Regardless, the majority of the novel takes place inside the casino itself, and often reads like an instruction manual for the rules of baccarat. The book does have one small explosion (a bungled assassination attempt) and a car chase that’s roughly equivalent to its depiction in the film (though Bond’s eventual crash is a lot less ‘Perils of Pauline’ in cause, and his car only rolls over once, rather than 187 times). Those are all inventions of the film’s producers, catering to the expectations of an audience that has paid to see a $150 million action movie. The novel has no parkour action set-pieces, brutal fistfights, elaborate shootouts or frantic chases through imploding buildings. However, that’s all there is to the book. Most of that (aside from the Cold War angle) is in the movie too, of course.

Successful at the task, Bond and his companion, treasury agent Vesper Lynd, soon find themselves targets of a vengeful Le Chiffre, who kidnaps them both and tortures Bond in an attempt to get the money back. Alerted to the situation, British intelligence sends James Bond, Agent 007, to the casino to out-gamble Le Chiffre and hopefully leave him destitute. Desperate to refill his agency’s coffers quickly before he’s discovered by his masters, Le Chiffre risks what’s left of his money at high-stakes gambling in the title location, a posh casino in France. To whit: A terrorist financier known as Le Chiffre (here identified as an operative of the shadowy Russian counterintelligence organization SMERSH) is left nearly bankrupt after a series of unwise investments.

Indeed, the book is a pretty quick read that only has a thin sketch of plot. The movie follows only the thinnest sketch of the book’s plot. People who say things like that have obviously not actually read the novel, or at least not read it in many years. While I also like the movie a lot, I find those claims pretty amusing. Because there’s no better place to start than at the beginning, I’ve already dug right into the first Bond book, ‘Casino Royale’, which was first published in 1953.Įver since the ‘Casino Royale’ reboot movie with Daniel Craig was released in 2006, fans of that film have effusively praised it as being the most “faithful” to Fleming’s writing. Since I’m completely unable to watch Blu-ray discs at the moment, I thought that I might fill the time by revisiting the original James Bond novels by author Ian Fleming that started the 007 phenomenon. One of the consequences of my home theater construction setback is that I’ve fallen hopelessly behind in reviewing the remaining titles in last year’s ‘ Bond 50‘ Blu-ray box set.

Casino Royale novel plot