Ian Fleming's Casino Royale

James Bond is probably the world’s most famous spy, simply because he is the main character in over twenty feature films. The character though was first launched on the public in April 1953 when Ian Fleming published the first James Bond novel, Casino Royale.

Ian Fleming would make use of his own war time experiences to create a gritty novel based in Europe at the start of the Cold War. Casino Royale introduces Commander James Bond, a hard drinking, chain smoking 00 agent working for Station S. M, head of Station S, send Bond on a mission to the casino at Royale-Les-Eaux. The mission is to stop Le Chiffre from recouping his losses. Le Chiffre is banker for SMERSH, the Russian spy agency.

Casino Royale Book Cover

With the aid of Vesper Lynd of Station S, Felix Leiter of the CIA and Rene Mathis of the French military intelligence, Bond sits down to play Baccarat Chemin de Fer for high stakes. Bond’s fortunes at the card table ebb and flow and whilst gambling he also has to deal with an assassination attempt.
Those who have only ever seen the film adaptations of Ian Fleming novels will be surprised at Casino Royale. There is a dark edge to the novel, an edge which Daniel Craig has started to recapture. Casino Royale contains scenes of torture and death; although the deaths are not at the hands of the agent with a license to kill.

There is a great deal of detail within the book, not least of which is the description of how to play Chemin de Fer. Some of these details do though occasionally feel like they are simply padding to ensure that 213 pages can be written. That being said there is a great sense throughout the book that everything is leading to a twist which ensures that the reader keeps on reading.

Casino Royale Book Cover

In 1953, Casino Royale met with great success, with the first runs selling out quickly. Fleming also met with some critical acclaim for his character creation and storytelling. This success allowed Fleming to continue writing Bond novels, as well as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, until his death ten years later. It is difficult to compare Fleming with other writers, although some similarities can be seen in the work of Robert Ludlum.

The success of the films has ensured that the Ian Fleming novels have remained in print for most of the past sixty years, and today can also be purchased in electronic format.

Copyright - First Published 29th March 2009