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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN num: 9780142003299
ISBN number: 0142003298
Label: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 128
Printing Date: April 06, 2004
Publishing house: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Release Date: April 06, 2004
Sale Popularity Level: 152895
Studio: Penguin (Non-Classics)
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Product Description:
Whether it is tracking down a wayward major who has taken a deadly secret with him to the Caribbean or identifying a top Russian agent secretly bidding for a Fabergé egg in a Sotheby’s auction room, Bond always closes the case—with extreme prejudice.
This new Penguin edition comprises four stories, including Fleming’s little-known story “007 in New York,” showcasing Bond’s taste for Manhattan’s special pleasures—from martinis at the Plaza and dinner at the Grand Central Oyster Bar to the perfect anonymity of the Central Park Zoo for a secret rendezvous.
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Rated by buyers 
-
Having read the other 13 books in the series, there was nothing, short of death, that was going to stop me from reading every page of this, the final of Ian Fleming's James Bond Adventures. Unfortunately, though, this collection of Bond short-stories, published after Fleming's death, just wasn't very good and if I wasn't determined to read it from cover to cover, I probably would have given up.
The Bond series started off extremely well, and I thoroughly enjoyed all of the books up to and including "Goldfinger" (including "Casino Royale", "Doctor No" and "Live and Let Die", among others), but the later Bond books (written after Fleming's health started to fail) have thin plots, little excitement, and feel like little more than extended short stories. This book, "Octopussy", is, in fact, a collection of three or four (depending on the edition that you have - the Coronet edition which I read did not contain "007 in New York") short stories, only one of which is really worth reading ("The Living Daylights"). There are no "Bond girls" and very little action throughout and I found the very first story, "Octopussy", so boring that I actually fell asleep while reading it.
If you are working your way through the Bond books, like I did, then you will read this book regardless of what I say. However, if you are new to the series, start at the start with "Casino Royale" and don't let the later books put you off what is, in general, a wonderful series of books.
Rated by buyers -
Although by copyright date it is the last of Ian Fleming's James Bond books, Octopussy is not actually not the chronologically final Fleming book. That would be Octopussy's immediate predecessor, The Man with the Golden Gun. Instead, Octopussy is a brief posthumous collection of four Bond short stories which are only impressive in their unimpressiveness.
The title story has Bond back in Jamaica, visiting the retired Major Dexter Smythe. Bond suspects Smythe of a crime, and the story has Smythe recounting the crime in question. The title refers to an octopus that Smythe is trying to train.
The Property of a Lady has Bond using the auction of a Faberge Egg to ferret out a Soviet Spy. The Living Daylights has Bond hunting a sniper, and 007 in New York has, well, 007 in New York, not doing much of anything.
The big flaw in this collection is that Bond doesn't really do anything outside of The Living Daylights. There are no grand villains and very little action or suspense, so all the stuff that makes the James Bond stories good is missing. If you've read all the other Bond books, you might as well read this one too to complete the set, but it is sadly a disappointing conclusion to an entertaining series.
Rated by buyers -
Octopussy/The Living Daylights is actually not a Bond "book". Rather it is a series of short stories about 007 or involving 007. A couple of the shorts were very good but I was dissappointed in the title stories. If you're expecting stories similar to the movies of the same name, skip this book entirely. If you're just looking to complete the series, probably still worth reading.
Rated by buyers -
Another Bond book that is a collection of shorter pieces, Octopussy, The Living Daylights and The Property of a Lady. The very first story is about a villain, the second Bond is sent as a sniper to kill a female assassin, and in the third he investigates a double agent involved with selling a Carl Faberge egg.
Octopussy and the Living Daylights : 01 Octopussy - Ian Fleming
Octopussy and the Living Daylights : 02 The Living Daylights - Ian Fleming
Octopussy and the Living Daylights : 03 The Property of a Lady - Ian Fleming
Octopussy and the Living Daylights : 04 007 in New York - Ian Fleming
Motorbike murder trail.
3.5 out of 5
Cello chick too cute to shoot.
4 out of 5
Cooking up egg auction will get you fried.
3.5 out of 5
Bond's Big Apple boyfriend blaming.
3 out of 5
Rated by buyers -
I've just finished rereading all of the James Bond novels in order twenty years after reading them for the very first time.
My favorites remain CASINO ROYALE, FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE and ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE (and LIVE AND LET DIE coming real close to my top tier). Since the release last year of Daniel Craig's debut as Bond, those three are also my favorite films as well.
While rereading the books, I also read Andrew Lycett's insightfuly bio of Fleming and could see how each book was a reflection of Fleming's own life at the time. Fleming could write fluid action scenes in exotic locations...but he quickly became jaded and bored with his superspy creation. As his own health seriously deteriorated after a massive heart attack, the books got darker and more preoccupied with death. YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, the last book he sent off to be published before his death, was part Japanese travelogue and part death lit about a culture mired in hara-kari and kamikaze. The Fleming touch comes to life in that novel when Bond hears about a Garden of Death encircling a castle, a collection of every deadly plant, animal and fish that becomes a suicide attraction for the throngs of Japanese looking to kill themselves.
The last novel, the "rough draft" of THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN, is tired and spent.
But the final book in the series, OCTOPUSSY AND THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS, is back to form, as good as the stories in FOR YOUR EYES ONLY (perhaps better). I can't remember when Fleming wrote these stories but they're certainly better than the previous book and well worth reading.
In "Octopussy", Bond visits an rich old man in Jamaica to confront him over a post-WWII crime that touched Bond personally. What struck me about the story was that it appeared Fleming was describing himself as the older man (the boredom, the health issues) and that the crime that's come to light all these years later took place in a location Fleming dearly loved as a young man.
Elements from "The Property of a Lady" would end up in the 1983 film of OCTOPUSSY, but the story is clever in how spy games work--at least in the world of 007 (KGB mole is paid off by using a London auction).
"The Living Daylights" has Bond in West Berlin, looking to take out an East Berlin sniper before he (or she) can kill an agent making a break for the West. The idea would show up at the beginning of 1987's THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS. The bleak setting alone reminded me of John Le Carre's THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD.
This Penguin edition also includes the very brief "007 in New York" which is of interest in how Fleming and 007 each saw NYC and how Bond likes his scrambled eggs. No huge revelations there.
As I finish these novels though I wished Fleming had dug a little deeper into his creation. Bond more or less remains the same "blunt instrument" he started out as. Missions come and go, so do women. He may visit the grave of Vesper Lynd and grieve somewhere off the page for the murder of Tracy, but Fleming shrugs them all off--along with any soul-searching--as another mission pops up. Bond's jovial flirting with the Japanese geisha girls in YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE a chapter or two after M is discussing his state of mind after the murder of his wife was a little jarring.
Bond was a safe character for Fleming as long as he remained a blunt instrument. The image had already taken over the character before Fleming could give him anymore than everyone expected or wanted.
We got our hero.
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