Skip to content
Menu
STEVE ALDOUS, Writer
  • Blog
  • Welcome
  • About Me
  • My Writing
    • Novels
      • Poisoned Veins
    • Short Stories
    • Factual
      • The World of Shaft: A Complete Guide to the Novels, Comic Strip, Films and Television Series
      • Sticking It To the Man: Revolution and Counterculture in Pulp and Popular Fiction, 1956 to 1980 (edited by Andrew Nette and Iain McIntyre)
      • The Songs of Genesis: The Complete Guide to the Studio Recordings
  • Guide to The World of Shaft
    • Shaft News
    • The World of Shaft: A Complete Guide to the Novels, Comic Strip, Films and Television Series
    • Ernest Tidyman: The White Man Behind the Black Hero
    • Shaft In Print
      • Shaft (1970)
      • Shaft Among the Jews (1972)
      • Shaft’s Big Score! (1972)
      • Shaft Has a Ball (1973)
      • Goodbye, Mr. Shaft (1973)
      • Shaft’s Carnival of Killers (1974)
      • The Last Shaft (1975)
      • Shaft: A Complicated Man (2014/15)
      • Shaft’s Revenge (2016)
      • Shaft: Imitation of Life (2016)
    • Shaft On Screen
      • Shaft (1971)
      • Shaft’s Big Score! (1972)
      • Shaft in Africa (1973)
      • Shaft (TV series 1973-4)
        • The Executioners
        • The Killing
        • Hit-Run
        • The Kidnapping
        • Cop Killer
        • The Capricorn Murders
        • The Murder Machine
      • Shaft (2000)
      • Shaft (2019)
  • Contact
  • Links
STEVE ALDOUS, Writer
December 28, 2019

Book Review – CASINO ROYALE (1953) by Ian Fleming

CASINO ROYALE (1953) ****
by Ian Fleming
This paperback edition published by Vintage, 2018, 256pp (229pp)
First published by Jonathan Cape in 1953
© Ian Fleming Publications Ltd., 1953
Introduction by Anthony Horowitz
ISBN: 978-0-099-57597-9
Casino Royale      Blurb: Le Chiffre is a businessman with expensive tastes – and SMERSH’s chief operative in France. As his dissolute lifestyle threatens to ruin him, his only hope of survival is to risk his paymasters’ money at the baccarat table. Across from him sits James Bond, the finest gambler in the British secret service. Bond’s mission: to outplay Le Chiffre and shatter his Soviet cell. midst the opulence of the Royale-les-Eaux casino, the two men face each other in a game with the highest stakes of all.
      Comment: The book that started a phenomenon. Ian Flemings’ Casino Royale introduces us to Britsh spy James Bond – 007. The story is a relatively low key beginning for Bond, bearing in mind what was to follow, but that is part of the books’ charm. By pitting Bond against an enemy agent in a card game we get to delve into Bond’s character and philosophy. His attitudes, particularly to women, may seem anachronistic today but were indicative of the time the book was written. Published only a few years after the end of World War II it demonstrated how many men found it difficult to share their emotions – their sensitivities hardened by their experience by their wartime experience. The plot is fanciful in its set-up of the card game being a vehicle by which Le Chiffre urgently seeks to recover lost funds in order to redeem his benefactors. Once we have accepted the notion then we are treated to a tense battle of wills. The second half of the book deals with the aftermath of the game and includes a torture scene that has become infamous over the years and is certainly extremely sadistic – even by today’s standards. Bond’s falling for his fellow agent, Vesper Lynd, plays out alongside this and leads to a shocking finale which goes a long way to explaining Bond’s approach with women in the books that followed. Fleming’s writing is also at its tightest here and he describes the card game with a depth of knowledge. The short chapters keep the reader turning the pages by either ending on a key plot progression or mid-scene. This debut work is Fleming at his most efficient and Casino Royale remains one of the best of the series.

The James Bond novels of Ian Fleming:
Casino Royale (1953) ****
Live and Let Die (1954) ***½
Moonraker (1955) ****½
Diamonds Are Forever (1956) ***
From Russia with Love (1957) ****
Doctor No (1958) ****
Goldfinger (1959) ***½
For Your Eyes Only (1960) (short stories) ***
Thunderball (1961) ****
The Spy Who Loved Me (1962) **
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1963) *****
You Only Live Twice (1964) ****
The Man with the Golden Gun (1965) ***
Octopussy and the Living Daylights (1966) (short stories) ***

Recent Posts

  • UK Monthly Film Review November 2023 (Vol 1 No. 11) issue now available
  • TV Review – DOCTOR WHO: THE STAR BEAST (2023)
  • The Restoration of The Swiss Conspiracy
  • Book Review – THE CHILL (1963) by Ross Macdonald
  • UK Monthly Film Review October 2023 (Vol 1 No. 10) issue now available

