Review: The Real Mr. Bond
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 24, 2013
Some names from fiction stay in our minds - forever. Who can forget Scarlett O'Hara, Lolita, Heathcliffe, Holly Golightly, Bond, James Bond? Even if the author slips from our memory, their creations remain as solid as granite sculptures.If there is an exception, it has to be Ian Fleming - most likely because Mr Bond wasn't entirely imagined but stepped from the real life adventures of the author. Like 007, Fleming was a Royal Navy commander. With this as his starting point, author Damian Stevenson brings us `Operation Armada,' an adventure based on Fleming's experiences in navy intelligence during the Second World War.In what is projected as the first story from `The Fleming Files,' our true-life hero, code name 17F, drops at night by parachute with enough gold bullion to buy a fleet of ships from the French Navy to prevent them falling into German hands prior to the planned 1940 invasion of Britain. With a smorgasbord of larger than life villains, more double-crosses than turns in a spiral staircase and the de rigueur charms of femme fatale Denise Astier, we speed as if behind the wheel of a Bentley re-calibrated by M through a page-turning narrative that will leave readers excited for a fresh dip into the Fleming Files.For those who couldn't remember the authors of the books listed above they are: Margaret Mitchell, Vladimir Nabokov, Emily Bronte, Truman Capote and Ian Fleming.