Diamonds Are Forever (James Bond #4) 3Stars

 

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Title: Diamonds Are Forever
Series: James Bond #4
Author: Ian Fleming
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 205
Words: 72K
Publish: 1956

There is a reason why the movies have overshadowed these books. For about 75% of the book, it was just boring, boring, boring.

Bond gets involved with the American Mob and diamond smuggling and one train blows up after Bond gets beaten up. That’s it. I know I’m jaded in terms of thrillers and adventures, but seriously, that’s it. Cold War thrillers are just so slow and move/countermove and then counter/counter/countermove. Blah, blah, blah. It’s not bad story telling or anything, it’s just a style that has, thankfully, passed.

If I was still doing my food comparisons for books, I’d liken this to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on white bread.

★★★☆☆

From Grokipedia

James Bond is assigned by M to infiltrate and dismantle a major diamond smuggling pipeline that is costing Britain millions in lost dollar earnings, running from the mines of Sierra Leone through London and into the United States. [3] The pipeline begins in Sierra Leone, where African miners conceal rough diamonds in their mouths during staged dental visits to a corrupt Afrikaner dentist, who extracts the stones and transports them by motorcycle to a remote thorn bush rendezvous; there, a German helicopter pilot collects the diamonds (worth around £100,000 per shipment) and flies them toward Dakar, from where they are forwarded through cut-outs to London. [3] In London, the stones are handled by the House of Diamonds, a front for Jack Spang (alias Rufus B. Saye), who packages them for couriers to smuggle to the U.S. end operated by his brother Seraffimo Spang. [3]Bond impersonates Peter Franks, a known diamond courier arrested by Special Branch, and meets Tiffany Case, the organization's American go-between, at the Trafalgar Palace Hotel in London. [3] She briefs him on smuggling the diamonds concealed inside six Dunlop 65 golf balls in his golf bag and provides expense money before he departs. [3] Bond flies to New York via BOAC Stratocruiser, clears customs without issue, and checks into the Hotel Astor as instructed. [3] He meets Shady Tree, a hunchbacked intermediary for the Spangled Mob, who pays him part of his fee and directs him to Saratoga Springs to collect the remainder by betting on the fixed horse Shy Smile in the Perpetuities Stakes. [3]In Saratoga Springs, Bond reconnects with Felix Leiter, now a Pinkerton's detective investigating the same mob, and they collaborate to sabotage the fix. [4] Shy Smile, a ringer substituted for the original horse, appears to win but is disqualified after its jockey deliberately fouls another horse, thwarting the payout. [3] Bond is then rerouted to Las Vegas to win his fee at the rigged blackjack tables of the Tiara Hotel and Casino, owned by Seraffimo Spang. [3] Tiffany Case, dealing blackjack, arranges for Bond to win $5,000 legitimately, but he defies orders by continuing to play roulette and winning more, drawing the mob's attention. [3]Bond is captured by the killers Wint and Kidd, taken to the ghost town of Spectreville, and severely beaten by Seraffimo Spang's men after his imposture is discovered. [3] Tiffany Case, disillusioned with the mob, helps Bond escape; they flee on a hand-pumped rail car while setting Spectreville ablaze. [3] Seraffimo pursues them in his antique steam locomotive, the Cannonball, but Bond shoots him through the cab window, causing the train to derail and crash in flames, killing Seraffimo. [3] Bond and Tiffany escape with assistance from cab driver Ernie Cureo, who is wounded during a violent car chase in Las Vegas. [4]They travel to New York and board the Queen Elizabeth for England, but Wint and Kidd follow aboard with orders to assassinate them. [3] Bond confronts the pair in their cabin, kills Wint with a thrown knife and Kidd with his Beretta, then stages the scene as a murder-suicide stemming from a gambling dispute. [3] Bond then flies to Freetown, Sierra Leone, where he ambushes the pipeline's African end. [3] Jack Spang, piloting the helicopter himself after murdering the regular German pilot, arrives at the thorn bush rendezvous, but Bond fires a Bofors anti-aircraft gun, striking the tail rotor and causing the helicopter to crash in flames, killing Spang and destroying the smuggling operation. [3]

Main characters

The main characters in Ian Fleming's Diamonds Are Forever revolve around James Bond and the key figures he encounters in his investigation of the diamond smuggling network.James Bond, the seasoned British Secret Service agent designated 007, adopts an undercover persona as a criminal to infiltrate the smuggling operation. [5] His usual detachment gives way to rare emotional vulnerability in his evolving relationship with Tiffany Case, where he assumes a supportive role and develops genuine concern for her well-being. [5]Tiffany Case is a tough, quick-witted American woman serving as a professional diamond courier for the Spangled Mob. [5] Her backstory includes profound trauma: at sixteen, she was gang-raped by mobsters after her mother's San Francisco bordello failed to pay protection money, prompting her to run away, struggle with alcoholism, and later enter the criminal world under Seraffimo Spang's influence. [5] Tiffany projects a cold, self-reliant demeanor marked by sharp dialogue, defiance, and competence, yet her psychological complexity reveals melancholy, mood swings, and a protective wariness toward men rooted in her past. [5] She forms an eventual alliance with Bond that blossoms into a romantic relationship characterized by cautious intimacy and mutual trust. [5]Felix Leiter, Bond's longstanding American ally, has left the CIA after debilitating injuries in a prior case and now works as an operative for the Pinkerton detective agency. ) He provides crucial assistance to Bond in Saratoga Springs and maintains a loyal partnership. )The Spang brothers, Jack (known as ABC) and Seraffimo, lead the Spangled Mob, the U.S.-based syndicate orchestrating the diamond pipeline. Jack oversees operations strategically, while Seraffimo handles more direct enforcement.Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd are homosexual professional assassins working for the Spang organization, distinguished by their contrasting physical builds—Wint tall and ginger-haired, Kidd shorter and dark-haired—and their methodical, unconventional killing techniques.Supporting figures include Shady Tree, a crooked comedian functioning as a key contact and fence in the smuggling chain; Ernie Cureo, a Las Vegas taxi driver who becomes Bond's reliable local ally; and M, the head of MI6, who assigns Bond the diamond smuggling investigation.