Categories

  • Book News (1)
  • Book Reviews (193)
  • Concert Reviews (2)
  • Doctor Who (56)
  • Editorial Comment (2)
  • Film Reviews (756)
  • Genesis (36)
  • Harry O (6)
  • Movie News (11)
  • Music News (14)
  • Music Reviews (22)
  • News on my writing (6)
  • Obituaries (6)
  • Shaft (133)
  • Site Update (1)
  • TV Articles (1)
  • TV News (1)
  • TV Reviews (159)
  • UK Monthly Film Review (10)
  • Uncategorized (2)

Site Content

  • About Me
  • Contact
  • Guide to The World of Shaft
    • Ernest Tidyman: The White Man Behind the Black Hero
    • Shaft In Print
      • Shaft
      • Shaft Among the Jews
      • Shaft’s Big Score!
      • Shaft Has a Ball
      • Goodbye, Mr. Shaft
      • Shaft’s Carnival of Killers
      • The Last Shaft
      • Shaft: A Complicated Man
      • Shaft’s Revenge
      • Shaft: Imitation of Life
    • Shaft On Screen
      • Shaft (1971)
      • Shaft’s Big Score! (1972)
      • Shaft in Africa (1973)
      • Shaft (TV series 1973-4)
        • The Executioners
        • The Killing
        • Hit-Run
        • The Kidnapping
        • Cop Killer
        • The Capricorn Murders
        • The Murder Machine
      • Shaft (2000)
      • Shaft (2019)
  • Links
  • My Writing
    • Factual
      • The World of Shaft: A Complete Guide to the Novels, Comic Strip, Films and Television Series
      • Sticking It To the Man: Revolution and Counterculture in Pulp and Popular Fiction, 1956 to 1980 (edited by Andrew Nette and Iain McIntyre)
      • The Songs of Genesis: The Complete Guide to the Studio Recordings
    • Novels
      • Poisoned Veins
    • Short Stories
  • UK Monthly Film Review
  • Welcome to my website

Archives

  • November 2023 (4)
  • October 2023 (14)
  • September 2023 (9)
  • August 2023 (11)
  • July 2023 (5)
  • June 2023 (5)
  • May 2023 (5)
  • April 2023 (9)
  • March 2023 (7)
  • February 2023 (18)
  • January 2023 (15)
  • December 2022 (10)
  • November 2022 (9)
  • October 2022 (12)
  • September 2022 (9)
  • August 2022 (10)
  • July 2022 (9)
  • June 2022 (15)
  • May 2022 (20)
  • April 2022 (18)
  • March 2022 (13)
  • February 2022 (9)
  • January 2022 (11)
  • December 2021 (13)
  • November 2021 (9)
  • October 2021 (4)
  • September 2021 (11)
  • August 2021 (10)
  • July 2021 (6)
  • June 2021 (13)
  • May 2021 (11)
  • April 2021 (10)
  • March 2021 (3)
  • February 2021 (4)
  • January 2021 (10)
  • December 2020 (13)
  • November 2020 (8)
  • October 2020 (10)
  • September 2020 (22)
  • August 2020 (20)
  • July 2020 (6)
  • June 2020 (9)
  • May 2020 (10)
  • April 2020 (18)
  • March 2020 (18)
  • February 2020 (17)
  • January 2020 (10)
  • December 2019 (14)
  • November 2019 (10)
  • October 2019 (6)
  • September 2019 (15)
  • August 2019 (8)
  • July 2019 (9)
  • June 2019 (20)
  • May 2019 (17)
  • April 2019 (11)
  • March 2019 (8)
  • February 2019 (16)
  • January 2019 (11)
  • December 2018 (9)
  • November 2018 (19)
  • October 2018 (18)
  • September 2018 (20)
  • August 2018 (20)
  • July 2018 (3)
  • June 2018 (3)
  • May 2018 (10)
  • April 2018 (11)
  • March 2018 (10)
  • February 2018 (12)
  • January 2018 (14)
  • December 2017 (12)
  • November 2017 (15)
  • October 2017 (11)
  • September 2017 (14)
  • August 2017 (16)
  • July 2017 (13)
  • June 2017 (12)
  • May 2017 (15)
  • April 2017 (25)
  • March 2017 (9)
  • February 2017 (11)
  • January 2017 (14)
  • December 2016 (11)
  • November 2016 (10)
  • October 2016 (11)
  • September 2016 (12)
  • August 2016 (11)
  • July 2016 (7)
  • June 2016 (12)
  • May 2016 (16)
  • April 2016 (12)
  • March 2016 (16)
  • February 2016 (22)
  • January 2016 (20)
  • December 2015 (12)
  • November 2015 (18)
  • October 2015 (11)
  • September 2015 (9)
  • August 2015 (9)
  • July 2015 (11)
  • June 2015 (9)
  • May 2015 (14)
  • April 2015 (7)
  • March 2015 (8)
  • February 2015 (10)
  • January 2015 (8)
  • December 2014 (9)
  • November 2014 (12)
  • October 2014 (10)
  • September 2014 (8)
  • August 2014 (15)

