got on. He is the (“sorry excuse for a”) government chief scientist, with a “V-neck pullover, badly knotted tie, and a pair of glasses so ginormous they made his eyes look like snooker balls.” Thankfully he doesn’t get killed so is likely to appear in the next book in the series too. (Authors, I am available for more roles in books.)

Many of the other characters, such as a band of mercenaries that are called upon to infiltrate Britain, in the book are also namesakes of people who entered this competition, and you can tell by the way the author introduces and describes them that he had a lot of fun with it. 

The book is quirky, and has good scenes in it, such as a “bar full of bearded and smirking Noels (as in Noel Edmonds) cavorting in Christmas pullovers so garish they should have carried an epilepsy risk warning, playing pranks on each other and grinning smugly.” The story took a while to get going, what with the character introductions, re-introductions of characters from the first book and where they’d ended up, plus the setting the scene bits, and there are less cows than before, but once the story got going there was plenty of action and plenty of fun. 

Published on 9 June 2015

Available now on AMAZON

My review of the first book in the series: Apocalypse Cow

Urban Outlaws by Peter Jay Black

The Urban Outlaws are five kids, Jack, Charlie, Obi, Slink and Wren, each of whom bring different skills to the table. Their purpose is to seize "the financial assets of arms dealers, thugs, gangsters, and give it to hospitals, charities and carers" whilst avoiding the threat of being returned to children's homes. A modern day Robin Hood and his merry men if you like.

This is the first book in the series and the book takes you right into the action right from the beginning as they use their home-made James Bond style gadgetry to go on a raid. But there are no Union Jack parachutes here, just more sensible black ones. And the focus of their work is being clever with computers, although you don't need to be a computer geek to understand what is going on.

However this initial raid leads the kids into something bigger than they could have ever imagined, taking on the world's most advanced computer.

All in all a great book for teenagers and young adults alike, although the incompetence of the adults might seem a bit much. But this keeps the story moving along nicely with the suspense and action sure to keep you hooked.

Publication date: 13 March 2014

Amazon UK link: Urban Outlaws

The Merrybegot by Julie Hearn

What did people do before they had TVs? The answer is they went witch hunting. This book is set at "the height of the witch craze in England" in the 1640s. The main character is Nell and she becomes the innocent victim of one of these witch hunts, on the verge of being hanged at one point.

The story is in two parts interlinking parts. That of Nell, and the confession of Patience Madden, one of the village minister's daughters. Together they form the story of what happened.

The minister is "a right miserable bogger. A killjoy and a Puritan." So what would he do if one of her unwed daughters got pregnant? He'd cover it up and blame her daughter's period of hiding on a witch, that witch being Nell. But Nell is a merrybegot, "a child sacred to nature", thus has powers on her side to help her survive this victimisation. 

The minister enrols the help of Matthew Hopkins, the Witch-Finder General, a character who existed in real life. The other real life figure that features in the story is Charles II. However it is a fictional world with fairies and piskies featuring so any historians wanting to moan about the accuracy of their cameos should not bother.

The book does well to bring out the way it must have been felt to be the innocent victim of a witch hunt, and how powerless women and girls were when more reputable, in the eyes of society, people accused them and worked the locals up into a frenzy to nail them. 

The story does fizzle out at the end as all the loose ends are tied up after the main story arc has come to a conclusion, but overall a really enjoyable read.

(I got this book through Amazon Vine. It is listed HERE.)

Knight Crusader by Ronald Welch

“Knight Crusader” was originally published in 1954 but has been re-published due to popular demand. It is aimed at 14+ year-olds and this is because of the bloodthirstiness of it, although the book is by no means gory, and nothing that the modern child has not seen already in a video game (the original Assassin’s Creed game being set at the same time as this novel) or movie.

