For me, Live and Let Die was a song first—long before it was ever a movie, and certainly before I read the novel. It was 1973, I was 12 years old, and I was obsessed with the track Paul McCartney and Wings recorded for the James Bond film Live and Let Die. That gentle piano intro that suddenly crashes into powerful guitar chords, followed by that frantic, high-octane orchestral break—it was iconic. My parents weren’t letting me watch James Bond movies back then—perhaps they thought the content w...

Ho-ly shit, you are terrible at your job, Mr. Bond. I wondered if Casino Royale was some sort of Batman Year One kind of thing and James would begin to progress as an agent with each book.No. No, he has not.It's as though Mr. Bean were given a license to kill and set loose on the world.Once again, in Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming, Bond is caught completely unawares over and over again. He not only fails to notice fairly obvious traps, but in a spectacularly stupid move he also blatantly ignore...

A warm beach vacation after a year of stressful living. I’ll leave it at that. It’s January, which means Florida, and that means the perfect poolside reading. While packing for this long-awaited trip, I made sure to pick books that either didn't require too much brainpower or ones where I was already familiar with the story so I could just enjoy the ride. The original James Bond series by Ian Fleming is perfect for this. My husband and I are huge fans of the franchise; our favorite Bond is Danie...

Voodoo, buried treasure, sharks, alligators, poison fish—and the formidable Mr. Big. 007 returns to the Caribbean in Live and Let Die, the second James Bond novel by Ian Fleming, originally published in 1954. At the time, Fleming was still finding his footing following the runaway success of Casino Royale, so he dedicates significant space to world-building and deepening the character of Bond, while establishing the inner workings of his secret agent spy network. While Fleming’s casual racism wi...

Live and Let Die is the second novel in Ian Fleming’s spy thriller series featuring James Bond, 007—a code number earned through his lethal duties. Unlike later entries in the series that lean into “sophisticated” or “exotic” locales, this story is set primarily in the US (specifically Harlem and Florida, which Fleming manages to exoticize in his own way) and Jamaica. Published in 1954 to widespread acclaim, the book was penned at Fleming’s Goldeneye estate. The plot follows Bond as he attempts ...

"There are moments of great luxury in the life of a secret agent. There are assignments on which he is required to act the part of a very rich man; occasions when he takes refuge in good living to efface the memory of danger and the shadow of death; and times when, as was now the case, he is a guest in the territory of an allied Secret Service. From the moment the BOAC Stratocruiser taxied up to the International Air Terminal at Idlewild, James Bond was treated like royalty."So begins Live and L...

(A-) 80% | Very Good
Notes: In Live and Let Die, Ian Fleming takes James Bond on a deep dive into numismatics, anthropology, marine biology, and voodoo, even as the 007 series begins to settle into its signature formula. If you are looking for a classic spy thriller book review, this is a must-read entry in the Bond canon.

Rating: 3.5* of five It’s the 1973 debut of Simon Templar... I mean Roger Moore!... that I’m reviewing here. The book, Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming, is twenty years older and even more racist. Holy pimpmobile! I’d forgotten this was the blaxploitation Bond flick. Appallingly racist. Horrifyingly, insultingly so. And may I just say, "INTRODUCING JANE SEYMOUR" is the most chilling phrase I’ve ever in all my life seen on a movie screen? Introducing. Jane. Seymour. As in, "not seen on the big ...

”He held the tip between finger and thumb and very deliberately started to bend it back, giggling inanely to himself. Bond rolled and heaved, trying to upset the chair, but Tee-Hee put his other hand on the chair-back and held it there. The sweat poured off Bond’s face. His teeth started to bare in an involuntary rictus. The finger stood upright, away from the hand. Started to bend slowly backwards towards his wrist. Suddenly it gave. There was a sharp crack. ‘That will do,’ said Mr. Big. Tee-H...

To charge Live and Let Die with racism, as many reviews have done, is absurd. The book and its attitudes are products of their time, and naturally, these views are reflected within its pages. The same accusations could just as easily be leveled at Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie, Bulldog Drummond, or any other classic literary character. What about Shakespeare? Should we label the Bard homophobic for not featuring gay characters in his plays? Are we really going to start judging classic works b...