Moonraker (James Bond, #3) in Espionage Aficionados

Aug 18, 2024 cool breeze rated it liked it · review of another edition

Ian Fleming’s writing skills continue to improve in this third entry in the Bond series. There are good descriptions of gambling (and cheating) at cards. Also, fast cars and chases. Fleming grasps the lasting importance of ballistic missile technology at an early date, 1954, several years before Sputnik. This is the first Bond novel that feels like a Bond movie, perhaps because the first draft was written as a screenplay.

However, Bond and female partner agent Gala are scandalously unsuspicious o ...more

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Feb 13, 2025 Michael Martz rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I'd watched all the Bond films but never really had a hankering to read the books they were based upon. I thought they'd be over-the-top gimmicky, with too much pyrotechnics and not enough real spy stuff. I now realize how wrong I was, as I read Casino as a test, liked it, and now Moonraker has impressed me. I guess that Ian Fleming guy knew what he was doing!

"Moonraker" begins with James Bond being summoned by his boss, M, to discuss an assignment. He is assured it will be a fun one- all he has I'd watched all the Bond films but never really had a hankering to read the books they were based upon. I thought they'd be over-the-top gimmicky, with too much pyrotechnics and not enough real spy stuff. I now realize how wrong I was, as I read Casino as a test, liked it, and now Moonraker has impressed me. I guess that Ian Fleming guy knew what he was doing!

"Moonraker" begins with James Bond being summoned by his boss, M, to discuss an assignment. He is assured it will be a fun one- all he has to do is to play cards at the world's most famous parlor and identify how one of the players, a rich guy named Hugo Drax, is cheating. Bond jumps in, figures out Drax's game in short order, winning a little money and embarrassing Drax in the process.

The backstory on Drax was interesting. He was severely injured in WWII, made some money after recovering, built a fortune, and ended up an English hero due to his Moonraker project. Moonraker was a rocket developed by Drax and his team of 50 engineers capable of carrying an atomic bomb with enough range to reach anywhere in Europe, thereby protecting Britain from Communist aggression. The rocket was in final stages of development, awaiting testing, when a team member murder/suicide takes place and Drax needs to replace his security specialist. He reaches out to M, who loans Bond to the Drax's team. Also working for Drax is a young woman, Gala, who is actually a Special Branch agent clandestinely keeping an eye on him for the service. Bond eventually teams up with her as they discover a few strange occurrences that lead them to believe something's not right with the project. They have a very short window to determine whether England's hero Drax is on the up and up, so they get to work.

Moonraker is a fairly quick read that moves along well, and Fleming's narrative is stellar. The mid-1950's timeframe has aged quite a bit, but the technical aspects hold up surprisingly well. The beginning section is heavy on card playing strategy and so forth (wish I knew more about that...) but once Bond gets embedded in Drax's project the story moves quickly and ends with a bang. Looks like I have many more Bond novels now on my TBR list.... ...more

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