Here is my ranking of the Bond novels that we have covered on the James Bond Cocktail hour podcast. While reviewing the movies is fun, it has been the books which I think have made for the most interesting discussions. If you have not already, you can check out our reviews at the link at the bottom of this review.
Moonraker (Ian Fleming, 1955): Fleming at his best. A clean, simple plot with well-drawn characters. A fun mystery element, some OTT touches and a great Bond girl make this the best literary Bond
Colonel Sun (Kingsley Amis, 1968): An enjoyable continuation and deepening of the Bond formula, with a well-realised antagonist and a great cast of characters. If I have a criticism it is that the villain’s scheme is not weird enough
Octopussy & The Living Daylights (Fleming, 1966): The titular stories are great - TLD is a great thriller and character piece, while Octopussy uses Bond as a jumping off point for a darker tale about human nature. ‘Property of a Lady’ is bogged down by too much description, but the set-piece is cool
Casino Royale (Fleming, 1953): Simple plot, small scale. It is a great intro but I like Bond stories where I can invest in the relationships. I think the movie version deepens and re-contextualises a lot of the problems I have.
Carte Blanche (Jeffrey Deaver, 2011): The storytelling does feel contrived, but the characters are all great and kudos for coming up with a Bond villain who feels OTT without using race or disability to make him Other. The issue is that Deaver writes himself into situations and then has to contrive his way out. It is a law of diminishing returns, but I enjoyed the ride.
From Russia With Love (Fleming, 1957): Same plot idea as Thunderball - we know more than the characters, but they use it for suspense. Suffers from racism and sexism that makes Kerim Bey in particular very unsympathetic.
Thunderball (Fleming, 1961): The plot is fine, the Bond girl is good but I always hit a wall midway through this book. Is it because we know what has happened, and we are just waiting for Bond to put it together?
Win, Lose or Die (John Gardner, 1989): It is Die Hard on an aircraft carrier. It is a mess but with some rearranging, it could be great. This one is fun garbage.
Nobody Lives For Ever (Gardner, 1986): Great premise, great locations, and I always like a guillotine. But squandered.
Zero Minus Ten (Raymond Benson, 1997): Nothing wrong with it, but it is just dull and lacks any kind tension or atmosphere. It is just not fun.
Devil May Care (Sebastian Faulks, 2008): To hear my and Hugh's thoughts on this book, you will have to wait for a future episode of the podcast...
No Deals, Mr Bond (Gardner, 1987): This one is just a series of plot contrivances that go nowhere. The manhunt at the end is a fun idea, but Bond using gadgets to get out of trouble ruins it.
Solo (William Boyd, 2013): This book boils down to a great idea. What if a James Bond villain is being protected by MI6/The Americans. And it does not follow through on that - James Bond does not go solo. You give me a book called Solo, then have Bond go solo. My other big problem is its failure of nerve - this book wants to talk about Africa’s relationship with its colonial past, and how those forces are still dominant, but it also fetishizes its one African character as a sex object and reduces her to a sacrificial lamb. She has no personality and is completely beholden to the movements of the plot. That smacks of a hypocrisy that I cannot compartmentalise from how I feel about the rest of the book.
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