Doctor No (James Bond, #6) in Espionage Aficionados

Oct 23, 2011 Mark rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: james-bond, ian-fleming, spies

I have several copies of this book in my cupboard both HC and PB, which happens if you are fan of the writer Ian Fleming. In essence I had read all of his books before I discovered that there was actually a series of movies with the same character. However I first saw Moonraker which puzzled me to no end as the book and the movie had nothing in common but some of the character names.
With Doctor No however there is no such a problem the movie is indeed almost identical with the movie. Except for I have several copies of this book in my cupboard both HC and PB, which happens if you are fan of the writer Ian Fleming. In essence I had read all of his books before I discovered that there was actually a series of movies with the same character. However I first saw Moonraker which puzzled me to no end as the book and the movie had nothing in common but some of the character names.
With Doctor No however there is no such a problem the movie is indeed almost identical with the movie. Except for the protrayal of Sean Connery whose James Bond is more a cross between Leslie Charteris's Simon Templar & Ian Flemings' James Bond, and Then I mean the literary creations.

Doctor No while being the first story to be filmed was actually the sixth novel in the series.

James Bond is send to Jamaica to investigate the disappearance of a stationhead together with his secretary. In his investigation he uncovers that John Strangways was interested in an island that is the property of some mysterious benefactor/industrialist who does no like uninvited visitors. Dr. No, a Chinese operator of a guano mine on the Caribbean island of Crab Key. Bond travels to the island to investigate further. 007 goes there and charters his old friend Quarrel. It is on Crab Key that Bond first finds Honeychile Rider and then Dr. No himself.
Bond does excape from enprisonment only to discover that he is in an obstacle course within the ventilation system. He even fights a giant squid and survives of course to take down Dr. No and save Honeychile Rider.

While the book might be somewhat dated it is actually a very spectacular written spy-action thriller with plenty of well written observations on the food, the local culture and people (admittingly not always as PC as we would expect these days, but that also gives the mood of the '50's when the book was actually written.
Mr Fleming is still easily in my view one of the better writers of spy fiction and much copied by lesser writers today. His skill as writer can be observed in the recent attempts of Sebastian Faulks, Jeffrey Deaver & William Boyd who all failed to match Flemings skill to excite the reader about his adventures. ...more

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Sep 25, 2021 Edward rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Excellent Bond book that reads a little different than the first 5 books. To me, this book had more erotic aspects than the other books, and the tension between Bond and Honey Ryder was palpable. The ending of this book was also my favorite so far with a nice blend of the poetic, erotic, and sentimental.

An observation I've made so far is that at least 2 out of the first 6 books have had female characters who had a history of sexual assault / rape, and I've been impressed by Fleming's handling of ...more

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