One of the things I saw during my last library trip was a few Ian Fleming/James Bond novels! I didn't really have a preference, so of the three they had on the shelf, I picked Diamonds Are Forever. This is the fourth Bond book, published originally in 1956.
I'm not a big Bond fan, but I can't help but recognize the long history of popularity that the James Bond movies have had. I've seen a couple of them a long time ago, Goldeneye and Skyfall, I think, and bits and pieces of a few of the older ones (my dad likes them but also isn't a huge fan).
So I was curious what the books were like! Are they as action-packed as the movies? Are they solid novels or does the cinema help push them into the limelight?
The book is relatively short at just over 200 pages, and was a fairly easy read. It had plenty of good points, but also a few notable flaws.
Let's start by my surprise at the structure. There is practically zero action for the whole first half of the book! The movies always punctuated things with little bits of action here and there, but the first half of Diamonds is pretty heavy on dramatic build-up.
The dramatic build-up is interesting because it's very matter-of-fact. The book is good at promoting fear of incoming danger but there's very little emotional connection or weight to it.
The tone is matter-of-fact, too. Bond is mostly taciturn, and when he isn't, it's weird. We get a decent amount of dialogue which is reasonably snappy, but nothing that I found incredible.
The characters are "colorful," in the most literal sense. Practically every important character is identified by a color. For Tiffany Case, it's her gray eyes. For "Shady" Tree, it's his red hair and the fact that he's a hunchback. We have white-haired assassins and green-faced fat men. However, while these colorful descriptions help me visualize a character more consistently, the rest of what we get is fairly thin. Characters serve a purpose, and don't do much else. Tiffany's attraction to Bond is so poorly justified that it goes beyond Bond being a lady's man, it more or less happens without him even being present.
We don't even get a Q scene, for goodness sake!
The plot is pretty straightforward: Bond needs to stop a diamond smuggling ring. This means a big adventure in America! Fortunately for Bond but unfortunately for our sense of mystery, the culprit is pretty much known from the start. It's just a question of how to gather the needed evidence.
In addition to the relatively simple plot, there are some issues that I picked up on that bothered me quite a bit. A couple of them seem like I might be able to make sense of them if I really dig, but others still stuck in my craw.
The book also fails to use a few things that could have been great plot elements! A lot of wasted potential.
At the same time, I think it's worth noting that Fleming's style in this book has a relatively narrow vocabulary. Big things are "big," fast things are "fast," and so on. Yet at the same time, he manages to spin a fairly engaging story despite the repetition.
For the spoiler stuff, please check the section of the embedded video between 11:25 and 37:52.
All in all, this was a fun, engaging read but not a great book. The boisterous settings are very cinematic. The plot and characters are a little flat, but serviceable. It didn't waste my time.
If you're a Bond fan, you might check this one out. If you're a spy thriller fan who hasn't read Fleming, you might check around to see if Diamonds is seen as a particularly strong or weak entry in the series. I don't know, maybe the other ones are much better? If so, then start at Casino Royale (the first Bond book) or pick one of the fan favorites.
If you're not already at least somewhat friendly to the spy thriller genre, you'll probably want to give this one a pass. I'm not a huge fan of spy thrillers myself, but even I can tell you there are probably better examples of the genre for dipping in your toe.
If you want to grab a copy of the book:
https://a.co/d/08O1aZgm
or
Barnes and Noble link
If you enjoy these reviews, consider checking out one or more of my books!
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