Tags

87th Precinct Action Adventure Bilquis Evely Bradley Walsh Chris Chibnall Christopher Lee Clint Eastwood Comedy Comic Books Crime David Walker Dietrich Smith Doctor Who Drama Ed McBain Ernest Tidyman Fantasy Film Noir Genesis Horror Ian Fleming James Bond Jodie Whittaker John Wayne Liam Neeson Mandip Gill Mike Rutherford Mystery Peter Capaldi Phil Collins Randolph Scott Richard Roundtree Romance Samuel L Jackson Sci-Fi Shaft Shaft: Imitation of Life Spy Thriller Tony Banks Tosin Cole War Western Woody Allen

The World of Shaft


Available now from:
McFarland & Co
Amazon (US)
Amazon (UK)

STICKING IT TO THE MAN

Available now from:
PM Press
Amazon (US)
Amazon (UK)

THE SONGS OF GENESIS: A COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE STUDIO RECORDINGS

Available now from:
McFarland & Co
Amazon (US)
Amazon (UK)

Archives

  • November 2023 (4)
  • October 2023 (14)
  • September 2023 (9)
  • August 2023 (11)
  • July 2023 (5)
  • June 2023 (5)
  • May 2023 (5)
  • April 2023 (9)
  • March 2023 (7)
  • February 2023 (18)
  • January 2023 (15)
  • December 2022 (10)
  • November 2022 (9)
  • October 2022 (12)
  • September 2022 (9)
  • August 2022 (10)
  • July 2022 (9)
  • June 2022 (15)
  • May 2022 (20)
  • April 2022 (18)
  • March 2022 (13)
  • February 2022 (9)
  • January 2022 (11)
  • December 2021 (13)
  • November 2021 (9)
  • October 2021 (4)
  • September 2021 (11)
  • August 2021 (10)
  • July 2021 (6)
  • June 2021 (13)
  • May 2021 (11)
  • April 2021 (10)
  • March 2021 (3)
  • February 2021 (4)
  • January 2021 (10)
  • December 2020 (13)
  • November 2020 (8)
  • October 2020 (10)
  • September 2020 (22)
  • August 2020 (20)
  • July 2020 (6)
  • June 2020 (9)
  • May 2020 (10)
  • April 2020 (18)
  • March 2020 (18)
  • February 2020 (17)
  • January 2020 (10)
  • December 2019 (14)
  • November 2019 (10)
  • October 2019 (6)
  • September 2019 (15)
  • August 2019 (8)
  • July 2019 (9)
  • June 2019 (20)
  • May 2019 (17)
  • April 2019 (11)
  • March 2019 (8)
  • February 2019 (16)
  • January 2019 (11)
  • December 2018 (9)
  • November 2018 (19)
  • October 2018 (18)
  • September 2018 (20)
  • August 2018 (20)
  • July 2018 (3)
  • June 2018 (3)
  • May 2018 (10)
  • April 2018 (11)
  • March 2018 (10)
  • February 2018 (12)
  • January 2018 (14)
  • December 2017 (12)
  • November 2017 (15)
  • October 2017 (11)
  • September 2017 (14)
  • August 2017 (16)
  • July 2017 (13)
  • June 2017 (12)
  • May 2017 (15)
  • April 2017 (25)
  • March 2017 (9)
  • February 2017 (11)
  • January 2017 (14)
  • December 2016 (11)
  • November 2016 (10)
  • October 2016 (11)
  • September 2016 (12)
  • August 2016 (11)
  • July 2016 (7)
  • June 2016 (12)
  • May 2016 (16)
  • April 2016 (12)
  • March 2016 (16)
  • February 2016 (22)
  • January 2016 (20)
  • December 2015 (12)
  • November 2015 (18)
  • October 2015 (11)
  • September 2015 (9)
  • August 2015 (9)
  • July 2015 (11)
  • June 2015 (9)
  • May 2015 (14)
  • April 2015 (7)
  • March 2015 (8)
  • February 2015 (10)
  • January 2015 (8)
  • December 2014 (9)
  • November 2014 (12)
  • October 2014 (10)
  • September 2014 (8)
  • August 2014 (15)

Categories

  • Book News (1)
  • Book Reviews (193)
  • Concert Reviews (2)
  • Doctor Who (56)
  • Editorial Comment (2)
  • Film Reviews (756)
  • Genesis (36)
  • Harry O (6)
  • Movie News (11)
  • Music News (14)
  • Music Reviews (22)
  • News on my writing (6)
  • Obituaries (6)
  • Shaft (133)
  • Site Update (1)
  • TV Articles (1)
  • TV News (1)
  • TV Reviews (159)
  • UK Monthly Film Review (10)
  • Uncategorized (2)

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org
©2023 STEVE ALDOUS, Writer | Powered by WordPress and Superb Themes!