The book takes place at the time of the Third Crusade and features figures such as Richard the Lionheart. It follows Philip d’Aubigny on his journey from “excitable, impulsive, scatter-brained young squire” through to becoming “one of the greatest barons in Outremer,” and finally his coming to Great Britain after longing to after hearing great things of the “green country” where "the trees are everywhere, heavy with leaf, and the valleys are deep and moist."

Outremer is the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem and the Christians and the Turks are fighting for it. It is where Philip is from, being the son of a great knight Sir Hugo. Philip as a 17-year-old becomes a knight himself after proving himself in a duel. Then he is straight into proper battle as “Outremer was in deadly peril; at any moment invasion and total destruction might descend upon the Christian states.”

That battle he partakes in is the battle of Hattin and it is interesting to read the tactics involved and see how they played out during battle, plus the point when the realisation dawns on the Christians that they will lose. 

Being on the losing side Philip is taken as a slave and that ends part 1 of the book. Part 2 has his escape from Damascus and his allegiance to King Richard of England as he takes part in the successful battle of Arsuf. And Part 3 sees his coming to England to inherit the fief of Llanstephan, although he must first oust the current occupant De Braose who will not give it up without a fight.

All-all-all then a book that is interesting for its military tactics, and its historical content as it is based on real life events of the time, the author being well-versed through his career as a history teacher.  

(I got this book through Amazon Vine. It is listed for sale HERE.)

Z-squared by Sherrie Cronin

This is a book that I won in a Goodreads First Reads contest.

Z-squared, or zee-squared as this is an American book, is an ambitious novel. It contains the making of time-machines, Maya history, American Civil War history, telepathy, racial hatred, a potted history of American immigration policies and a treasure hunt for ancient artifacts. 

The first thing I noticed about this book is that it is volume three of six. However having read it, and not the previous two books in the series, I would say that it is perfectly stand-alone. It does mention the previous two (x to the power of 0 and y to the power of 1) but there is no need to have read them.

The second thing I noticed is that this started as an eBook and the eBook version has some clickable links to help with the atmosphere of the novel, whereas this one has the links in the annex so that you can have the same experience if you wish, although you would need to cross reference to make sure you picked them up in the correct places, and if the URLs change then tough. Plus these are not necessary for the story, just to add to ambiance.

As for the story it starts off on several strands, each one bursting with action from the get go which really helps you get into the novel straight away. Then the story settles as the strands come together with the main strand being a treasure hunt, and the secondary strand being the stirring up of racial tensions in a school where the main character of the book Alex Zeitman works.

The book flits through time with sections from 1696-1697, 1981, 1993, the main part from 2010-2011 and even a bit from the future at the end so that you know what happens to the main characters.

The 1696-1697 part details how three Mayan boxes were to be protected from generation to generation to keep the greatest of treasure from being discovered until the time was right. Only when all three boxes have been reunited will it be clear what the secret they bear was. That is the basis of the treasure hunt that Alex gets involved in.

The other part of Alex’s story includes the setting up of his school club zee-squared, “a club about considering multiple timelines and their ramifications,” i.e. about doing your bit to make the future timeline better. This is in part in response to a growing movement in the school, a school based in Texas in the south, led by Ms. Johnson and endorsed by the principal, towards the return of white supremacy. This culminates in a re-enactment of the Battle of Cedar Creek, a key battle in the loss of the South in the American Civil War, and how if things had been done differently at that battle then things could now be for the better. Of course Alex sees to it that this movement is put in its place and involves his psychics’ students and their “time machines” to make it so.

The novel is ambitious but is pulled off.

(This book is available on Amazon HERE.)

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

This is a book that I won in a Goodreads First Reads contest.

Crown of Midnight is the second full-length novel in the "Throne of Glass" series (not to be confused with Game of Thrones). It is also the first in the series that I have read and because of that I missed out on some of the backstory that was getting mentioned in this book quite a few times - e.g. Sam, Cain, the ridderak - particularly at the beginning. Therefore I definitely recommend reading this after you have read the first book in the series.

