The Man with the Golden Gun
Ian Fleming

The Man with the Golden Gun is a page-turner and anyone with ample time can finish it in one sitting. The first 20 pages make an excellent appetizer as Fleming infuses a tense situation with an intelligent and logical background of British security. Bond's "unsuccessful" return from a mission displays the uncertainty of the spy game and is a reminder of how lucky Bond has been throughout his career.

Bond's mission begins immediately after a brief analysis of his prey: the infamous Scaramanga aka the Man with the Golden Gun. The adventure starts promisingly enough with entertaining encounters with a newspaper (the Gleaner) and the locals. Bond meets up with his enemy and then with his allies and though readers are continuously curious as to how Bond will go about with his assassination of Scaramanga, it seems like Bond does not have a plan in mind at all. The novel suddenly loses momentum as none of the events are significant or memorable. Fleming's report and description of how the international underworld works together with the KGB is not too interesting. Fleming's observations of the economy of Jamaica, the story's setting, also detracts from the story. The all too brief scene in the night party was a good and exotic turn but does not carry emotional content of The Spy Who Loved Me or the sense of urgency of "From Russia with Love."

 

Fleming's quiet analysis reflects Bond's thought process -- which appears to be less interesting then Vivienne Michel's. Moreover, James Bond is protrayed almost throughout the book as uncertain and vulnerable. His refusal to kill Scaramanga at certain points of the story puts him in an uncharacteristically unprofessional and inexperienced light (his "licence to kill" and 007 status is suddenly put into a questionable light). Fleming is quick to stress that Bond is not a coldblooded murderer and an occasionally careless one. Fleming never lets the reader forget this even after Bond's "defection" at the beginning of the book. This removes so much from the established character of Bond, that not much is left.

When Bond almost falls at the hands of Scaramanga in forest, longtime readers will be reminded of his similar defeat in "From Russia, with Love" (which had a superior gunfight scene). The climax is lost and Bond fans are left to wonder what The Man with the Golden Gun was really about.

Rating:

  
 
August Issue