Too Bad to Die

by Francine Mathews

A tense and enthralling historical thriller in which British Naval Intelligence officer Ian Fleming attempts to foil a Nazi plot to assassinate FDR, Churchill, and Stalin.  

November, 1943. Weary of his deskbound status in the Royal Navy, intelligence officer Ian Fleming spends his spare time spinning stories in his head that are much more exciting than his own life…until the critical Tehran Conference, when Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, and Josef Stalin meet to finalize the D-Day invasion.

With the Big Three in one place, Fleming is tipped off that Hitler’s top assassin has infiltrated the conference. Seizing his chance to play a part in a real-life action story, Fleming goes undercover to stop the Nazi killer. Between martinis with beautiful women, he survives brutal attacks and meets a seductive Soviet spy who may know more than Fleming realizes. As he works to uncover the truth and unmask the assassin, Fleming is forced to accept that betrayal sometimes comes from the most unexpected quarters—and that one’s literary creations may prove eerily close to one’s own life.

Brilliantly inventive, utterly gripping and suspenseful, Too Bad to Die is Francine Mathews’s best novel yet, and confirms her place as a master of historical fiction.

Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Espionage, Historical, War

368 pages, Hardcover

First published March 3, 2015

About the author

Francine Mathews was born in Binghamton, NY in 1963, the last of six girls. Her father was a retired general in the Air Force, her mother a beautiful woman who loved to dance. The family spent their summers on Cape Cod, where two of the Barron girls now live with their families; Francine's passion for Nantucket and the New England shoreline dates from her earliest memories. She grew up in Washington, D.C., and attended Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School, a two hundred year-old Catholic school for girls that shares a wall with Georgetown University. Her father died of a heart attack during her freshman year.

In 1981, she started college at Princeton – one of the most formative experiences of her life. There she fenced for the club varsity team and learned to write news stories for The Daily Princetonian – a hobby that led to two part-time jobs as a journalist for The Miami Herald and The San Jose Mercury News. Francine majored in European History, studying Napoleonic France, and won an Arthur W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship in the Humanities in her senior year. But the course she remembers most vividly from her time at Princeton is "The Literature of Fact," taught by John McPhee, the Pulitzer Prize winning author and staff writer for The New Yorker. John influenced Francine's writing more than even she knows and certainly more than she is able to say.

Francine spent three years at Stanford pursuing a doctorate in history; she failed to write her dissertation (on the Brazilian Bar Association under authoritarianism; can you blame her?) and left with a Masters. She applied to the CIA, spent a year temping in Northern Virginia while the FBI asked inconvenient questions of everyone she had ever known, passed a polygraph test on her twenty-sixth birthday, and was immediately thrown into the Career Trainee program: Boot Camp for the Agency's Best and Brightest. Four years as an intelligence analyst at the CIA were profoundly fulfilling, the highlights being Francine's work on the Counter terrorism Center's investigation into the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, and sleeping on a horsehair mattress in a Spectre-era casino in the middle of Bratislava.

Another peak moment was her chance to debrief ex-President George Bush in Houston in 1993. But what she remembers most about the place are the extraordinary intelligence and dedication of most of the staff – many of them women – many of whom cannot be named.

She wrote her first book in 1992 and left the Agency a year later. Fifteen books have followed, along with sundry children, dogs, and houses. When she's not writing, she likes to ski, garden, needlepoint, and buy art.

Reviews

[David Lucero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ian Fleming is best known for creating one of literature's most exciting characters. But where did he come up with ideas for such a man. A man confident and capable of taking on the toughest challenges. Not many know Fleming's background. As a child he proved to be something of a rebel. He moved around from school to school because he failed to fit in. His fluency in German, French, and Russian made him invaluable to certain people, and by the time WW2 came along, Fleming had traveled from Moscow, to Paris, Berlin, and back to England. He was a shoe-in for Naval Intelligence work. And one particular assignment which would change the course of the War proved his most undaunting challenge.

Cairo, Egypt November 1943

President Roosevelt meets Prime Minister Churchill to celebrate Thanksgiving and prepare for their journey to Tehran where they will meet Marshal Stalin to discuss Operation Overlord (the invasion of Western Europe). Hitler learns of the Big Three meeting from his most trusted spy, codenamed 'Fencer.' It is believed this man, or woman, was responsible for some of the most impossible missions which saved Nazi Germany from military disaster. Where and how the Fencer gets information is as much a mystery as the Fencer's identify.

