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Doctor No Paperback – August 27, 2002
- Print length240 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherPenguin Books
- Publication dateAugust 27, 2002
- Reading age18 years and up
- Dimensions5.12 x 0.46 x 7.81 inches
- ISBN-100142002038
- ISBN-13978-0142002032
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover comes a novel that explores life after tragedy and the enduring spirit of love. | Learn more
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Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
About the Author
Ian Fleming (1908-1964), creator of the world's best-known secret agent, is the author of fourteen James Bond books. Born in London in 1908 and educated at Eton and Sandhurst, he became the Reuters Moscow correspondent in 1929. In the spring of 1939, Fleming went back to Moscow as a special correspondent for the London Times. In June of that same year, he joined Naval Intelligence and served throughout World War II, finally earning the rank of Commander, RNVSR (Sp.). Much of the James Bond material was drawn directly from Fleming's experiences as an intelligence officer. Later, Fleming became a consultant on foreign affairs for the London Sunday Times, by which time he had become far better known as the creator of James Bond.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
1. HEAR YOU LOUD AND CLEAR
Punctually at six o'clock the sun set with a last yellow flash behind the Blue Mountains, a wave of violet shadow poured down Richmond Road, and the crickets and tree frogs in the fine gardens began to zing and tinkle.
Apart from the background noise of the insects, the wide empty street was quiet. The wealthy owners of the big, withdrawn houses—the bank managers, company directors and top civil servants—had been home since five o'clock and they would be discussing the day with their wives or taking a shower and changing their clothes. In half an hour the street would come to life again with the cocktail traffic, but now this very superior half mile of' Rich Road', as it was known to the tradesmen of Kingston, held nothing but the suspense of an empty stage and the heavy perfume of night-scented jasmine.
Richmond Road is the 'best' road in all Jamaica. It is Jamaica's Park Avenue, its Kensington Palace Gardens, its Avenue D'lena. The 'best' people live in its big old-fashioned houses, each in an acre or two of beautiful lawn set, too trimly, with the finest trees and flowers from the Botanical Gardens at Hope. The long, straight road is cool and quiet and withdrawn from the hot, vulgar sprawl of Kingston where its residents earn their money, and, on the other side of the T-intersection at its top, lie the grounds of King's House, where the Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Jamaica lives with his family. In Jamaica, no road could have a finer ending.
On the eastern corner of the top intersection stands No 1 Richmond Road, a substantial two-storey house with broad white-painted verandas running round both floors. From the road a gravel path leads up to the pillared entrance through wide lawns marked out with tennis courts on which this evening, as on all evenings, the sprinklers are at work. This mansion is the social Mecca of Kingston. It is Queen's Club, which, for fifty years, has boasted the power and frequency of its black-balls.
Such stubborn retreats will not long survive in modern Jamaica. One day Queen's Club will have its windows smashed and perhaps be burned to the ground, but for the time being it is a useful place to find in a sub-tropical island—well run, well staffed and with the finest cuisine and cellar in the Caribbean.
At that time of day, on most evenings of the year, you would find the same four motor cars standing in the road outside the club. They were the cars belonging to the high bridge game that assembled punctually at five and played until around midnight. You could almost set your watch by these cars. They belonged, reading from the order in which they now stood against the kerb, to the Brigadier in command of the Caribbean Defence Force, to Kingston's leading criminal lawyer, and to the Mathematics Professor from Kingston University. At the tail of the line stood the black Sunbeam Alpine of Commander John Strangways, RN (Ret.), Regional Control Officer for the Caribbean—or, less discreetly, the local representative of the British Secret Service.
Just before six-fifteen, the silence of Richmond Road was softly broken. Three blind beggars came round the corner of the intersection and moved slowly down the pavement towards the four cars. They were Chigroes—Chinese Negroes—bulky men, but bowed as they shuffled along, tapping at the kerb with their white sticks. They walked in file. The first man, who wore blue glasses and could presumably see better than the others, walked in front holding a tin cup against the crook of the stick in his left hand. The right hand of the second man rested on his shoulder and the right hand of the third on the shoulder of the second. The eyes of the second and third men were shut. The three men were dressed in rags and wore dirty jippa-jappa baseball caps with long peaks. They said nothing and no noise came from them except the soft tapping of their sticks as they came slowly down the shadowed pavement towards the group of cars.
The three blind men would not have been incongruous in Kingston, where there are many diseased people on the streets, but, in this quiet rich empty street, they made an unpleasant impression. And it was odd that they should all be Chinese Negroes. This is not a common mixture of bloods.
