The Man With The Golden Gun (James Bond Novels) [Paperback]

Ian Fleming (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 6, 2004

A brainwashed James Bond has tried—and failed—to assassinate M, his boss. Now Bond has to prove he is back on form and can be trusted again. All 007 has to do is kill one of the most deadly freelance hit men in the world: Paco "Pistols" Scaramanga, the Man with the Golden Gun. But despite his license to kill, 007 is no assassin, and on finding Scaramanga in the sultry heat of Jamaica, he decides to infiltrate the killer’s criminal cooperative—and realizes that he will have to take him out as swiftly as possible. Otherwise 007 might just be the next on a long list of British Secret Service numbers retired by the Man with the Golden Gun...

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Fleming keeps you riveted." -- Sunday Telegraph

About the Author

Born in London in 1908, Ian Fleming worked variously as a banker and journalist before serving in the British Naval Intelligence during World War II. He published his first novel Casino Royale in 1953 and thus started the astoundingly successful James Bond novels and films. Fleming died in 1964. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (April 6, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 014200328X
• ISBN-13: 978-0142003282
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #78,979 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars hey, it's not THAT bad, June 14, 2004

By 

Bryant Burnette "Bryant Burnette" (Tuscaloosa, AL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Man With The Golden Gun (James Bond Novels) (Paperback)

Afraid I've got to take issue with a one-star rating for this novel. Sure, it's not the best Bond novel -- that's probably "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," although I've also got a soft spot for the unusual "The Spy Who Loved Me" -- but it's hardly a bad novel. Scaramanga, far from being a terrible villain, is actually one of the more memorable Fleming ever wrote. I enjoy the way in which he serves as a sort of dark mirror for Bond himself, and that makes me feel like Fleming was actually just trying something different with this novel. That may or may not make it one of the lesser of his Bond novels, but I think saying that it's just plain bad is an overstatement.

Anyways, if you're a Bond fan, you still ought to give the novel a look.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Did Fleming Finish This Book?, January 25, 2005

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David B. Fox (Los Angeles, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Man With The Golden Gun (James Bond Novels) (Paperback)

The James Bond novels have been a staple in my home for over 40 years, since I started reading them at 10 years old. I read every novel once every two years it seems, as Fleming's impeccable writing, his plots, his villians, and most of all, the decription of detail that makes reading these novels the ultimate escape.
That said, I think I know how Fleming writes...
Each time I read this book, I get a growing feeling that not only did Ian Fleming not finish the book, it seems like he wrote almost exactly HALF, and some one else took over upon his death.
As a little Fleming is better than none at all, I still read the book.
Ian Fleming wrote 007 Novels for 11 years. They are all superb, wuth the earlier, grittier ones being the best. I don't play cards, but I was sweating along with Bond while he played Le Chiffre at Casino Royale.
You get that same marvelous sense of being in the story the first half of The Man With The Golden Gun, and then the story (and the writing) seem to go wrong.
I report, you decide.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An introspective look at Bond, August 16, 2004

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David Acres (London) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Man With The Golden Gun (James Bond Novels) (Paperback)

Again I am surprised at the one star ! I wrote this review when I first read the book back in 1998 and still stick by this !!!

This book gets away from the complex plots and world threatening villains usually associated with many of the other books to concentrate on Bond in the limited surroundings of a half finished hotel in Jamaica with the man he is to assassinate. This book seems to centralise more on James Bond the man and his inner thoughts, the lack of action is easily made up for with the mind games between Bond and Scaramanga leading upto the final gun fight !