Casino Royale

First of all, this is my first foray into backlogging and I hope that my rambling is up to par. That being said I have undertaken a reread of some books that I felt needed revisiting. First on the docket are the original Ian Fleming novels, I just finished Casino Royale.

James Bond is not the man you think he is based on the movies, but in the novel he is so much more. He’s been a soldier, collecting a noticeable facial scar from WWII and this career and honorable discharge has led him into a career in the Secret Service. He lives for drinking and smoking - yes, but only his double band special blend cigarettes. He is a Cold War man’s man in the way that his clothes are tailored and he treats women the same way he treats card games- as sport and diversion.

Casino Royale tracks Bond through the sleepy seaside town of Royale-les-Eaux on his mission to gain intelligence on known SMERSH agent Le Chiffre. What snagged me initially about this was that SMERSH is based off a real Soviet Agency created by Stalin, and its real name translates as something like “Death To Spies”. This is old school East vs. West espionage. In essence the film of the same name did justice, with the card games and the cool handler Vesper Lynd. It never even occurs to Bond that a woman could be as efficient and ruthless as him, and he winds up vulnerable for the first time in his professional career.

As a lead in to a series this book is dynamite. It’s an easy read, the card games are enthralling and the language makes you feel as though you’re privy to cold war ciphers and plots. It is also without a doubt the making of the man named James Bond- we see why he treats the job and women the way he does and how much of it is farce.