Another good Ian Fleming book with a “mere mortal” James Bond (as opposed to the near-superhero Bond that Hollywood has made the character into), this book is quite different from the movie in its setting and storyline, and the climactic scene is reminiscent of the end of the “For Your Eyes Only” movie, which makes it a bit strange at the end for one like me who has seen the movies and has just gotten around to the books, but it fits so much better with “Mr. Big” – the antagonist – and his wanting to devise ingenious ways for people to die instead of just pedantically shooting them or something.

It was a good book, though, and I wish the movie had been closer to the book version.

Wow, James Bond really is the worst spy ever isn’t he?

In this book (totally different from the film), Bond is on a mission to combat a communist spy ring in Harlem. MI6 believe they are illegally hoarding and distributing a quantity of treasure historically belonging to the pirate Bloody Morgan (and killing anyone who stops them). Bond and Felix Leiter check out their Washington premises and are immediately captured (idiots) by the main villain, Mr Big. Bond escapes in an expertly written sequence deserving lots of praise (the fear and calculation is conveyed beautifully) and is then joined by Solitaire, a beautiful female associate of Mr Big who actually hates him and wants to escape.

(The only reason she and Bond don’t sleep together is because Bond’s left hand is injured by Mr Big’s henchman. There is plenty of symbolism concerning Mr Big’s almost God-like power, especially over the sea, and his far-reaching control could be represented here.)

On the train, Bond and Solitaire slip off just before an attempt is made on their lives by blowing up their carriage (the villains aren’t half thick either), followed by Bond leaving Solitaire alone in the house while he and Felix are out (…) - and of course she is captured by the villains. Felix meanwhile gets caught and his legs are ripped off by the villains’ pet shark, an act later avenged by Bond breaking into the warehouse where the shark is kept and fighting the henchman there.

Bond eventually attempts to swim to their Jamaica island where the treasure is kept and distribution is controlled. The underwater journey is also beautifully written and deserves lots of praise. But, of course, he is captured and tied up (how has this terrible spy survived this long?) and then Mr Big (our equally useless villain) decides to kill them by tying them to the back of his ship and trailing them through the water until the sharks grab them. But Bond has already planted a mine on his ship so the ship blows up with all the villains aboard - hurrah - whilst he and Solitaire are protected by the reef Mr Big was trying to pull them over. (Symbolic again: the villains inadvertently save them.)

He and Solitaire survive to tell the tale! Hurrah.

The book’s phenomenal, if hilarious with how useless the characters could be.
It was also interesting to see which bits of this book influenced the Bond films, most notably Licence to Kill and For Your Eyes Only.

This has a solid narration performance by actor Rory Kinnear (who has played M's Chief of Staff Bill Tanner in the recent Daniel Craig as Bond films) in this 2nd of the 2014 audiobooks edition of the original Ian Fleming novels. A different narrator appears in each volume of the Celebrity Performances edition.

"Live and Let Die" from 1954 was the 2nd of the books and more than "Casino Royale" set the template for all of the books and the movies to come. That includes a larger the life villain (in this case, gangster Mr. Big) various creepy henchmen (such as "The Whisper" and "The Robber" here). the villain's hideaway lair (an island and a boat here) and of course a diabolical villainous scheme (gold coin smuggling to undermine the USA in this case).

The audiobook includes a 4 minute interview with Rory Kinnear.

Mr. Bond is back and his new lady Solitaire is along for the ride. That haitian beauty also belongs to Mr. Big. Someone who should never be double crossed. He has eyes and ears everywhere.
Rare coins go missing and wind up being sold in the states. Bond heads to NY to investigate.
A great tale that had you guessing til' the end. What held me back from five stars was the racism. It was way too much for me. The story could of been written without it. And don't get me started on the "jive" talking.

Published in 1954, the language and ‘isms of the time are fully on display. Not as bad as some of the Mark Twain stuff, but still disconcerting hearing words that are generally not used currently. Things do change, but the plot is the book Bond, not the movie Bond, so it is quite interesting seeing how it plays out!

Five stars with an asterisk. I just couldn't go without mentioning the blatant racism in this one. It would be comical if it wasn't such a serious subject. Then again, the Bond books have racism, sexism, elitism, nationalism..it really runs the gamut. Keeping in mind these were written in the 50s, some of it was just a sign of the times, but still, I had to at least call attention to it rather than ignore it.

That being said, at its heart this was a good adventure novel. Live and Let Die is one of my favorite Bond films, mostly because I have an interest in voodoo. (I even wrote a novel called Outlaw Voodoo shameless plug). It also had some cool settings and characters with great action. The novel of course differs a bit from the book, but I still really enjoyed it.

There's a big scene in the book where  Bond and Solitaire are tied together and pulled behind a boat, basically trailing for sharks . This was later used in one of my other favorite Bond films, For Your Eyes Only.

There's a lot of underwater action in this one with sharks, barracuda, and even an octopus shows up. Just a really cool adventure novel. If you like Bond and you know what to expect, you'll enjoy this one.

A vast improvement on Casino Royale, I found that there was plenty of action this time around, I found it so lag slightly just after the midway point so couldn't score it higher.
I'm full on board with this series now!