In the cardroom, the sunburned hand reached out into the green pool of the centre table and gathered up the four cards. There was a quiet snap as the trick went to join the rest. 'Hundred honours,' said Strangways, 'and ninety below!' He looked at his watch and stood up. 'Back in twenty minutes. Your deal. Bill. Order some drinks. Usual for me. Don't bother to cook a hand for me while I'm gone. I always spot them.'
Bill Templar, the Brigadier, laughed shortly. He pinged the bell by his side and raked the cards in towards him. He said,' Hurry up, blast you. You always let the cards go cold just as your partner's in the money.'
Strangways was already out of the door. The three men sat back resignedly in their chairs. The coloured steward came in and they ordered drinks for themselves and a whisky and water for Strangways.
There was this maddening interruption every evening at six fifteen, about halfway through their second rubber. At this time precisely, even if they were in the middle of a hand, Strangways had to go to his 'office' and 'make a call'. It was a damned nuisance. But Strangways was a vital part of their four and they put up with it. It was never explained what 'the call' was, and no one asked. Strangways's job was 'hush' and that was that. He was rarely away for more than twenty minutes and it was understood that he paid for his absence with a round of drinks.
The drinks came and the three men began to talk racing. In fact, this was the most important moment in Strangways's day—the time of his duty radio contact with the powerful transmitter on the roof of the building in Regent's Park that is the headquarters of the Secret Service. Every day, at eighteen-thirty local time, unless he gave warning the day before that he would not be on the air—when he had business on one of the other islands in his territory, for instance, or was seriously ill—he would transmit his daily report and receive his orders. If he failed to come on the air precisely at six-thirty, there would be a second call, the 'Blue' call, at seven, and, finally, the 'Red' call at seven-thirty. After this, if his transmitter remained silent, it was 'Emergency', and Section III, his controlling authority in London, would urgently get on the job of finding out what had happened to him.
Even a 'Blue' call means a bad mark for an agent unless his 'Reasons in Writing' are unanswerable. London's radio schedules round the world are desperately tight and their minute disruption by even one extra call is a dangerous nuisance. Strangways had never suffered the ignominy of a 'Blue' call, let alone a 'Red', and was as certain as could be that he never would do so. Every evening, at precisely six-fifteen, he left Queen's Club, got into his car and drove for ten minutes up into the foothills of the Blue Mountains to his neat bungalow with the fabulous view over Kingston harbour. At six twenty-five he walked through the hall to the office at the back. He unlocked the door and locked it again behind him. Miss Trueblood, who passed as his secretary, but was in fact his No. 2 and a former Chief Officer WRNS, would already be sitting in front of the dials inside the dummy filing cabinet. She would have the earphones on and would be making first contact, tapping out his call-sign, WXN, on 14 megacycles. There would be a shorthand pad on her elegant knees. Strangways would drop into the chair beside her and pick up the other pair of head-phones and, at exactly six twenty-eight, he would take over from her and wait for the sudden hollowness in the ether that meant that WWW in London was coming in to acknowledge.
It was an iron routine. Strangways was a man of iron routine. Unfortunately, strict patterns of behaviour can be deadly if they are read by an enemy. Strangways, a tall lean man with a black patch over the right eye and the sort of aquiline good looks you associate with the bridge of a destroyer, walked quickly across the mahogany panelled hallway of Queen's Club and pushed through the light mosquito-wired doors and ran down the three steps to the path.
There was nothing very much on his mind except the sensual pleasure of the clean fresh evening air and the memory of the finesse that had given him his three spades. There was this case, of course, the case he was working on, a curious and complicated affair that M had rather nonchalantly tossed over the air at him two weeks earlier. But it was going well. A chance lead into the Chinese community had paid off. Some odd angles had come to light - for the present the merest shadows of angles - but if they jelled, thought Strangways as he strode down the gravel path and into Richmond Road, he might find himself involved in something very odd indeed.
Strangways shrugged his shoulders. Of course it wouldn't turn out like that. The fantastic never materialised in his line of business. There would be some drab solution that had been embroidered by overheated imaginations and the usual hysteria of the Chinese.
Automatically, another part of Strangways's mind took in the three blind men. They were tapping slowly towards him down the sidewalk. They were about twenty yards away. He calculated that they would pass him a second or two before he reached his car. Out of shame for his own health and gratitude for it, Strangways felt for a coin. He ran his thumbnail down its edge to make sure it was a florin and not a penny. He took it out. He was parallel with the beggars. How odd, they were all Chigroes! How very odd! Strangways's hand went out. The coin clanged in the tin cup.
'Bless you. Master,' said the leading man. 'Bless you,' echoed the other two.