When Fleming arrives in Cairo he is joined by a childhood friend, a Yank, with whom he shares information about the Fencer and his communiques to Berlin in real time. It becomes apparent to Fleming the Fencer has been assigned to assassinate the Big Three at the Tehran Conference, thus saving Hitler from military disaster and from having to fight a two-front war. But how does Fleming get the Big Three to hear his story? Will they believe him?

Fleming, ever the dashing intelligence officer who knows how to romance women, drink, play cards, and pursue an elusive enemy, finds himself with his back to the wall. Although he is certain something dangerous is brewing, no one will listen or believe his story. And so he thus embarks on a journey to seek and destroy the Fencer. But the Fencer appears to know his every move. How is this possible, he wonders.... Unless the Fencer is closer to him than he thought!

With help from an unlikely heroine and a wily Polish/Jewish pilot, Ian Fleming finds himself on the most exciting, and dangerous mission of his life.... One that is for the books, so to speak!

I found this copy (an unproofed edition) in an Amvets thrift shop and liked the cover and title. After reading what it was about, I was hooked. The author has done her research about Fleming, and her characters (both fictional and real) in this story make for a good read. I like her clichés with Fleming toying around about the idea of writing spy novels when the war is over, and coming up with the right name for his character, not to mention an all-too tasty drink shaken, not stirred. I've studied a bit of Fleming's military career and found him to be a bit more exciting than some might have believed. The time and place where the Big Three met did in fact occur, and Hitler most likely did request a feasibility plan on assassination. This story might well be true. Whether it is or not, you'll be hooked. It has a blend of action, history, romance, suspense, and thriller. Keep on reading!

[Mark Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Too Bad To Die" (wouldn't Lee Child have loved that title?) is so brisk and light on its feet, that you’ll be sucked right in to this whirling plot involving British Naval Intelligence Officer Ian Fleming and the Tehran Conference of 1943.

Told with fast-shifting points of view and a library’s worth of savory historical detail, this spy-thriller-suspense novel mashes the form in spirited fashion and expects you to keep up, precious little spoon feeding allowed.

I’m no World War II buff, but Francine Mathews lays out the basics with ease. The setting is Cairo and Tehran as Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt and later Josef Stalin meet to finalize the D-Day invasion. Our hero Fleming, with a significant legacy to live up to and just beginning to understand his true talents, is assigned to ferret out a plot to assassinate the Allied leaders. Fleming is warned that the mastermind of the plot, known by his handle “The Fencer,” may have wormed his way into either the delegation of the Brits or the Americans.

Too Bad To Die is a busy book (in a good way). Be prepared for a large cast. Mathews fearlessly switches point of view between chapters. Historical figures abound, from Alan Turing to Averell Harriman to Elliott Roosevelt. Mathews’ two years of research shows, but she deals out the tidbits in smooth fashion. The chapters about Fleming, who invents the James Bond alter ego for his undercover work, set the anchor. He's got something to prove and some determination to get the job done. Along the way there are hidden transmitters, vodka-guzzling pilots, decoy dignitaries, fake Russian waiters, you get the picture.

As Mathews notes in her acknowledgements, “Fleming was up to his eyeballs in secret plots” as the assistant director to British Naval Intelligence in wartime London. “His shadow falls across many of the most daring and ingenious deception operations of the war, particularly disinformation campaigns against the Axis. A great number of myths have grown up around him as well—from the outset, he was a character meant for fiction.”

Too Bad To Die proves leaves little doubt of that fact. Case closed.

[Cathy Cole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read and enjoyed Mathews' previous historical thriller Jack 1939, I looked forward to reading Too Bad to Die, and I was not disappointed. I was hooked in the prologue when I learned the origin of the book title. Too Bad to Die is an excellent blend of history, literature and cinema as it gives us the background of Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, and the importance of the meeting between Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin.

Mathews' research blends seamlessly into her narrative. Her portraits of the world leaders are at once informative and familiar. By sharing scenes from his boyhood, we can also read and smile and trace the beginnings of one of literature's most famous characters.

