Octopussy and The Living Daylights: (James Bond 007): Amazon.co.uk: Ian Fleming: 9780141003030: Books

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M looked coldly across the desk. It was going to be dirty work and Bond had been chosen for it. "You've got to kill this sniper. And you've got to kill him before he gets Agent 272. Is that understood?" So, it was to be murder.

About the Author

Born in London in 1908, Ian Fleming worked as a banker and journalist before serving in the British Naval Intelligence during World War II. He published his first novel Casino Royale in 1953 and thus started the astoundingly successful James Bond novels and films. Fleming died in 1964. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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6 Reviews

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4.0 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Short but sweet, 24 Feb 2002

By

Andy (aaamack@omantel.net.om) (London, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Octopussy (Coronet Books) (Paperback)

A slim collection of Bond short stories not published until after the author's death. Dealing as they do with greed, betrayal and conscience they are a worthy addition to any Bond aficionado's collection of stories about the man from 'the Ministry of Defence'.

'Octopussy' is the study of a man in decline, as one Major Smythe, wracked by guilt over a wartime episode, gradually loses his will to live. With his secret almost mercifully exposed by a stranger, he makes his exit in the most bizarre manner since Dr No himself.

'The Property of a Lady' is a real curiosity with the final action set inside the main sale room of Sotheby's, of all places. Here Bond, aided by the suitably ice-cool Faberge expert, Mr Snowman, attempts to expose a pay-off to a Soviet spy involving a Faberge 'Object of Vertu'.

'The Living Daylights' is a melancholy tale about a 'hit' that has been assigned to Bond. It is deemed necessary in order to allow an agent, '272', to escape unhindered across from Soviet occupied East Berlin. Bond is cooped up in a small, musty apartment with the rather officious 'Number 2' of West Berlin station and eventually falls foul of him when he hesitates at the last second as the identity of his target becomes clear. The two men make an interesting combination. In Bond we see a man still guided by humanity and in Captain Sender (Number 2) we see a man guided by nothing more than rules.

Three stories then to add to the already impressive litany of Bond adventures, and three stories that reveal more about the characters themselves than about any plot. As short stories they are unable to develop the kind of fast-paced, multi-faceted, globe-trotting battle between good and evil that make up the backbones of so many Bond adventures. However, in limiting themselves into looking into why people do the things they do and the consequences of actions they are no less interesting and thought provoking.

On a different note, I think it would be a good idea if some of the reviewers actually read the book again. The instances of wrong information being contained in some of the 'reviews' is
inexcusable. For instance, in 'The Living Daylights', Bond doesn't cross the east-west strip in Berlin and in 'The Property of a Lady' he doesn't bid for a Faberge egg. There are more examples but word limits dictate. Ian Fleming deserves to have his novels more carefully examined.

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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Good Way to Start Of, 28 Oct 2002

By

JH (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Octopussy: AND "The Living Daylights" (James Bond 007) (Hardcover)

This, Ian Fleming's last 'James Bond' story, first published in 1966.
This book contains not only the cover titles, but two others not published in the first edition, 'the Property of a Lady', and '007 in New York'. '007 in New York' appears here for the first time in book form.
'the Living Daylights' is, in my opinion, a terrifically taught study in cold war espionage. The sheer electricity that runs through the story is indescribable, an interesting combination of the dull, annonymous world of spying crosswired with large ammounts of tension. Fleming wrote this story originally for the debut issue of 'the Sunday Times Colour Supplement', and was published with not much notoriety, but this is undoubtably a crisp example of a Bond story. 'The Property of a Lady' is a curious tale, much to the interest of the antiquarian or collector, which takes place in the London auction rooms of Sotheby's: A quick, hurried story that never looses any of its chances to take a shock to its reader.
'007 in New York' is, essentially, a short summary of New York written for the American edition of Fleming's 1963 travel book 'Thrilling Cities'. The few pages in the story take on a 'Gambit' quality, with descriptions of New York's wonderful nightlife (and daylife).
'Octopussy' is one of Fleming's last stories that he ever wrote, and concerns a hoard of Nazi gold nessled in the grasp of a dying major.
Overall, this is a good book to either start the Bond saga with: it is something of a taster, a tester, an inexpensive blueprint of what to expect from other, more time-consuming novels.

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6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The comic strip that does mister Fleming proud., 15 Jun 2002

By

DARBY KERN (Green Bay, WI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: James Bond: Octopussy (Paperback)

Octopussy, the short story by Ian Fleming is a great little story about James Bond paying a visit to a man who murdered one of his friends 20 years earlier and "taking care" of him. It's short, sweet, not too confusing and filled with Flemings trademark, quality writing. As a comic strip, which would normally focus on action, it should have been a disaster. This adaptation by James Lawrence and Yaroslav Horak is AMAZING.
They succeed by using the short story and embellishing it in ways that take nothing away from the original. They add a backstory that fleshes out the characters in great ways.
In the original story the murdered man was one of Bond's mentors, the man that taught him to ski among other things. In the comic version we meet his family and see that there was so much more to the man, and his relationship to 007. Action sequences are added where needed and true to Fleming's style, there are sexy moments.
As if that weren't enough, this volume also contains the story, THE HILDEBRAND RARITY, originally from the FOR YOUR EYES ONLY collection. Again, Lawrence and Horak take one of Fleming's thinner stories and flesh it out to a proper length and character. Again they succeed admirably.
These strips were published in the London Daily Telegraph between November of 1966 and December of 1967, but they feel as fresh today as they did 35 years ago. The stories and the art is timeless- both a tribute to Ian Fleming's work and that of Lawrence and Horak.

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Published on 3 Jun 2000