Long-time viewers of the Bond films will know that Casino Royale, while retaining some familiar features like Felix Leiter and the classic car chase, marked a paring back of the classic Bond tropes – no Moneypenny, silly gadgetry or Q, and a harder edge to the man and the story.
The Daniel Craig reboot of Bond sticks pretty closely to the shape of the book and I could picture most of the key scenes effortlessly as a consequence. While I have seen both film versions of Casino Royale, my previous experience with a Bond book told me not to expect book and film plots to marry up too closely. And what better place to start than with Casino Royale (1953), the novel in which 007 made his debut? This being the case, I thought it might be a bit of a lark to have a go at experiencing Bond in my own preferred format. It might surprise you, then, to know that I have only read one of Ian Fleming’s Bond books previously, despite my father having a complete collection of both hardbacks and paperbacks. To my knowledge, I have seen every James Bond film ever made in the English language.
The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning.