While the book satisfies on both history and mystery levels, it also delivers with a good solid pace and exciting action sequences-- although a scene of torture towards the end of the book may make some readers uncomfortable. My radar must be in fine shape because I did find the identity of the super spy/killer a bit too easy to guess, but there's a lot more to this book than whodunnit.

If you're a fan of well-researched, high octane historical thrillers, Too Bad to Die is too good to miss.

[Donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not my 'thing', but I needed it for a book challenge. I listened to the audio and it took me 4 days to get through it, when it only required one afternoon.

I thought the story was creative and well thought out, but the narrative style was my least favorite when listening to audios. It felt a little to clinical for my tastes. I wanted more than what things looked like....I wanted what it felt like and what the thoughts were. I could see the characters, but couldn't feel them. I did like the way the author pulled it all in at the ending, so 2 stars.

[Mal Warwick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imagine an espionage novel starring Ian Fleming, Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Alan Turing, Josef Stalin, Lavrenti Beria, Churchill’s daughter and daughter-in-law, one of Roosevelt’s sons, and a passel of other recognizable characters thrown together at a fateful time in 1943. Oh, and you might add James Bond to the mix.

In this delightfully wicked novel, American crime and espionage writer Francine Mathews builds on known facts about the high-powered people who figure in the story — and imagines them as they might have reacted to a Nazi assassination plot directed against Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. The tale is set in Cairo and Tehran, where the leaders of the three Allies came together to set the strategy for the invasion of Nazi Europe. As best I can tell, the broad historical events depicted in this book are entirely consistent with the facts. It’s the plot that is fully imagined.

Ian Fleming was, in fact, assistant to the head of British Naval Intelligence and was the inventive author of some of the most dramatic deceptions mounted by the Allies. He held the rank of Commander. As indicated in the book, he was the son of a wealthy Member of Parliament who died on the Western Front in 1917. He was, in fact, educated at Eton and Sandhurst. The James Bond series of spy novels Fleming wrote after the war were based, in large part, on his experience as a master of the craft. Much of the rest is fiction.

Too Bad to Die recounts the events of seven days late in November 1943. Roosevelt and Churchill, both ailing old men, have flown to Cairo with the ostensible purpose of reaching a joint strategy to deal with Stalin a few days hence at a fateful conference in Tehran. Mathews is a careful student of history, because the dialogue involving these larger-than-life figures is entirely credible, and their circumstances, and the state of their health, are all grounded in fact.

The conceit around which Mathews builds her tale is that Ian Fleming departs from his desk job to tangle with a Nazi master-spy who threatens to assassinate the Big Three leaders. There’s not a lot of mystery around the identity of the master-spy, even if Fleming is in the dark, but the unfolding events make for a thoroughly enjoyable story.

[Гергана Васева · Rating 2 out of 5]

,,Твърде лош, за да умре" е историята за появата на добре познатият ни агент 007. В романа се проследява развитието на Иън Флеминг - конспиратор, който работи за британското разузнаване по време на Втората световна война. Основното действие в романа се развива в период от 8 дни (25 ноември - 2 декември 1943г.) А завръзката е в открития от Флеминг и негов приятел заговор за убийството на Тримата големи - Рузвелт, Чърчил и Сталин - на конференцията в Техеран. Това отключва кутията на Пандора за Иън - опитвайки се да надхитри враговете си, в кръв и болка, се ражда един от най-известните герои - Джеймс Бонд, Агент 007.
Книгата спечелих от онлайн игра преди повече от година. И след разследването ми за Никола Вапцаров, изпитах нужда от нещо леко което да успокои нервите ми. Така грабнах ,,Твърде лош, за да умре" и започнах да чета. Определено не останах разочарована в очакването си за незатормозяващо четиво.
Историята е интересна като замисъл. Оформлението на идеята - наивно. На корицата на книгата е посочено мнение от Publishers Weekly: ,, Компетентна и изискана...Матюс кара историческите фигури да оживеят.", с което не мога да се съглася. Персонажите са представени повърхностно, дори глупаво. Франсин Матюс налага какво трябва четящият да мисли за персонажите, а не ги представя чрез тяхната речева характеристика, което на мен не ми харесва. Тайната не е тайна, убиецът, който е представен като един от най-известните опасни хора на света, е известен за четящия още на 50 страница. Може би затова и искрено се забавлявах с останалата част от ,,великата" мистерия.
Признавам - това търсех в този момент, затова и книгата ми хареса. Лека е и необременяваща. Сюжетът не е лош - изпълнен е с наситени действия и драми между персонажите. Авторката дори се е опитала да покаже личностите зад маските - Чърчил, Сталин и Рузвелт. Добър опит.
Ако търсите нещо, които да не ви натоварва - това е четивото за вас.

