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Title: Moonraker by Ian Fleming, Bruno Martin, Marcel Duhamel ISBN: 2-07-042119-8 Publisher: Gallimard Pub. Date: 21 November, 2002 Format: Paperback

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Average Customer Rating: 4.55 (42 reviews)

Rating: 4
Summary: Bond enters the atomic era
Comment: Fleming's third Bond novel is quite a good one. The pace is slower than the previous one, "Live and Let Die", but anyway faster than "Casino Royale" (and, like the latter, includes one excellent card-game scenario). It's amazing how the author takes us from 007 at his most domestic to the (then) most sci-fi adventure. The villain, Drax, may look as someone took from a nightmare but Fleming describes him in such detail -dialogue, appearence, mood, idiosincracies and the story of his life- that the character becomes completely "real" (even upsetting the reader as much as he upsets Bond in the book). Drax's speech (heard on the radio by 007) when Moonraker is about to get fired is simply the best monologue Fleming ever conceived or wrote. Superb, funny yet amazingly dangerous! And Gala Brand, the heroine, just not falls into Bond's arms like so many, leaving the secret agent reflecting alone about their different lives and showing us his vulnerability instead of the wrongly-assumed 007's eternal success with women. It's a pity the film version spoiled this title (actually, the title is the only resemblance to the novel), taking Bond to three countries and outer space while this excellent down-to-earth adventure story goes no farther than London and Dover. The rocket ready to blow Buckingham Palace is a more atractive and original idea by far. Bond save the Queen, indeed!

Rating: 5
Summary: One of the best, if not THE best.
Comment: I have to admit that I just couldn't put this book down. Every single page is intriguing and suspenseful, and contains an elaborate plot where ex-Nazi Sir Hugo Drax, head of the Moonraker nuclear missile project, is secretly planning to destroy London to gain revenge for his country's defeat in World War 2. Moonraker is rather like two books in one: the first part of the story centers on a card game at an exclusive gambling club, where 'M' has called Bond to investigate the suspicion of Drax cheating. In a brilliant sequence, Bond discovers Drax's ruse. This sets the stage for the second part, where 007 goes to Dover and finds out the terrifying secret about Drax and Moonraker.... Ian Fleming provides some intriguing touches looking into Bond's thoughts about his job, not to mention making Drax look like a grotesquely evil figure, and the Bond girl Gala Brand is impressive in that she plays a key part in discovering Drax's evil scheme, but she never really falls in love with Bond - rather an anomaly. In summary, Moonraker is a classic James Bond thriller from Mr. Fleming and is every bit as good as the film of the same name. (Interesting point: in the book Fleming compares Drax as a Lonsdale-type, in the film Drax is played by actor Michael Lonsdale. Coincidence?)

Rating: 5
Summary: Kinder, Gentler Bond; Bigger, Badder Drax
Comment: This is the third review I have done for a 007 novel and as always I will tell the reader that the book is nothing like the film. Forget the pseudo-science fiction of the movies (done to capitalize on the Star Wars craze) this book is a completely different animal.
Plot aside (Moonraker is a super ICBM capable of destroying London; not a space station) the biggest differences are in Bond and mastermind-of-the-hour Hugo Drax. Bond is, again, Fleming's human being as opposed to Hollywood's super-agent (He actually gets TURNED DOWN by his leading lady and you get the feeling he's ACTUALLY A LITTLE HURT). Drax is much more intense in this book, coming off as what today we would call the typical megalomaniacal(...)mastermind (but since Fleming was instrumental in defining such a character, this must be accepted as part of his vision for the 007 mythos).
Lastly, sorry Jaws fans: he's not in here -- but check out the Peter Lorre-like Krebs. He's a good villain too.
All in all, Moonraker was my favorite of the 007 novels thus far. And though the car chase was a more intense clone of the one in "Casino Royale" it did nothing to detract from the enjoyment of this book.