Great story, love the thrill of the ride, enjoyable

In Live and Let Die, the second of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels, a change has come over our hero. The cold, callous secret agent of Casino Royale has softened a bit: he’s (at least temporarily) morphed from Daniel Craig’s hardened killer to the great Sir Roger Moore:



007 is off to the colonies in order to investigate a large number of mysterious gold coins that have begun popping up throughout the United States, and how this might be connected to the Queen’s enemies in the Kremlin. His search leads him to Harlem, where a criminal mastermind called Mr. Big has set up an impressive operation. But it’s not all work and no play for Mr. Bond, as he forms two relationships to occupy his free time. The first is with Felix Leiter, a CIA agent and bit player from Casino Royale who forges quite the bromance with our hero as they team up to take down Mr. Big. The second is with a female associate of Mr. Big named Solitaire. Solitaire earned her name because she has opted to swear off men…although that decision was made before she met you-know-who:



Happily for Solitaire, the James Bond of Live and Let Die has learned to play nicer with others since his adventures in book #1. While in Casino Royale Bond seemed to mostly use other people as objects to achieve his top-secret aims, 007 actually seems to like – even love - his allies this time around. This chumminess is one aspect that makes Live and Let Die less dark than the first entry in the James Bond series. The other is the general plot, which is much zanier than the first book. Here we find for the first time some of the elements of the Bond series that have been lampooned so successfully in movies like Austin Powers and TV shows like Archer: diabolical voodoo-practicing villains, nefarious traps (complete with sharks, of course), and wild, impractical plots to kill our hero. The whole story just feels a little bit campier.



That’s not to say that this is an altogether bad thing – but it’s noticeable. Another aspect of the book which bears mentioning, and will be very noticeable to 21st century readers, is a sort of casual racism that our hero and his allies display throughout the novel. It was not enough to hurt my enjoyment of the book, but it’s there, and many readers are likely to find it off-putting. Just be warned.

Anyway, throughout the course of Bond’s journeys through Harlem, the Gulf Coast, and the Caribbean, all of the traits that have made this series so enduringly popular are on display. The book has a brisk pace and is a lean, tight read throughout. Fleming’s prose is straightforward but very strong and a real pleasure to read. And even if some of the hardest edges have been softened, Bond still makes for a hall-of-fame protagonist, drinking, smoking (although he cuts consumption of his beloved Chesterfields down to ten a day while preparing for a particularly tough mission), shooting, and flirting his way across this great nation of ours as he strikes a blow against Communism in the name of Queen and Country.

Overall, this second book was not quite as strong as the excellent Casino Royale, which was a bit more focused, had some better twists, and built up the tension more effectively. But it’s a fun thriller that fans of the genre will likely enjoy. 3.5 stars, recommended!

In the year leading up to the next Bond film, I've begun re-reading and re-re-reading the Bond novels.

Introduced first to 007 in the 90's as a teen with "Goldeneye", I immediately immersed myself in the original Connery films and the novels. Considering the films were not shot in the order of the books, there are certain elements which are woven into films differently, but "Live and Let Die" had the tall order of following "Casino Royale." The novel for "Live and Let Die" very much influenced the film of the same name (with the greatest Bond theme song) (and, subsequently THAT film influenced "Die Another Day" and "SPECTRE") and "Licence to Kill" which followed a similar track of drug smuggling, money laundering villain, Felix Leiter's arc and lots of interaction with underwater inhabitants - namely, sharks.

"Live and Let Die" follows a different pattern than "Royale" - "Royale" was straight to the point of the mission, and followed Bond through his card-playing mission against Le Chiffre and his love affair with Vesper Lynd with allusion to his true desires of resigning from the service and traveling the world. "Live and Let Die" jumps into the mission of investigating and toppling Mr. Big's crime syndicate, finding he is linked to SMERSH (the same crime organization Bond stumbled across in his previous caper and whom he personally blames for the loss of Vesper) and trailing him and his Voodoo inspired syndicate across the United States from Harlem and into Jamaica (where we meet Strangways, who we meet in the "Dr. No" film, albeit briefly).

Character development and motivation of Mr. Big outside of the usual money-making, power-hungry schemes is non-existent. He does plot a pretty brutal ruse for his proposed killing of James Bond and Solitaire (who does not have the tarot cards but does tout some special mind-reading). I felt like I knew Vesper relatively well but we don't learn much of Solitaire outside a page or so about her origins and discovery by Mr. Big.

I'm forced to compare the Bond novels to the other Bond novels I love. "Live and Let Die" certainly introduced several elements that played well on screen (across multiple films!), some intriguing characters like Solitaire, Mr. Big and Quarrel (alas, no J.W. Pepper!), and it absolutely took Bond into new terrain traipsing through New York and subsequently across the country. It just - for me - lacked the intensity and stakes of "Casino Royale."

4 out of 5 stars

There is good and bad in this book. The bad first. Yes there is racism and sexism in this book. The terms used to refer to black people are outdated and offensive. Women come off even worse. Again in this book, the women and fairly stupid, useless and absolutely helpless without men. That bothered me. I realize this book was written a few generations back but that doesn't make it ok. The good: I very quickly was taken in by the story and I HAD to know what happened. There is a very strong definition of good guy and bad guy. The good guys (bond and crew) were saviors and the bad guys were pure evil. There was not a lot of character development beyond that. I am now curious to see the film to see how they changed it. Casino Royale was definitely upgraded from book to film. This film is much older but there are things in the book there is no way they were able to film so I want to see what they did. I will continue with this series for now.

This one was much more enjoyable than Casino Royale!

I enjoyed the fish, and the mystery was more interesting.

Solitaire is my current favorite leading lady.

A great Bond Novel!

Solid 4 Stars