[Maine Colonial · Rating 1 out of 5]

So you've read the book description and you know the basics. Ian Fleming, Royal Navy intelligence officer and (later) creator of Agent 007, learns that a mole within the western delegation to the Allies' Tehran Conference in 1943 is a Nazi agent who has masterminded a plan to kill Prime Minister Churchill, President Roosevelt and Premier Stalin. Fleming takes it on himself to find out who the traitor is and foil the plot.

That's a terrific idea for a historical thriller. (Though it's not an original idea, since it's based on an assassination plan that was rumored to be planned at the time.) I wish a better writer had come up with such a good idea.

With a mole-hunting plot, writers go one of two ways. One way is for the reader to know who the mole is all along, so that the thrill and intrigue are in the cat-and-mouse game. The other way is for the reader and the protagonist to investigate together, with the big reveal at the end. It appears that in this case Mathews intended the plot to work the second way. The problem is that the whodunnit is ridiculously obvious almost from the get-go. I kept thinking there must be some big twist coming, but it didn't.

Mathews also shares a problem that is all too common in historical fiction. It's the compulsion to cram the text full of every bit of research the author did. This kills all the plot's momentum and the story sinks. And it's so unnecessary. By contrast, I think of Philip Kerr, who does a tremendous amount of research on his World War II novels, but it's all seamlessly integrated into the story.

This will not be a problem for every reader, but I was also put off by Mathews's treatment of her real historical characters. She makes the readers voyeurs, peeping into the bedrooms of Churchill's daughter, daughter-in-law, Chiang Kai-Shek and his wife, and others. It just feels sleazy to me, and unfair to the real people who are no longer here to defend themselves––or possibly sue her for libel.

To complain about the clunky and overheated writing might be considered overkill at this point, but since that was one of the first things that struck me, I should mention it.

A disappointment.

[JoAnne Pulcino · Rating 4 out of 5]

TOO BAD TO DIE

Francine Mathews

TOO BAD TO DIE is a wonderful historical thriller that features British Navel Intelligence officer, Ian Fleming who prevents a Nazi plot trying to assassinate Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Stalin. In November, 1943 the big three meet at the Tehran Conference and Fleming learns Hitler’s top assassin has been given the assignment. Fleming goes undercover to discover the assassin and in the process has to face the fact that betrayal is sometimes just too close.

Ms. Mathews has done an excellent job of including so many real life characters and the intrigue is very suspenseful. She is becoming one of the best spy thrillers today. She even manages to include “shaken not stirred”.

Good book.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

this would have been a 5 star book, except for the fact that I figured out who the bad guy was before the half-way mark of the book. I hate that.

[Wesley Britton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve lost count of how many novels I’ve read over the years that fictionalize author Ian Fleming’s involvement in Naval Intelligence in World War II. In each case, known history, speculative biography, and obvious literary invention meet. Most yarns by the likes of Damian Stevenson and Aaron Cooley seek to present foreshadowings of what Fleming would write in his James Bond books. The imaginations of such writers are usually quite fanciful with Fleming being more the action figure than he actually was.

I can’t recall any previous work quite as literate as Francine Mathews’ To Bad to die which weaves flashbacks from Fleming’s childhood into his investigation into a Nazi plot to assassinate Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin at their November 1943 conference in Tehran to plan out the Normandy invasion. Very convincingly, Mathews sketches many portraits of important historical figures from the “Big Three” to their entourages and family members, code-breaker Allan Turing, broadcaster Edward R. Morrow, Chinese leader Chiang Kai-Shek, and U.S. ambassador to Great Britain, Averell Harriman.

