The Ian Fleming Files: Operation Armada is fiction based on a slender thread of fact: Ian Fleming the creator of James Bond did work for British Naval Intelligence during World War II and for some time after.

(Between the Official Secrets Act and Flemings' love of telling a good yarn - it's called "making stuff up" - it's not easy to know exactly what he did in his war service. But he was a staff officer not a field agent.)

But in the fiction he is sleeping with beautiful double agents and flying around doing feats of derring do, against impossible odds, with complex and unlikely gadgets, in the time around the fall of France in 1939.

And you know what? my ability to suspend belief, usually pretty good, just goes right out the window.

It doesn't help that Fleming the character is just about as strange and self serving and unlikable as (I have been told) Fleming the Real Guy was. And the Nazi villians come across as one dimensional (and dull) as playing cards.

Mark it down as a "B" or "C" level James Bond homage/parody and leave it at that, I guess. But missing something.

The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between the lightning and the lightning bug.

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Having already read and loved The Ian Fleming Files: Operation Armada, I’d been waiting for The Ian Fleming Files: Operation Parsifal by Damian Stevenson to come out. The author, an expert on Ian Fleming and James Bond also proves he is highly skilled at creating an impossible-to-put-down thriller.

Bond creator, was actually Commander Ian Fleming in Great Britain's Naval Intelligence Department during WW II. He was known as intelligence officer '17F' and much of 007’s adventures were based on Fleming’s exploits. Stevenson has exhaustively researched the subject and it shows in the book’s detail. The pages are so filled with tension and authentic action it feels like you’re watching a movie, which is no surprise since Stevenson is also the screenwriter of the upcoming movie Fleming.

Operation Parsifal is an exciting read as we find ourselves in the 1945 when 17F is placed in the odd position of finding a way to stop an assassination plot against Hitler. In true Bond style, Fleming is paired with a gorgeous. Their adventures, spy-gadgets and exotic locales are once again reminiscent of the best 007 flicks. But this fast-paced, edgy, well written book is so much fun you won’t want to wait for the movie. It’s a must read for Bond lover, or anyone who jus loves action, suspense, mystery and thrillers! ( )