LIVE AND LET DIE

Gold, Voodoo, Jazz, Pirates... Live and Let Die is laden with atmosphere. From the curses Bond receives, to the notion that his enemy may in fact be supernatural, you can't fault this book for not throwing the reader into a wider world than that inhabited by Casino Royale. Bond, fresh from being betrayed and scarred is keen to take in the smoky, alien worlds of downtown New York. With Felix Leiter as his guide Bond isn't afraid to get stuck in and stir things up, then he meets the girl...

Solitaire is pretty dull compared with the elegant and subsequently guilt-ridden Vesper. She immediately trusts Bond as her way out, they share a train ride and a car ride, she vanishes again and is suddenly tied to Bond in preparation for keel hauling. Full marks for making Bond sympathetic in wanting to protect this young woman, but she seems to float in and out without having much impact on the plot. Far better is Bond's interference in America, like a soldier routed from the War of Independence looking for revenge he's told to 'live and let live' what is a potential powder keg of crime and race relations, instead, in return for a broken little finger he kills three of Mr Big's men. When the FBI want him out of the country he makes sure to kill the people responsible for Leiter's mauling by a shark and takes out the US end of Mr Big's operation.

As a document of the times Live and Let Die does stand out. Repetition of the words 'negro' and 'nigger' look quite startling to today's reader. The obvious worry that somehow the blacks in America were all in cahoots, inadvertently supporting a Soviet backed revolution is symptomatic of paranoia, on both sides of the Atlantic. However Fleming is careful to make sure that not all his black characters are on the side of wrong... it's just that the one with any real power is.

The ending of the book is a delight as Bond and Solitaire are forced into the water to be dragged over a coral reef, never knowing if Bond's mine will go off. After all, 007 does like to end with a bang...

Just a word about the odd couple of pages where Bond suddenly feels the need to muse on mortaility while flying. That passage concerning the nature of fate, air travel and life itself really does stand out in the book, however it gives Bond a sort of reason for carrying on. You only live once, so have a cigarette and be grateful. Bond doesn't have a death wish, he just wants to live life to its full. Interestingly another terrified plane traveller turns up in Diamonds are Forever, which almost looks like Fleming is trying to convince himself it's safe.