For Your Eyes Only, and Other Stories

The thing about Bond novels, once you get past the shallow racism, some of the stories are pretty good. This is a mixed bag of fast and light action. In one story, Bond does nothing but enjoy after dinner conversation. In others, he flies the British flag for Queen and country in bracing action set pieces. If anything, these stories seem to deepen the character of our hard bitten civil servant with a penchant for water sports. It does become tiresome as every girl finds a soft spot for the dear Mr. Bond, and anyone not educated at an English public school is rated based on their hot blood, Viennese nose, or animalistic nature. It is not as bad here as in the novels, and Fleming has a nose for interesting plots.

This book contains five James Bond short stories. All of them are quite good. Fleming had a real knack with short stories.

In “A View To A Kill” Bond tracks down the killers of a classified document courier. He comes up against a brutal and clever set of foes. In “For Your Eyes Only” he is on the trail of a brutal Cuban general who is not above using violence to achieve his end. Unfortunately for this general and his friends, Bond’s 00 means that he is licensed to kill. After the general kills an Englishman who is a friend of M’s Bond intends to do just that. That is if he can deal with the young woman who seems to be getting in his way.

“Quantum of Solace” is a strange Bond tale. No real spy stuff here. He listens as the Governor of Jamaica tells a story about an old friend. At the end of the story Bond realizes that sometimes the people with the most interesting stories are right in front of him and that he needs to not write certain people of as uninteresting so quickly. The plot of “Risico” will be familiar to those who remember the film version of “For Your Eyes Only.” It is the story of a smuggler who is dangerous and needs to be eliminated. The only problem is that Bond has to figure out which of the smugglers he is dealing with is the man behind the drug trade. Finally “The Hildebrand Rarity” is a sea adventure complete with the rich, sadistic American millionaire, his beautiful wife, the search for a rare fish, and murder.

All of the stories are well written and quite entertaining.

I am currently reading all the Ian Flemming James Bond novels in the order that he wrote them (really recommend reading them in order.) From the first one I read, “Casino Royale” to “for Your Eyes Only” they keep the reader glued to the page. It’s like meeting the real James Bond, his enemies and various other memorable characters for the first time. I would definitely recommend reading these books. GREAT READS. This book, “For Your Eyes Only”, is a collection of five short stories – BRILLIANT! I’m am just sorry I didn’t discover them sooner and I will be disappointed when I’ve read the last one with none left to read.

Several adventures, with some stories taking place in the forests of Canada, the seas around the Seychelles, and the cafes of France, which show readers Bond can be more than an agent on assignment, although there is that, too. Everybody likes people-watching, including Bond! – especially in observing rich psychopathic men, often indistinguishable from criminals – and having a license to kill is useful at unexpected times!

These are the ultimate action books and are very great reads. I tend to read fast and can get through one of these in about 2-3 days time. Very action packed. If you like the movies do yourself a favor and read the books. The books get into more detail and are a little different story wise than the movies. The story line NEVER gets boring and will keep you right on the edge of your “seat” at times. I currently only have 4 out of the 13 left to read. I can see myself reading these over and over again. CLASSICS never DIE!! And neither does BOND.

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