A Soviet trade union treasurer known as Le Chiffre finds himself losing money through failed funding of brothels and other dealings, and decides to risk what he has left on a baccarat game at a casino in Royale-les-Eaux, France, in hopes of winning it back. British secret service Double-O agent James Bond has been hired by his government to sit in at the game and prevent him from winning, in an attempt to prompt an assassination of Le Chiffre from the Soviet agency SMERSH in retaliation of his loses, and thus striking a blow to the funds of their Soviet enemies.
At the Casino Royale, Bond meets up with his associates: Rene Mathis, a French Deuxieme Bureau operative; Felix Leiter, an American CIA Agent; and Vesper Lynd, the assistant the MI6 Head of Section S. There he discovers that his cover has been blown almost instantly and the neighbors above his room are spying on him. Soon after an attempt is made on his life by two
kinda incompetent bombers who accidentally blow themselves up instead (
Reader's Note: I kid you not. This is what happened.).
Not fazed by the attempt on his life, Bond continues on his mission. He gives each of his associates’ tasks (
Reader's Note: Apparently, those tasks were to stand around and watch him play cards.), and Bond sits in at the baccarat table. The hours pass, and Bond......LOSES! Wait, an envelope has been handed to him, and it's full of cash! In it is a note from Felix, telling him to have another go at it (
Reader's Note: Well THAT was anticlimactic.). Bond proceeds to play cards and gives Le Chiffre a royale spanking. Le Chiffre, now broke, storms out of the game.
Bond hides the check for the winnings, and takes Vesper out to woo her. But Vesper seems grumpy and preoccupied. Receiving a note from Mathis, she leaves dinner in order to meet with him, yet Bond becomes suspicious of the note. Bond leaves the casino and witnesses her being kidnapped by Le Chiffre's men. Bond quickly peruses, but is captured himself.
Le Chiffre takes Bond and Vesper out to the country, where he tortures Bond by
smacking him in the testicles with a rug beater (
Reader's Note: Whoa! No wonder Bond is always frisky with the ladies. He wants to be reassured the equipment still works!). Le Chiffre wants the winnings, but Bond won't reveal the location of the check. Le Chiffre then decides to try his hand at torturing Vesper in front of bond, but before he can, two SMERSH assassins break in and shoot Le Chiffre between the eyes. They show mercy to Bond, reminding him the only reason he's alive is that they weren't given orders to kill him, and leave him at the site.
Hours later, Bond and Vesper are found. While recovering, Bond confides in Mathis that he intends to leave the secret service because he doesn't know the difference between good and evil anymore. During the aftermath, Bond finds companionship in Vesper, whom he grows closer to. The two relax in the countryside, where they become more intimate. But as the days pass, Vesper begins acting more strangely. Bond demands to know what’s wrong but she declines explanation. One morning, he finds she has committed suicide, and Bond receives a note from her explaining her actions. Vesper was a double agent working for SMERSH, and fell in love with Bond and refused to leak information from him. Knowing she'd be killed for her betrayal, she took her own life.
Furious at his lost love, Bond stays with the secret service and vows to kill every last SMERSH operative.
Review
Compare what Bond is today to what Bond
was when Ian Fleming originally wrote him. Minor similarities, but it's hard to picture this Bond shooting around quirky gadgets, or a Daniel Craig Bond preaching about the thin line between good and evil (even the pussy-assed Roger Moore would be a bit of a stretch). The novel Casino Royale is of course the debut of the legendary 007, a character that transcended literary icon status into film icon status (like Harry Potter, only less devil worship. You see Bond merely kills people and promotes pre-marital sexual escapades, Potter uses make believe sparkles and fairy dust. Obviously the latter is worth banning in public schools). It's surprisingly a very subdued tale for what is now a very energetic icon.
Surprisingly, the books less energetic nature is what I found appealing. Having seen all the film versions of the story, I knew the story's primary action piece was a card game. I'm enthusiastic about cards, though I never gamble (because I suck), so even these staged showdowns were a treat. It's a great aspect to the story to have two men dueling with their eyes and their wits instead of their fists.
But if it all revolves around a single card game, where's the story? Casino Royale seems to be two books edited into a single volume. Most of it is Bond's mission, when suddenly, it becomes a rather drawn out romance novel. You see my last full paragraph in my synopsis of the book above? That's actually a
third of the book. Fleming had a good short story on his hands, but felt compelled to pad it out to a full novel and tacked an overlong epilogue at the end. This finale of the book is fairly interesting at times, but feels all too BRICK WALL!
Yet, I enjoyed the book. I enjoyed it a great deal. Light and very breezy at only 181 pages (though, don't pay the outrageous $13 price tag for a paperback. Buy it used. It's not
that good), and its simplistic point A to point B structure makes it easy to read. It's easy to see why Bond became an icon, with something as easily accessible as this.
PS, I found it slightly ironic that the first mention of Bond being a secret agent happened on page "007." Coincidence? Most likely. But I giggled like a schoolgirl.
