Moonraker

… it was impossible for Bond to recognize the chill woman of the night before in the girl who now walked before him and laughed happily at his ignorance of the names of the wildflowers, the samphire, Viper’s bugloss, and fumitory around their feet.
Triumphantly, she found a bee orchis and picked it.
“You wouldn’t do that if you knew that flowers scream when they are picked,” said Bond. “Didn’t you know?” He smiled at her reaction. “There’s an Indian called Professor Bhose, who’s written a treatise on the nervous system of flowers. He measured their reaction to pain. He even recorded the scream of a rose being picked. It must be one of the most heartrending sounds in the world. I heard something like it as you picked that flower.”
“I don’t believe it,” she said, looking suspiciously at the torn root. “Anyway,” she said maliciously, “I wouldn’t have thought you were a person to get sentimental. Don’t people in your section of the Service make a business of killing? And not just flowers either. People.”
“Flower’s can’t shoot back.”
She looked at the orchis. “Now you’ve made me feel like a murderer. It’s very unkind of you. But,” she admitted reluctantly, “I shall have to find out about this Indian and if you’re right I shall never pick a flower again as long as I live. What am I going to do with this one? You make me feel it’s bleeding all over my hands.”
“Give it to me,” said Bond. “According to you, my hands are dripping with blood already. A little more wont hurt.”

- Moonraker, by Ian Fleming


Moonraker, the third in Ian Fleming’s series of James Bond books, was published in 1955. The movie version appeared twenty-two years later, leapfrogging the movie version of For Your Eyes Only in an effort to capitalize on the Star Wars craze of the late-seventies. The book and the movie have only a few things in common: the title, and the names of the hero, Bond, the villain, Hugo Drax, and the eponymous rocket. Well, it’s a missile in the book and a space shuttle in the movie.

Possibly more people have seen the movie than read the novel. While I grew up on Roger Moore’s Bond, and can appreciate the volatile mixture of sly humor and the ever-present threat of violence just beneath the surface, it comes off, in retrospect, as too cartoonish in light of the book. And that is fine, by all means. Moonraker the movie was a huge favorite as a kid. But its so far removed from the novel as to almost be unrelated.

Now, in light of this, is the book worth reading?

Of course.

Recently, the producers of the Bond franchise wanted to return to a leaner, meaner 007. The casting of Daniel Craig and the resulting Casino Royale frequently popped into my thoughts as I read the novel. Bond is a young man, in his mid-thirties, rugged, fit, and intimidating physically if he has to be. He does take a beating over the course of the story, which takes place over five days: buried in an avalanche, thrown from his car in a wreck, scalded by a steam hose, pistol-whipped, viciously beaten while tied up by both the main villain and his henchman. Yet there’s the mental fortitude that’s always in every characterization of Bond. He bravely faces torture via a blow-torch. He valiantly considers sacrificing his life to save millions. And in apparently one of Fleming’s favorite sports, he and Drax out-cheat one another at a very tense hand of Bridge.

M’s a significant part of the plot, and Miss Moneypenny only has a small cameo, though James is supplied with his own matronly secretary to flirt with. There’s no Q and no gadgets, as this Bond relies more on his wits, his physical fighting ability, his own car, a Bentley convertible, and his gun. He’s an expert at picking locks and reading fingerprints. And a big show is made, early on, of his fairly mundane life as a civil servant. Apparently, the adventures we know him best for, occur only once or twice a year. The spaces of down time in between are filled with firing practice, martial arts training, reading reports, and fine dining.

The plot’s simpler than the movie version. M suspects that his fellow clubmember, the highly-esteemed war hero Sir Hugo Drax, who is also currently in the news as the designer of the long-range Moonraker missile, is a cheat. To avoid an all-around embarrassing situation, he enlists Bond off-duty to “send a message” to Drax at a high stakes bridge game that night. 007 does, and gains an enemy for life. The next morning, Bond’s rushed into M’s office. Apparently, overnight, there’s been a double-murder at Drax’s labs, and MI-5’s man is one of the victims. As the Moonraker’s first launching that Friday is at the forefront of national news, Bond is granted the authority to look into the matter on English soil. What nefarious scheme lies up the sleeves of Sir Hugo Drax? And is he who he seems to be? Is the Moonraker what it seems to be? And will Bond survive to save the world?

Moonraker, to my surprise, was a page-turner. It was just the right length. If it was written nowadays it would be at least five hundred technical pages, but Fleming puts in just the right amount and gives you all you need to know. I enjoyed the pace, the characterizations, the details. Without spoilers, I take a few points off for some minor issues at the dénouement. Otherwise, a surprisingly good intro, for me, to the Bond books. A-minus.