Doctor No (James Bond #6) 3.5Stars

 

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Title: Doctor No
Series: James Bond #6
Author: Ian Fleming
Rating: 3,5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 205
Words: 79K
Publish: 1958

This was the best Bond story that I’ve read so far. Bond goes on an easy assignment to recover from his time during “From Russia with Love” and ends up fighting against a megalomaniac who is paying to grow his little personal empire with bird guano.

Things actually move along at a decent clip here. Bond does things instead of just sitting around on a flipping train considering the future morosely. A couple of British agents are kidnapped and killed. Bond and an old friend kayak to a forbidden island. Dr No’s minions shoot up the beach where the kayak is stored with big ol’ machine guns and then use a modified dune buggy with a flame thrower and guns to track Bond and his most recent female acquaintance and capture them. Bond is put through a torture obstacle course and ends up fighting a giant squid, and pokes its eye out with a homemade spear (atta boy Bond!) and then he buries Dr No in tons of dried guano. That’s almost more action that what was in the previous 5 books combined! Also, beyond a light seasoning of Communists helping Doctor No with his missile control program, there is no cold war antics. Thank goodness for that!

My only issue is that Dr No’s master plan about either holding American cities hostage by controlling American missiles or just outright destroying them, didn’t seem to actually take into account Russia. If Dr No had done that, he still wouldn’t be able to take over a large chunk of real estate and become an absolute Dictator. The Russkies would have moved in and swept him aside. For someone so smart, it seemed like a glaring oversight. But that’s a pretty small quibble considering he died by asphyxiating in bird poop, hahahahaa.

I like the cover that Devilreads had for this ebook version (as seen in the featured image) but I couldn’t find a high quality version of it, so I looked around and found the first edition for the hardcover. It’s a good quality cover that hadn’t bought into the movie franchise just yet, so it is distinctly its own thing. I approve of books staying their own thing and not whoring themselves out to the movie versions.

★★★✬☆

From Wikipedia

After recovering from serious poisoning inflicted by the SMERSH agent Rosa Klebb (in From Russia, with Love) the Secret Service agent James Bond is sent by his superior, M, on an undemanding mission to the British colony of Jamaica. He is instructed to investigate the disappearance of Commander John Strangways, the head of MI6's Station J in Kingston, and his secretary. Bond is briefed that Strangways had been investigating the activities of Doctor Julius No, a reclusive Chinese-German who lives on the fictional island of Crab Key and runs a guano mine. The island has a colony of roseate spoonbills at one end while local rumour is that a vicious dragon also lives there. The spoonbills are protected by the American National Audubon Society, two of whose representatives died when their plane crashed on No's airstrip.

On his arrival in Jamaica, Bond soon realises that he is being watched. His hotel room is searched, a basket of poisoned fruit is delivered to the room—supposedly a gift from the colonial governor—and a deadly centipede is placed in his bed while he is sleeping. With the help of an old friend, Quarrel, Bond surreptitiously visits Crab Key to establish whether there is a connection between No and the disappearance of the MI6 personnel. Bond and Quarrel meet Honeychile Rider, who is there to collect valuable shells. Bond and Rider are captured by No's men after Quarrel is burned to death by the doctor's "dragon"—a flamethrowing, armoured swamp buggy designed to keep away trespassers. Bond and Rider are taken to a luxurious facility carved into the mountain.

No tells Bond that he is working with the Russians and has built an elaborate underground facility from which he can sabotage US test missiles launched from Cape Canaveral. He had previously been a member of a Chinese tong, but after he stole a large sum of money from their treasury, he was captured by the organisation. The tong's leaders had No's hands cut off as a warning to others, and then shot him. Because No's heart was on the right side of his body, the bullet missed it and he survived.

Interested in the ability of the human body to withstand and survive pain, No forces Bond to navigate his way through an obstacle course constructed in the facility's ventilation system. Bond is kept under observation as he suffers electric shocks, burns and an encounter with large, venomous spiders. Bond's ordeal ends in a fight with a captive giant squid, which he defeats by using improvised weapons. After his escape he encounters Rider, who had been pegged out to be eaten by crabs; they had ignored her and she managed to escape.

Bond kills No by taking over the guano-loading machine at the docks and diverting the flow of guano to bury him alive. Bond and Rider then escape from No's complex in the "dragon" buggy, sail back to Jamaica and notify the colonial authorities.