Despite this the story telling is good. The book follows the strong female lead character Celaena Sordorthien, the assassin for the king of Adarlan. She is straight in the action right from the off as the first chapter sees her entering a manor house with the aim to kill Lord Nirall. But the main plot is the assignment to dispatch Archer Finn, who is part of a rebel movement trying to interfere with the king's plans but is also "the most beautiful man she'd ever seen", and someone Celaena knew from before.

However there are all sorts of subplots going on too, like where is the king getting his power from, what are the answer to the riddles Celaena discovers, where has the magic gone, what is happening with the ongoing relationship between Celaena and price Dorian, or is it Chaol, Captain of the Guard, and all sorts of other things too.

All in all there is plenty to get your teeth into in this action-filled, fantasy thriller.

(This book is available on Amazon UK HERE.)

Witch Crag by Kate Cann

I got into this story straight away as the beginning is unique and interesting. Of course it could have been a lot harder to get the interest going given the initial setting so all credit to the author. The novel starts in the hill fort of the sheep men and their life is a grim one of enforced monotonous work with no room for any fun. Their function is to survive. As it says in the novel "Do the work, grinding work. Keep the sheep safe. Collect water. Guards the barricades. Survive."

Meanwhile there are other tribes around like the horsemen, the farmers, the city dwellers and the witches from Witch Crag, but the witches are avoided because everyone is scared of them.

Kita, a teenage girl from the sheep men, has visions and knows she needs to escape from her life with the sheep men. She is drawn to Witch Crag. So she sets about doing this convincing two of her friends to escape with her. Along the way they stumble across the city which is a place in ruins with metallic vehicles left from before the Great Havoc, vehicles called cars. There they are captured before they escape to finally make it to Witch Crag where the witches are not as scary as they had been made out to be. Having done so matters turn to war, with the city dwellers breaking out from their ruins to try and invade all the other tribes. Only an alliance between the farmers, horsemen, sheep men and witches can have any chance to stop them, but who will befriend the big bad witches?

A gripping story about escape, then battle, and maybe coming of age along the way for the young lead characters, that is suitable for teens up.

(I got this book through Amazon Vine. It is listed here.)

The Prankster by James Polster

Prankster is about a prankster, Trager, from another planet who comes to Earth to play tricks on the humans. Like planting Triceratops bones for them to ponder over, or getting them to build pyramids, all very funny for the guys back home who watch the TV show that he fronts. But this time the prank is on him as he is dropped off in Earth in the wrong place, Santa Fe, and he can only return by getting to San Francisco quick-time before the opportunity closes. And he can't take a plane as it wouldn’t agree with him.

So that is the novel. The actual setting up of the other world where Trager comes from at the beginning of the book is a bit cumbersome I felt and hard to get into, but as soon as he found himself on Earth that’s when the novel picked up for me what with the cross-country race against time, whilst also being pursued by a persistent policeman. 

So overall I liked it with its interesting idea about how a lot of Earth’s past was manipulated for a alien prank show although the beginning didn’t grip me immediately.

(I got this book through Amazon Vine. It is listed here.)

Eagle in the Sky (reissue) by Wilbur Smith

Wilbur Smith's Eagle in the Sky is being re-issued today. It comes in a groovy new cover. My original review for this is here. The book with the new cover is listed on Amazon here.

How To Forget by Marius Brill

This is a book about a magician and a con-artist as written by a brain-scientist. The magician gets tangled into a con-artist scam and so ends up on the run from the authorities in a particularly thrilling chase. The brain scientist is trying to help the magician forget about his old life and start a new one, one with no recollections of his past, and this novel is his way of recording the magician's past.

So it's not your normal book what with the outline above, the many twists and turns within the plot and it's story being organised around various academic articles on memory and how the brain works.

Indeed I have to say these articles did somewhat get in the way of the main narrative and could have been edited out but it sort of added to the authenticity of the author being an expert in the field of thoughts so I can understand why they are there. That aside the book was a cracking read with a really good story which always left me guessing as to where it would go next. It was a very clever plot full of humorous metaphors and excellent repartee.

