num_pages: 384
description: It's time the world knew ... there was a REAL James Bond. This narrative nonfiction thriller published by Penguin Random House reveals with hard evidence--for the first time--the man who unquestionably inspired Ian Fleming's iconic character. A daring MI6 double agent who made Bond look timid ... Classified for decades by Britain's Official Secrets Act ... A spy who saved D-Day and warned of Pearl Harbor ... Plunging himself time and again INTO THE LION'S MOUTH. If you are a fan of thrillers (this one just happens to be true) WWII military history (especially D-Day and Pearl Harbor) espionage (Popov was an agent for the Abwehr SD MI5 MI6 and the FBI)--or just want to know what really happened in CASINO ESTORIL (which Fleming re-created as CASINO ROYALE) this is your book. Yes Bond fans the REAL James Bond had more girlfriends lovers (including the enemy) intrigue and world travel than Ian Fleming's creation. As Tom Colgan (famously Tom Clancy's editor) said after editing the manuscript It's a good thing this is nonfiction because it's too incredible to be a novel. From Amazon:On a cool August evening in 1941 a Serbian playboy created a stir at Casino Estoril in Portugal by throwing down an outrageously large baccarat bet to humiliate his opponent. The Serbian was a British double agent and the moneywhich he had just stolen from the Germansbelonged to the British. From the sideline watching with intent interest was none other than Ian FlemingThe Serbian was Dusko Popov. As a youngster he was expelled from his London prep school. Years later he would be arrested and banished from Germany for making derogatory statements about the Third Reich. When World War II ensued the playboy became a spy eventually serving three dangerous masters: the Abwehr MI5 and MI6 and the FBI. On August 10 1941 the Germans sent Popov to the United States to construct a spy network and gather information on Pearl Harbor. The FBI ignored his German questionnaire but J. Edgar Hoover succeeded in blowing his cover. While MI5 desperately needed Popov to deceive the Abwehr about the D-Day invasion they assured him that a return to the German Secret Service Headquarters in Lisbon would result in torture and execution. He went anyway... Into the Lions Mouth is a globe-trotting account of a mans entanglement with espionage murder assassins and loversincluding enemy spies and a Hollywood starlet. It is a story of subterfuge and seduction patriotism and cold-blooded courage. It is the story of Dusko Popovthe inspiration for James Bond.
language: English
title: Into the Lion's Mouth: The True Story of Dusko Popov: World War II Spy, Patriot, and the Real-Life Inspiration for James Bond
publisher: Berkley