The car key was in Strangways's hand. Vaguely he registered the...
Product details
- Publisher : Penguin Books; Reprint edition (August 27, 2002)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 240 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0142002038
- ISBN-13 : 978-0142002032
- Reading age : 18 years and up
- Item Weight : 6.4 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.12 x 0.46 x 7.81 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,111,794 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #5,218 in Espionage Thrillers (Books)
- #11,568 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction
- #17,712 in Thriller & Suspense Action Fiction
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Ian Fleming was a British author and journalist. His first novel, Casino Royale (1953), introduced spy hero, James Bond, agent 007, to the world. It was the first of fourteen James Bond books which have gone on to sell over 60 million copies worldwide and be translated into 20 languages. Beginning with the movie adaptation of Dr No in 1961, the series also sparked the longest-running film franchise in history. Both Fleming and his fictional counterpart have become synonymous with style, glamour and thrilling adventures, as well as universally recognised phrases such as “My name’s Bond, James Bond” and “shaken and not stirred”.
Fleming was born in London in 1908. In the 1930s he worked at Reuters news agency before joining Naval Intelligence as an officer during the Second World War. His talent for writing fast and engaging prose, along with his knowledge of espionage and his fertile imagination led to the creation of James Bond, arguably one of the most-famous fictional characters of all time. He also wrote children’s classic Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Fleming was married to Ann Rothermere with whom he had a son, Caspar. He died in 1964.
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers enjoy the book and find it an easy, enjoyable read. They appreciate the suspenseful storyline and adventure, with a unique narrative and writing style that captivates them from Chapter 1. Readers praise the fast-paced action and engaging pacing that keeps them hooked. The characters are interesting and memorable, with a strong sense of space and heroics from 007 that resonate with readers.
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Customers enjoy the book. They find it an easy read and a good summer read. Readers describe the series as wonderful and better the second time around.
"...several or the Pubs and places described in this to me wonderful series of books...." Read more
"...adaptation of the work was begun, ‘Dr. No’ holds up as a taut, well-executed and plotted thriller, so impressive that one largely forgets the..." Read more
"...The series is better the second time around." Read more
"...Bottom line, the book was terrific fun and a complete thrill ride, but the movie – the first film I ever saw at a movie theater is the reason I’m an..." Read more
Customers enjoy the book's engaging storyline and narrative. They find it full of adventure, dialogue, and details, with a straightforward plot instead of complicated twists. The book ignites enthusiasm for the genre, keeping readers in suspense throughout.
"...You will be transported back in time to the cold war very vividly and quite realistically described all without dragging down the story...." Read more
"...the filmed adaptation of the work was begun, ‘Dr. No’ holds up as a taut, well-executed and plotted thriller, so impressive that one largely forgets..." Read more
"...I’ve never quite come across a writer like him. He’s very detail oriented, almost like he is recalling a true memory from his life, which may be..." Read more
"...Bottom line, the book was terrific fun and a complete thrill ride, but the movie – the first film I ever saw at a movie theater is the reason I’m an..." Read more
Customers enjoy the book's writing style. They find it easy to read, with a detail-oriented style that captivates them from the beginning. The descriptions are crisp and clean, with great dialogue and adventure. Readers appreciate the nice Kindle format.
"...His writing has always. been so precise and was able to immediately paint a picture in my mind of what was happening...." Read more
"...I was expecting pulp fiction-like reads but was surprised how good the writing is - Ian Fleming was ahead of his time...." Read more
"...He's also, much of the time, a damn fine writer. The descriptions of colonial Jamaica, in particular, are so specific and vivid, it's just great...." Read more
"...This is just full of adventure, great dialogue and Bond goes through one of his worst beatings in the last chapters of the novel...." Read more
Customers enjoy the book's pacing. They find it fast-paced and engaging, finishing it quickly. The story moves slowly through the first few chapters before speeding up through challenges and successes. Readers appreciate the clever thinking and ingenuity that reveal the plot. Overall, they describe the book as an enjoyable, quick read that provides an interesting glimpse into the mind of an agent.
"...These are expertly paced and described sequences...." Read more
"...Ian Fleming's spy novel's terrific plot, story and pacing made it hard to put down...." Read more
"...And all, thanks to Flemming's James Bond, some clever thinking and some ingenuity revealed the power of hope...." Read more
"...It’s a quick read, you’ll learn a bit about firearms but it doesn’t go into Tom Clancy levels of detail!..." Read more
Customers enjoy the book's engaging characters, locations, and atmosphere. They find it fun to read and contrast with the movies. Readers appreciate the details and deeper character development not included in the movie adaptation. The trip down memory lane is enjoyable for them.
