Ian fleming james bond casino royale
Review
“If there’s a better writer of pure thrillers than Fleming, the name escapes me.” ―Boston Globe
“A superb gambling scene, a torture scene which still haunts me, and, of course, a beautiful girl.” ―Raymond Chandler
“Casino Royale introduces a brand-new mystery writer, Briton Ian Fleming, and a hard-shelled British secret-service operative, James Bond, who should be prowling the international underground for some books to come.” ―Time
“The first part of the book is a brilliant novelette in itself, dealing with the unlikely but imaginative plot to ruin a Communist agent by gambling against him for high stakes.” ―The New York Times
“A first-rate thriller…with a breathtaking plot.” ―The Manchester Guardian
“An extremely engaging affair…exciting and extremely civilized.” ―The Times Literary Supplement
“Ian Fleming writes with a kind of pushing, bloodcurdling elegance. His thrillers are models of fastidious murder.” ―The New York Times
“Fleming is intensely observant, acutely literate and can turn a cliché into a silk purse with astute alchemy.” ―The New York Herald Tribune
“Fleming could write about a stroke in golf, a finesse in bridge, or the engine of a Lancia Flaminia Zagato Spyder the way John Updike can write about copulation: endlessly, and amazingly, entertainingly.” ―New York magazine
“Mr. Fleming is in a class by himself.” ―The Daily Mail
“It is hard to overestimate the effect James Bond had on post-war readers and audiences.” ―Christopher Fowler, The Independent on Sunday
“Ian Fleming…combines the more sensational features of American gangster fiction with a high degree of literacy and genuine sophistication; then he presents his whole sleek creation with a cosmopolitan flourish.” ―Tablet
“James Bond is a literary brand name par excellence.” ―Robert McCrum, The Observer
About the Author
Ian Fleming was born in London on May 28, 1908. He was educated at Eton College and later spent a formative period studying languages in Europe. His first job was with Reuters News Agency where a Moscow posting gave him firsthand experience with what would become his literary bête noire―the Soviet Union. During World War II he served as Assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence and played a key role in Allied espionage operations.
After the war he worked as foreign manager of the Sunday Times, a job that allowed him to spend two months each year in Jamaica. Here, in 1952, at his home “Goldeneye,” he wrote a book called Casino Royale―and James Bond was born. The first print run sold out within a month. For the next twelve years Fleming produced a novel a year featuring Special Agent 007, the most famous spy of the century. His travels, interests, and wartime experience lent authority to everything he wrote. Raymond Chandler described him as “the most forceful and driving writer of thrillers in England.” Sales soared when President Kennedy named the fifth title, From Russia With Love, one of his favorite books. The Bond novels have sold more than one hundred million copies worldwide, boosted by the hugely successful film franchise that began in 1962 with the release of Dr. No.
He married Anne Rothermere in 1952. His story about a magical car, written in 1961 for their only son Caspar, went on to become the well-loved novel and film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Fleming died of heart failure on August 12, 1964, at the age of fifty-six.
Learn more about Ian Fleming at www.ianfleming.com.