It’s interesting how clearly constrained by his own formula Fleming feels - this one bring backs the Bond girl (in fact, perhaps the first fully formed Bond girl who exists outside of Bond’s relationship with her, even more so than in the previous books) - but completely forgoes the Cold War to set up a diamond smuggling into America mission, which already feels a bit unBond.

Nevertheless the first half of this is pretty good, but the back half gets bogged down in several types of racism, homophobia and a weird gangster boss that doesn’t really get to where it needs to go