"...it turns into something more generic and less literary, but it's never boring...." Read more
"...Just the same, it was a fun & enjoyable read, I will finish this series, and do recommend this format." Read more
"...The dialogue is interesting and holds a person's interest. The action scenes work well with the overall theme of the book...." Read more
"...Not the work of a literary genius, but entertaining and different enough from the movie to provide easy to read entertainment." Read more
Customers find the characters interesting and memorable. They appreciate the deeper, grittier, and more interesting characters than those in the movie. The villain is great and the helper is also mentioned as great. The book has a strong sense of space and characters. It puts humanity into Bond's character and makes it better than the movie.
"...The unforgettable characters of James Bond, Honeychile Ryder, Dr. No, M strike a cord that reminds me of the Sherlock Holme stories...." Read more
"...everything we expect from a Bond novel, a beautiful, sexy woman, an evil villain, dangerous traps, and determined heroics from 007...." Read more
"...Quite different from the movie. The character of Honey Rider especially seems very different...." Read more
"...I am enjoying all of the details and deeper character development that didn't make it into the movie...." Read more
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Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2016I first met James Bond when this book came out in paperback, and I was immieditly hooked on his adventures and life, I quickly got all of the previously released books and was further immersed in Ian Fleming's wonderful creations. His writing has always. been so precise and was able to immediately paint a picture in my mind of what was happening. I devoured the earlier books and then I saw a preview of a new movie coming out. DR, NO!!!
Now all these years later I find the same experience as I did in 1960, and I was rather disappointed that the series was not available for the Kindle, until now!!
If you have only followed the movies as I know so many have, I cannot recommend strongly enough that you purchase these books and read them in the order that they were published as they cover in sequence 12 years in the life of the greatest SPY who ever lived.
You will be transported back in time to the cold war very vividly and quite realistically described all without dragging down the story. You will also meet the man James Bond, a very loyal and caring person with a very dirty job that had to be done,
I have had the greatest pleasure over the years and have visited several or the Pubs and places described in this to me wonderful series of books.
Annually and sometimes more than that, I read the series again. I have tried to pickup a book later in sequence to just read that one story again and after about 2 chapters I put it done and dive in once again to the series,
I hope you can find at least a large part of the wonderful experience I have and continue to have with Dr. No and all of the other classic work by Ian Fleming.
- Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2014At the beginning of ‘Dr. No,’ James Bond has freshly recovered from his near death at the sharp end of the poisoned tipped boot of Rosa Klebb at the end of ‘From Russia With Love.’ The sequence of novels was reversed when ‘Dr. No. was the first novel filmed, followed by ‘FRWL’. It is not surprising that this novel was chosen to open the series. It is a perfect example of a seemingly straightforward investigation by Bond of crime or chicanery leading to an encounter with a diabolical villain who must explain his diabolical scheme before killing him. Such villains always underestimate Bond; pride is their undoing ultimately as they allow Bond an avenue to escape and defeat them.
Bond is supposed to take a rest cure in Jamaica but is very quickly given a simple assignment: to investigate the disappearance of his fellow MI6 agent Strangways, whom we witnessed being murdered, along with his secretary, at the beginning of the novel by Chinese negroes who are henchmen of Dr. Julius No. There are many instances of suspicious activity at Crab Key, the island that is the headquarters for Dr. No’s guano processing operation. Aside from Strangways and his secretary, a few members of the Audubon Society on the island to observe native Roseate spoonbills also died. Bond eventually travels to Crab Key with his friend and trusted guide, native Jamaican Quarrel, who had also helped him in the earlier novel ‘Live and Let Die.’ While there they meet Honeychile Ryder, the rare exception to escape the attention of Crab Key’s owner thus far, a young woman on the island to collect shells. Bond and Honey are taken captive after a ‘dragon’, actually a doctored up tractor/armored vehicle with flame thrower, burns Quarrel alive.
Dr. No is a Chinese-German gangster, a former member of the Chinese Tong crime organization, immensely tall with pincers replacing hands that were cut off. The guano operation is the semi-legitimate cover for his real operation: a mechanism for jamming American missile radio signals causing them to go astray and disregard their directives. He hopes to sabotage enough of these operations to exhaust American resources and alternatives. He admits that he’s received aid from Russia and hopes to attract the interest of Communist China. He explains his plan before sentencing Bond and Honey to long, excruciatingly torturous deaths. Of course, Bond and Honey both escape and Bond seizes control of the guano-loading machine at the docks, diverting the guano flow to bury Dr. No alive.