Although little of this story happened or could have happened in 1943, Mathews is especially believable creating the milieu in which all these figures walked, notably using vocabulary and terms of English schoolboys when Fleming was young. Hints of the Bond books to come include references to martinis shaken, not stirred, a voice inside Fleming’s head giving him the alter ego of 007, a false passport giving Commander Fleming the fake name of James Bond, and a torture scene is clearly meant to seem the inspiration for a very similar situation in 1953’s Casino Royale. The death of Fleming’s father during World War I is offered as the psychological motivation for Fleming’s spinning out fantastic yarns. In short, Mathews digs deeper than many other writers to give readers more than a hot and fast page-turner.

Obviously, Bond fans, World War II buffs, and lovers of espionage yarns in general are a perfect audience for Too Bad to Die. Aficionados of suspense and mystery stories should find much to appreciate from Francine Mathews’ descriptive tale, even if few readers will miss the obvious clues that reveal who the main villain is long before he levels a pistol at Fleming. Still, I can’t help but think the actual creator of James Bond would approve of this one.

This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on Oct. 29, 2016:
http://dpli.ir/E1oQiL

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author Mathews concocts a fictional thriller set at a real time in history involving Ian Fleming (later author of 007 novels). It takes place during the middle eastern conference between Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin in their debates and decision making in how to destroy Hitler's forces via D-Day. Fleming (a member the British Naval Intelligence unit) was actually involved in the planning of this conference but was not present and was laid up with an illness, but Mathews weaves a tale of his being made aware of a plot by a mysterious shadow of a Nazi spy who has infiltrated the conference under the guise of one of the trusted people present. The aim of THE FENCER is to kill all the three leaders. If you are a fan of James Bond, whether via books or movies, you will be interested in how she incorporates the many aspects of Fleming's creation into the story including the origins of many of the Bond adventures via martinis, women, villain ideas, and many aspects of 007's nasty confrontations, especially one in CASINO ROYALE. And I was surprised to learn that SMERSH was real. A good summer read of history learned and fictional mysteries solved.

[Jessica - How Jessica Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

A spy thriller at its finest. Super fun - imagining the wartime activities of Ian Fleming.

[Peg Albrets · Rating 5 out of 5]

very fun with Ian Fleming as a major character

[Alyson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have not interest in James Bond or Ian Fleming, but I really enjoyed this thriller based on Ian Fleming's life. I did the audio and it was well done.

[Delia Binder · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this highly fictionalized story of 007 creator Ian Fleming's experiences in British Naval Intelligence during WWII, American author (and ex-CIA analyst) Francine Mathews spins the tale of a Nazi plot to simultaneously assassinate Churchill, FDR and Stalin at the 1943 Allied Leader Conference in Tehran (then under joint British and Soviet control). Ian Fleming wanted to become a Commando like his older brother Peter (a then-popular author of travel books and humorous adventure stories - and a handsome, successful man unlike his troublemaking disgrace of a kid brother!), but his real gift was, as the story puts it, "Lying to The Enemy". Concocting compelling, mad, just probable enough to be swallowed stories that would later make his creation James Bond the world's best-known fictional spy, Commander Fleming quickly rose to become Assistant to Naval Intelligence Chief, Rear Admiral John Godfrey (generally believed to be the basis for "M" in the Bond novels).

The story's Fleming, who is on good terms with Enigma codebreaker (and grandfather of modern computing) Alan Turing, is warned by the stuttering, socially awkward genius that a Nazi operative code-named "The Fencer" may have somehow infiltrated the conference. Details are so vague, though, and The Fencer so good at hiding in plain sight, that Fleming elects to gather proof on his own before going to either Churchill or Roosevelt with his suspicions. Co-opting Signals Operator Grace Cowles (an ex-girlfriend he's not entirely over), and his American opposite number Michael Hudson (his oldest and dearest friend), Commander Fleming quickly finds out that The Fencer is playing a cat-and-mouse game with him, and seems to always be several painful steps ahead....

