Octopussy & The Living Daylights

A slender collation of Bond short stories published in 1966, two years after Fleming had died. It comprises Octopussy, The Property of a Lady, The Living Daylights and 007 In New York. Viewers of the Bond movies will recognise two of the titles and a lot of the plot elements. The character of Hannes Oberhauser, an Austrian climbing and skiing instructor who acted like a father to Bond, is also introduced. Oberhauser features in the movie Spectre.

The stories themselves are enjoyable and are some of the better Bond tales. The plots are straightforward and the limited word count provides constraints around what Bond can get involved with. They are more like character studies. For example, Octopussy is a morality tale, with greed bringing repercussions years later to the main protagonist, Dexter Smythe (who seems to be modelled on Fleming himself).

In The Living Daylights Bond's thoughts on killing are examined once again, showing that although 007 did not like doing it, he considered that he must as part of his duty to complete an assignment. Once the mission is completed, with Bond deliberately not killing the assassin, there is an attitude of complacency and disobedience with Bond shrugging off his colleague's complaints about the incident.

So, a worthy final addition to the original Bond series. A quick, easy and recommended read.