Although Fleming would never be described as a horror writer, there is a sequence in which a centipede has been placed in Bond’s bed which is worthy of Poe in mounting psychological terror. There is also the long obstacle course sequence, in which Bond navigates through yards of zinc-lined ventilation piping, slowly inching his way up vertical lines and battling steam and hordes of spiders with stretched grating wire as an improvised weapon, culminating in a plunge into the ocean at the end of the pipe, nearly drowning, then battling a giant squid. These are expertly paced and described sequences. Whatever other weaknesses Fleming may possess as a writer, he is a master of perfectly paced adventure.
As in the previous novel, Bond does not take killing lightly. He kills only when there are no other alternatives or if it is the obvious solution to a menacing problem i.e. the elimination of Dr. No. He is genuinely saddened by the unfortunate death of his friend Quarrel. While the novel may strike modern readers as offensive in its depiction of Quarrel’s ‘pigeon English’, Quarrel himself, though obviously a faithful friend and sidekick, does not seem to be dim or slow. He is intelligent in the ways of his native land and how to navigate through it. His fate only results from being in the wrong place, at the wrong end of a flame thrower emerging from a makeshift tank. Actually, in this case, the filmed adaptation strikes me as more overtly racist than the source novel.
Likewise, Honey is not stupid. She is a largely self-taught orphan who has had to survive and fend for herself from a very early age. She is extremely beautiful, her face marred only by a broken nose from a man who raped her earlier. Although physically traumatized and understandably distrustful of men, she trusts Bond instinctually. Although Bond is undeniably attracted to her, he restrains his desire and does not attempt to seduce her or be anything but supportive. The novel ends with ‘her’ as the sexual aggressor.
There is an undertone of lack of respect for British imperial authority. Bond feels resentful toward M, who has taken away his reliable Beretta handgun and issued him with a clumsy Smith and Wesson, then unwittingly saddled him with this ‘soft’ assignment while Bond is supposed to be resting in Jamaica. The Colonial Governor is presented as a standard politician who wants to hush this entire affair up to avoid bad publicity. Fortunately, he is talked out of doing nothing by a Naval Brigadier who suggests they get a platoon to clean out Crab Key and destroy the remnants of the operation and track down any surviving collaborators.
The only weakness that I detected, and it’s not major, is the dramatization of the real threat of Dr. No’s ultimate plan. We never see a headquarters with a lot of electrical equipment or see any missiles straying from their intended trajectories or causing any real damage. The diabolical plan only exists as words that Dr. No utters in his cold, mechanical, dispassionate voice. All we actually see is conveyor belts and cranes loading masses of guano onto barges at docks. Dr. No’s underground headquarters is impressive, luxurious quarters excavated and constructed miles below the surface of the ocean. However, none of it looks ‘world-threatening.’ This is where the films stepped in and made almost every villain’s headquarters massively spectacular and seemingly impregnable. Of course, this observation comes from someone who encountered the Bond films before reading any of the novels. As a prose work created years before the filmed adaptation of the work was begun, ‘Dr. No’ holds up as a taut, well-executed and plotted thriller, so impressive that one largely forgets the instances of implausibility.
- Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2024I read all the Bond books in the 1960s. Recently I read the story of Ian Fleming’s life. Started reading the series again as I read his life story as there are references in the Bond series to his life story . The series is better the second time around.
- Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2019Great title. Short, simple, feels like it is supposed to mean more than one thing, while also just sounding cool. The first Bond movie, but not the first book. I really enjoy how different the books are from the movies. If you were expecting a novelization of the film you will be shocked, but I love it, sort of like an alternate cut of the movie version I know so well.
This was written in 1958 so some of the racial or gender attitudes can be jarring, but don’t let that dissuade you from experiencing Fleming’s unique writing style. I’ve never quite come across a writer like him. He’s very detail oriented, almost like he is recalling a true memory from his life, which may be what he was going for. Would you believe there is a giant squid in here? I couldn’t, but loved it all the same. Just buy all of these, they are great.
Top reviews from other countries
- Guy who cooksReviewed in Canada on August 25, 2023
5.0 out of 5 stars Fun to read
Amazing to read the book that led to the movie! Quite true to the book.
- Amazon KundeReviewed in Germany on December 22, 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars Top
Top
- Deborah SkinnerReviewed in the United Kingdom on October 12, 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous
Felt the need for Fleming while on holiday - never disappoints and now on my Kinfle forever! So much better than the film!
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Marc ScionicoReviewed in France on December 24, 2019
5.0 out of 5 stars Très bien
Conforme à ce que je souhaitais
- MariaReviewed in Spain on December 31, 2018
5.0 out of 5 stars I love James Bond books!
I love James Bond books!