(I got this book through Amazon Vine. This book is listed on Amazon here.)

The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson

This book is basically a story about a family (you may have discerned that already from the title). We follow family Fang who are a foursome comprising of parents Caleb and Camille and adult children Annie and Buster. The story follows the children having to move back to live with their parents for help but it all goes wrong when their parents disappear presumed dead.

The book includes flashback chapters to fill in earlier periods in the family's life that have helped shape their later-selves. However these aren't simply flashbacks but are actually chapters shaped around artworks as created by the artists of the family - Caleb and Camille. These chapters were particularly clever ways for some of the characters of the real-time part of the story to be introduced.

The story is a quirky read with a quirky layout too. I got a little bit confused with some of the logic in the conversation at times but overall I found the book a really good read with a particularly gripping ending.

(I got this book through Amazon Vine. It is listed on Amazon here.)

Brown by James Polster

"Brown" follows the hero McGee Brown through a bizarre occurrence of events that sees him go from sports-writer to psychologist to private detective.

I loved several things about this book. I loved the humour. I loved that the chapters were generally short so that I could breeze through relatively quickly (and could stop easily when I needed to). I loved the outlandish situations that the author threw Brown into (well most of them). And I loved the characters' weird ways.

There was a bit in the middle however where the author was relying solely on the ridiculousness of Brown's plight to generate the humour. However this section was over quickly and the beginning prior and the subsequent ending (spoiler: 3-way chase) made up for this.

I enjoyed this read and would recommend.

(I got this book through Amazon Vine. It is available to buy here.)

Shout at the Devil by Wilbur Smith

Having read lots of Wilbur Smith's books this one stands out as being different. It is split into two parts. Part 1 is set before WWI and focuses on one man, Flynn O'Flynn, who lives just outside German East Africa and his comical raids into Germany. Early in the book he meets an Englishman and their repetoire is very funny. I can see why this was made into a film (according to other reviews) as the dialogue is very good. Then WWI starts and the Germans advance beyond their borders for revenge. This is where part 2 begins and the book becomes more serious as you'd expect. The ending is untypical of Smith as it isn't a feel-good ending but I don't want to spoil it. 

Good book that I highly recommend.

(This book is available to buy here.)

Hungry as the Sea by Wilbur Smith

Another typically good Wilbur Smith story. 

This one is set in the mid 60s and focuses on the hero Nicholas Berg and his trip from 40 year old has-been to great success once more. It all starts with him taking on the captaincy of one of the two ships (the bulk of the novel is set at sea) his struggling firm owns to try and rediscover his vitality. And it works. 

Needless to say this is gripping adventure at its best all the way through and is a stand-alone novel so can be read without reading any of Wilbur Smith's other material. 

(This book is available to buy here.)

Eagle in the Sky by Wilbur Smith

This book is your typical Wilbur Smith book. It starts with the first flying lesson of a teenage David Morgan and then takes you through his life to his mid/late twenties. It just so happens that David is from a rich family and so can do what he likes. He does this by travelling to Europe from his native Africa to try and find his way in life. If only we all had enough money to do this. There he meets the love of his life and then everything goes sweetly. But being a Wilbur Smith book it doesn't go smoothly at all. This is where the rollercoaster ride begins with ups and downs. I particularly liked a chase section in the latter part of the book that had me on the edge of my seat. The only downer is that the story ends with so much more of David's life to live that you just wish it continued. 

The first part of the book is partly set in Israel with David joining the Israeli Air Force. This made the book very relevant to current events with Israel currently bombing targets outside of its borders. Therefore the topical nature of the book (at time of writing this review in 2006) makes it an excellent book to read. 

There are only a few criticisms I've had of Wilbur Smith books in the past like too much technical detail or rushed endings but they are not evident here. 

(This book is available to buy here.)