007 is sent to the USA to disrupt a diamond smuggling operation originating in Sierra Leone but ultimately funding Soviet Russia, in particular SMERSH (a spy killing arm of the USSR). He’s definitely working in unsanctioned territory but he meets up with his old friend Felix Leiter (ex-CIA now Pinkerton agent) and they take off for the race track at Saratoga and the casinos of Las Vegas. Fleming evokes the jet set life and the atmosphere of mid-century America with a painterly deftness. Damian Lewis narrates the alliterative and sometimes onomatopoeic prose with ease and even poetic fluidity. ( )

Probably the best of the Bond books so far, still not exactly what I expected when I started reading this series. ( )

Mr. Wint & Mr. Kid make an appearance as does Tiffany Case whom Bond want's to marry. ( )

After reading Moonraker I was hoping this one didn't drag like the last books. This one was better then I thought. Not as good as Live and Let Die, but this one was interesting to me. The biggest reason I liked this was because I've actually been to Saratoga before. Never realized Bond had been up to Eastern United States before. The other thing I liked was the horse racing and auction scenes. Not a fan of either activity, jut nice to see something other then card playing.

In this book I liked the Bond Girl better then Moonraker. Tiffany Case to me had an easier name to remember and also a more clever one. She also had a better backup story as well. The Bond Villain in this one was a little confusing. He had several allies which made it good for a spy novel, but just ended up getting confused.

If you are a fan of the movies I highly recommend these novels. But try to read them in order and not in the movie order. Also be aware the movies aren't really like the novels. The are some similarities, but several differences. ( )

007 gets inserted into the diamond smuggling pipeline in this one. The pipeline coming from mines in Africa, into England (where Bond slips in) and then to the United States. Add Felix Leiter, and then shake things up, not stir! It's not the most exciting story, and the first hundred pages or so have very little action. But it revs up at the end and wraps up pretty satisfactorily! I'm curious to find out if Ms. Case is mentioned in the next book!

“We’re both traveling bad roads and all bad roads lead to bad towns.” Which in this story means Las Vegas - ol’ Sin City itself! ( )