Moonraker finds Bond summoned to M’s office where M proceeds to explain the need for a personal favor. One might think we’ve seen Bond already do the card game bit in Casino Royale, yet Moonraker‘s card war is strangely epic.įifth, you’ll find some classic supporting villains that could be found in classic Hollywood mystery stories, including Krebs, a Wormtongue-toady type who at one time could have been played smartly by Peter Lorre. M invites Bond to an exclusive club called Blades, one of the most perfectly described locations in the Bond universe. Bond’s preoccupation with Drax’s looks, his facial hair and the odd close-cut workers and their own myriad variety of moustaches is simply intriguing.įourth, we get to see Bond commiserate away from the Secret Service offices with M himself. Even James Bond admires Drax and acknowledges it to other characters throughout Moonraker. It’s a Bond you may never thought you would get to see, if all you have seen are the films. We get to see that Bond’s life, outside the novels, is routine.

Here we see Bond at home, Bond buying a car, Bond’s daily life as Agent 007, including reviewing forms as any government analyst might do. The uncomfortable 1950s racial elements of Live and Let Die are thankfully completely absent here. The impressive perfection of Bond in Casino Royale is smoothed out and Ian Fleming, after two other Bond novels, is easing into this super spy’s mystique, his aura, and the nature of this suave and sophisticated man of mystery. Moonraker the novel has very little relationship to the 11th Bond film, starring Roger Moore, where Moore’s Bond is trying to prevent a global conspiracy involving the Space Shuttle. You may find Ian Fleming’s third James Bond novel, Moonraker, to be a surprising, refreshing read for several reasons.įirst, it is new to those who have only watched the movie adaptations.

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