For Your Eyes Only
1960 • 182 pages
Ratings9
Average rating2.9
15
Ratings9
Average rating2.9
"Bond watched her as she reached the edge of the tables and came up the aisle. It was hopeless. She was coming to meet someone—her lover. She was the sort of woman who always belongs to somebody else. What damnable luck!
Before Bond could pull himself together, the girl had come up to his table and sat down. ‘I’m sorry I’m late. We’ve got to get moving at once. You’re wanted at the office.’ She added under her breath: ‘Crash dive.’"
Sudden emergencies and beautiful girls who aren’t quite what they seem and are the stock-in-trade of James Bond. And when 007 is on the case there’s only one thing you can be sure of—the result will be thrilling. And whether he’s dealing with the assassination of a Cuban thug in America, the destruction of an international heroin ring, or sudden death in the Seychelles, Bond gets the job done. In his own suave and unmistakable style…
Series
14 primary booksJames Bond (Original Series) is a 14-book series with 14 primary works first released in 1953 with contributions by Ian Fleming.
Series
49 primary books66 released booksJames Bond - Extended Series is a 67-book series with 50 primary works first released in 1953 with contributions by Ian Fleming, Charlie Higson, and 14 others.
Series
2 released booksJames Bond is a 2-book series first released in 1960 with contributions by Ian Fleming.
Reviews with the most likes.
Fleming's first collection of Bond short stories is a bit of a mixed bag, but enjoyable non-the-less. The Bond on show here is maybe a bit more human, maybe showing signs of frustration.
Three of the stories (From a View to a Kill, For Your Eyes Only and Risico) are fairly straightforward Bond adventures, featuring big baddies, revenge, assassination and explosive action. They are quick easy reads, nothing out of the ordinary.
The other two stories are slightly different. In Quantum of Solace Bond is merely the listener as the Governor of Nassau relates an after dinner tale of a cuckolded colonial civil servant and his wayward wife. The story was told to Fleming, himself a resident of the West Indies, and he decided to translate it into a Bond story, albeit in the style of W Somerset Maugham. What is interesting is that Bond shows a more human, compassionate side than usual. The story certainly bear no relation to the abysmal film of the same name.
Finally, the longest story here, The Hildebrand Rarity, again shows a softer side to Bond. The odious American millionaire Milton Krest is the villain and Bond's pity for Krest's wife, Liz, and his distaste at the methods used by Krest to capture the rare fish of the title (poison) again give a more rounded quality to the character of the superspy.
So a quick, easy read that leads the reader nicely into the run of novels that mark the high point of Fleming's creation: Thunderball, On Her Majesty's Secret Service and You Only Live Twice.