The historical Fleming, though he helped plan the Tehran Conference, was unable to attend due to bronchitis. In Ms. Mathews's version, though, he's relentlessly hunting The Fencer, interrogating potential suspects in the Conference party (which includes such historical figures as Churchill's daughter-in-law Pamela and daughter Sarah, Generalissmo Chiang Kai-Shek and Madame Chiang, US Ambassador to the UK Gil Winant, US Ambassador to the Soviet Union Averell Harriman, and British Minister for War Transport Lord Leathers), meeting secretly with the Cairo's NKVD (the Soviet Union's predecessor to the KGB) Station Chief, enduring repeated stabbings and beatings, all the while picking up obvious bits that will later appear in his 007 stories. This may be the most groan-worthy aspect of the novel, as Fleming temporarily uses a British Passport in the name of "James Bond", NKVD Chief Nazir drinks "vodka martinis, shaken - not stirred", and Fleming's sometimes repulsive attitudes towards women and sex closely mirror his creation's.

I liked this book, but I didn't love it. While I'd hardly call myself an expert on 007 or Ian Fleming, there are a number of things here that don't entirely jibe with what we know about the author and his creation; for one, it's pretty widely known that "James Bond" was the name of an American ornithologist whose books Fleming owned and admired. It also bugs me that the identity of The Fencer is pretty bloody obvious - I won't spoil it for you, but if you choose to read this book, see if you haven't figured it out yourself by about a quarter of the way through!

I got Too Bad to Die via BookBub. For whatever price I paid, I'd say it was worth it....

[Iona Whishaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is nothing more pleasing than a tight, well-written and gipping tale of espionage, and for me, a lover of history, it is just so much the better if it is taking place in the middle of the second world war. If, in addition the author has populated the book with real people, then I am lost!

Francine Mathew’s latest espionage thriller, “Too Bad To Die” is gripping because she has realized the enormous possibilities inherent in putting real people who are engaged in the big moments in history into do or die situations. In this book she goes right to the top, she follows Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin to their famous ‘big three’ conference in Teheran late in 1943 where they are going to decide amongst themselves conduct of the final stages of the war, and sets among them a dark and deadly assassination plot that could, in one blow, change history forever. Enter Ian Fleming, then a naval intelligence officer, who gets wind of a plot by someone on the inside to destroy the leaders and their conference, and who must risk ,literally, jolly nearly everything to stop it before it is too late.

The book is populated by all the players of the period besides the big three; Harriman, Pamela Churchill, Sarah Churchill, Chiang Kai Shek and Madam Chiang, Elliot Roosevelt, Alan Turing, and a whole host of underlings…they all play a part, and all of them, including Ian Fleming, come under suspicion, which of course severely hampers his ability to discover the villain.

The extraordinary level of detail is comfortably imparted as if Mathews herself is writing to us from 1943. The visceral feel of the period is never intrusive, but only illustrative and gives the book a palpable feel of authenticity. All the characters, both men and women, are treated equally as fully-fledged, both flawed and unexpectedly heroic. There is a kind of lovely macabre humour in the character of Ian Fleming, who gets into increasingly dangerous and tortuous situations, and keeps himself sane by imagining lines from his future books about 007.

Mathews creates a complex multi-coloured tapestry, into which all the many characters are woven so that in the end the importance of each of them is evident. The writing is flawless; sharp, clear, unyielding. I could not put it down, and honestly, I had to remind myself that the big three did not go up in flames in Teheran after all, but were left free to go about their schoolboy business of dividing up the world in ways that made messes that we are still unable to sort out nearly eighty years later.

[Zora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another solid book by Mathews. It took me fairly long to read because I kept running off to research these historical characters. (Kathleen Harriman, for instance, a powerful woman that managed to stay out of the awareness of the public most of her life. And that ass Elliot Roosevelt. What a doofus.)

This is a fictional tale about the real Ian Fleming discovering a plot to assassinate the real FDR, Churchill, and Stalin at the real Tehran. As well researched as everything she writes, this also has the bonus of being seeded with many details later to appear in 007 novels, which will please people who like Bond more than I do. Fleming gets himself into deep trouble and meets a terrifically created "Bond girl" with multiple aliases (or two Bond girls, if you count English Grace.) There are betrayals and revenge and a people drugging each other, casinos (not that Ian/James gets to go there), hidden microphones, planted evidence, and all sorts of entertaining spy stuff. Some martinis are shaken; some are stirred.

Yes, you know who the bad guy is at the halfway point BECAUSE THIS IS STRUCTURED LIKE A BOND STORY. Keep up, people! Were you confused about Dr. No being a bad guy? No, you were not. The tension in this novel comes not from the mystery of who the bad-guy spy is, as Mathews purposefully reveals that to the reader, but from wondering when Ian is going to figure it out, and how, and if he'll die in the attempt to save the day.

