Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
The man only known as “Le Chiffre” is one of SMERSH’s deadliest agents, and he has long been a target of the British Secret Service. Le Chiffre will most likely be “retired” by his paymasters in Moscow if Bond can empty his money account. However, what if the cards aren’t on your side? Bond quickly finds himself dodging would-be assassins, fending off ruthless torturers, and risking everything to save the life of his stunning female counterpart, Vesper Lynd, after a horrific night at the gaming tables.
Ian Fleming’s first James Bond adventure is taut, tight, and eminently stylish, and it exhibits all the qualities that have made the series a classic for a whole generation of readers.
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It was published in 1953 and is viewed from the perspective of a character who openly admits to being self-centred and hypocritical. When Bond teams up with Vesper, he is self-aware enough to see that she hasn’t done anything to merit his wrath and that it is simply the result of him preferring to work alone. That’s more from Bond’s perspective than I expected, and I’m glad to see that there is some reflection of himself in the character.
Even Bond’s own thoughts following the kidnapping concerning Vesper. I believed it brilliantly captured the icy, obstinate, and independent nature of Bond, who is so focused on the objective at hand that nothing less than a flawless performance will do.
He is a nice man who is capable of doing extremely horrible things, and I believe that everyone may benefit from understanding his character defects. I had a great time reading this book. There are numerous action moments packed into a brief amount of time, but I was able to complete the entire thing in a few hours over the course of a few days.
The only part of the plot that falters is the conclusion, where we read for a long period about Bond and Vesper essentially just hanging out after the action has ended. To make for a more dramatic conclusion, I felt that this might have been condensed into a much shorter experience.
