I was actually rather surprised by how much I enjoyed this as I was expecting a very action driven story that didn't have much in the way of character depth or development, but I can safely admit I was wrong on that one. Fleming does have a good amount of action in his work (as proven by the movie versions) but he does put in more in the way of character information, depth and development than the films reflect and this makes for a very good read. The story follows Bond as he tries to uncover the depths of a diamond smuggling ring traveling from the mines of Sierra Leone to the skyscrapers of New York and bright lights of Vegas. This is a classic spy story (of course) that keeps you engrossed from start to finish with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing but not too many that you get confused. Overall a rather good read and I'm now looking forward to reading the rest of Fleming's novels.