I had a good time reading this book, which manages to be more serious than a typical Bond tale while using some of its tropes and providing some of its thrills. I also was floored at the some of the biographical information included that I verified other places. I'm not quite sure how WWII got won with so many people in positions of power sleeping with each other instead of keeping their eyes on the ball.

[S · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25

I’m glad I finally got around to finishing this book. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever ready before, but definitely makes me interested in reading similar stories.

The most interesting aspect of this book for me is the historical element of it, with characters like FDR, Churchill, and Stalin playing important roles in the novel. The World War II setting was really interesting, yet the novel still read like it’s own mystery/work of fiction. Although the large cast of characters and perspectives could be confusing at times, I found this element to really add to the intrigue and tense political atmosphere of the novel.

As for downsides, I did find the pacing to be on the slower side, and I also found the big twist pretty predictable. However, I thought the overall novel was consistently good all the way through to the end, and I’m really glad I read it.

[Dana Jennings · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel was, for me, pure pleasure. Based on research, Mathews vivifies Ian Fleming as the Royal Navy intelligence officer that he was in 1943. The narrative traces the political intrigue of the Tehran Conference at which Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin carve up Europe after agreeing campaigns to defeat the Nazis. The time spans from Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1943 to Saturday, December 4, 1943. The story is taut and fast-paced. Throughout Fleming's machinations to solve the planned murders of all three heads of state, he writes snippets on paper or in his head, lines we recognize from his future novels.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like historical fiction in general, and where there's a mystery/thriller element - even better. This book takes key personages involved in the Teheran meeting of Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin in November 1943 and weaves an assassination plot around them, involving Ian Fleming, who later found fame and fortune as the creator of James Bond. It gets a little intense in places, and I could have lived without the graphic description of the torture of a few characters, but my biggest issue is that I figured out who the Fencer was pretty early on, and I found myself thinking, why is no one figuring this out? But entertaining...

[R.R. Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick, fun read about some imagined adventures for Ian Fleming, during his heyday as an officer in British Naval Intelligence circa World War Two. As a long time Bond fan, and a huge fan of Fleming the man, I enjoyed reading Ms Mathews' speculations on what a more Bond-like Fleming might have endured had the war gone the way he'd always dreamed. I'm sure Fleming himself would have loved for even just a bit of the action of this book to have come true! A good read if you're a Bond/Fleming fan, worth the time.

[Nathan · Rating 1 out of 5]

It kept me reading but the ending was terrible and I wanted to throw the book in disgust at the botched job (I didn't because it was digital and I care about my phone too much).

Many parts were really good but the underlying plot left much to be desired. The story lacked plausibility and the plan for assassination was a joke.

[Gregory Norman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Damned good read

Any idiot could figure out the villain about a third of the way in but the story works wonderfully well anyway
. I'll be checking out Matthews' other offerings as well.

[Сибин Майналовски · Rating 1 out of 5]

Жалко подобие на Джеймс Бонд. Аз като фен на франчайза страдах двойно. Още повече ще страдам, ако някой духовен брат на сиелци (разбирай, със сходна тотална липса на вкус) из Холивуда реши да екранизира това недоносче. Стига ми и мъката покрай първите два филма на онзи дългоухия.

[Alexander Ulloa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not partial here. I'm a big fan of James Bond or stories like those when the villain can be anyone. It also has a special value for me because it was the first book that I read when I started to live in the States (I bought it in a Dollar Tree Store)

[Steven Hinman · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting novel, based on Ian Fleming!

[Fred Yderf · Rating 1 out of 5]

I GAVE UP READING IT,,

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was Ian Fleming really a spy for MI6? Not as much history as I would of liked, but a good read all round. I always found it interesting the way 3 people could crave up the world.

[B. Cheng · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun fictional "inside look" into the Tehran negotiations and the foundation of James Bond.

[Малина Крумова · Rating 3 out of 5]

Книгата е интересен прочит на реални исторически събития. Не знам дали от превода или си е така, но върви малко мудно. Все пак е интригуваща шпионска история.