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A review by topdragon
Diamonds Are Forever by Ian Fleming
4.0
The fourth novel in the original James Bond series by Ian Fleming was first published in 1956. This time around, Bond is charged with stopping a diamond smuggling ring whose pipeline runs from Sierra Leone to Las Vegas. Reportedly, much of the background research that Fleming did for this book was used in his non-fiction book, [b:The Diamond Smugglers|372361|The Diamond Smugglers|Ian Fleming|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1230995260s/372361.jpg|362299], published the next year in 1957.
Most of the action of the novel takes place in Saratoga Springs, NY, the Tiara Hotel in Las Vegas, and aboard the Queen Elizabeth ocean liner. Felix Leiter, former CIA agent badly wounded in a shark attack in book 2, [b:Live and Let Die|3763|Live and Let Die (James Bond, #2)|Ian Fleming|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327953982s/3763.jpg|171188], now works for Pinkerton Detective agency and makes several significant appearances in this novel. I’m glad. I like Felix a lot and worried about his condition after Live and Let Die. I suppose losing a leg and now having a hook for a hand isn’t too bad after hanging around with Bond.
The Bond girl in this novel is Tiffany Case, part of the diamond smuggler group and a definite throwback to women who desperately need men to help them make it through life. More pages are devoted to the Bond/Tiffany romance than I had expected. I suppose this shows some growth and maturity on the part of the Bond character, especially since it really seems to be love and not just another girl.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this Bond entry but it does suffer from lack of a focused bad guy. The smuggling operation is run by a ruthless American gang called the “Spangled Mob”, run by the brothers Jack and Serraffimo Spang. But they are more token bad guy leaders than evil nemeses, and neither one gets much screen time. The more villainous baddies are the two homosexual thugs, Wint and Kidd.
My Bond indulgence will continue. But for now, I am off to watch the movie version of this novel, probably best known as the last Bond movie starring Sean Connery. (Not counting “Never Say Never Again”)
Most of the action of the novel takes place in Saratoga Springs, NY, the Tiara Hotel in Las Vegas, and aboard the Queen Elizabeth ocean liner. Felix Leiter, former CIA agent badly wounded in a shark attack in book 2, [b:Live and Let Die|3763|Live and Let Die (James Bond, #2)|Ian Fleming|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327953982s/3763.jpg|171188], now works for Pinkerton Detective agency and makes several significant appearances in this novel. I’m glad. I like Felix a lot and worried about his condition after Live and Let Die. I suppose losing a leg and now having a hook for a hand isn’t too bad after hanging around with Bond.
The Bond girl in this novel is Tiffany Case, part of the diamond smuggler group and a definite throwback to women who desperately need men to help them make it through life. More pages are devoted to the Bond/Tiffany romance than I had expected. I suppose this shows some growth and maturity on the part of the Bond character, especially since it really seems to be love and not just another girl.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this Bond entry but it does suffer from lack of a focused bad guy. The smuggling operation is run by a ruthless American gang called the “Spangled Mob”, run by the brothers Jack and Serraffimo Spang. But they are more token bad guy leaders than evil nemeses, and neither one gets much screen time. The more villainous baddies are the two homosexual thugs, Wint and Kidd.
My Bond indulgence will continue. But for now, I am off to watch the movie version of this novel, probably best known as the last Bond movie starring Sean Connery. (Not counting “Never Say Never Again”)