Octopussy and The Living Daylights

by Ian Fleming

Shipped from UK, please allow 10 to 21 business days for arrival. Good, Published 1966 by Jonathan Cape. First edition, first impression. D/J shows minor signs of wear, now protected by plastic sleeve. Some foxing.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Espionage, Short Stories, Spy Thriller, Action, Ebooks

95 pages, Hardcover

Published December 27, 1987

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Ian Lancaster Fleming was an English writer, best known for his postwar James Bond series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his father was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Henley from 1910 until his death on the Western Front in 1917. Educated at Eton, Sandhurst, and, briefly, the universities of Munich and Geneva, Fleming moved through several jobs before he started writing.
While working for Britain's Naval Intelligence Division during the Second World War, Fleming was involved in planning Operation Goldeneye and in the planning and oversight of two intelligence units: 30 Assault Unit and T-Force. He drew from his wartime service and his career as a journalist for much of the background, detail, and depth of his James Bond novels.
Fleming wrote his first Bond novel, Casino Royale, in 1952, at age 44. It was a success, and three print runs were commissioned to meet the demand. Eleven Bond novels and two collections of short stories followed between 1953 and 1966. The novels centre around James Bond, an officer in the Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6. Bond is also known by his code number, 007, and was a commander in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. The Bond stories rank among the best-selling series of fictional books of all time, having sold over 100 million copies worldwide. Fleming also wrote the children's story Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang and two works of non-fiction. In 2008, The Times ranked Fleming 14th on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".
Fleming was married to Ann Fleming. She had divorced her husband, the 2nd Viscount Rothermere, because of her affair with the author. Fleming and Ann had a son, Caspar. Fleming was a heavy smoker and drinker for most of his life and succumbed to heart disease in 1964 at the age of 56. Two of his James Bond books were published posthumously; other writers have since produced Bond novels. Fleming's creation has appeared in film twenty-seven times, portrayed by six actors in the official film series.

Reviews

[Supratim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reread this book after such a long time. This was my first brush with the iconic British spy in a book written by the creator, Ian Fleming. I had read a Bond novel by John Gardener earlier though.

The edition I have contains the following three stories
• Octopussy
• The Living Daylights
• The Property of a Lady
Some editions feature an additional story - 007 IN NEW YORK. I wish my edition included this one.

In these stories you will get to accompany Bond on his missions across the globe: Jamaica, West Berlin and London. Enter the world of espionage, spies, traitors and assassins.

The best part: there are no outlandish plots, larger-than-life villains hell bent on taking over the world, even the iconic cars and fancy gizmos are absent. The stories are realistic (or at least what readers and critiques of spy fiction claim to be realistic) and I found then enjoyable. But a little bit of sexism is there in one of the stories.

Now we come to the stories –

Octopussy : Here, surprisingly, Bond has limited presence and dons the role of cop rather than that of a spy. 007 deals with a ex-British army major who had committed a crime during his posting in post WW2 Germany. Interestingly, the character of Hannes Oberhauser was first introduced in this book. I recognized the name from the movie Spectre. But, the story around the character has been somewhat altered in the movie.

I had watched Octopussy before reading the stories. But, the movie adaptation contains elements of this and The Property of a Lady and has built up on then. Octopussy has been condensed into a dialogue in the movie and while The Property of the Lady became a scene.

The Property of a Lady : Bond is tasked with identifying a top ranking Soviet spy during the auction of a Faberge art in Sootheby’s in London.

The Living Daylights : Here Bond’s mission is to facilitate the escape of a spy from East Berlin to West Berlin by taking care of a KGB sniper. In this story, the famous 007 would actually express his distaste at having to kill someone. The story would be part of the beginning scene in the movie adaption featuring Timothy Dalton as Bond.

The book also has some illustrations which use dots to create profiles of weapons, cars among others. I liked the designs.

Bond buffs and people interested in spy fiction would enjoy the book. The book is only 127 pages long and can be read in one sitting.

[Tommy S.]

it's weird to read a novel of Ian Fleming with my imagination of james Bond in modern times...

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

A posthumous collection of the remaining Bond short stories: "Octopussy", "The Property of a Lady", "The Living Daylights" and "007 in New York". Having read this far it would be a shame not to complete the set...

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t think I like best what a lot of James Bond readers like best in the books—and at least, so far, I like Fleming’s short stories best of all. There are almost no speaking female characters in these stories, and so the misogyny only gets a workout in one paragraph in the last story. There’s also not enough time for real snobbishness, or for pointlessly long filler travelogue. What you get instead is action and spy work—at an auction, second-hand through a story Bond is told by a smuggler, and, in the best story, (“The Living Daylights”), in a sniper’s assignment.

My only problem with this book is that it’s only three stories—I think the newer editions expand it to four.

[Blair Hodgkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three fine Bond stories. The Living Daylights is easily the best of the trio.

[Druss · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally completed the whole Flemingcollection.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook, which was read by Tom Hiddleston. I would listen to that man read the phone book, so already I knew it wouldn't be a terrible listening experience. I really enjoyed these three very different stories. I particularly liked The Living Daylights for its portrayal of James Bond.

[Jari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Af en toe vrij problematisch, wel in een middag uitgelezen

[Philip · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another save from my Dad's bookshelf...

This collection of three short stories - which according to the cover are "the last great adventures of James Bond" - were first published in Playboy ("Octopussy" and "Property of a Lady") and Argosy ("Living Daylights") magazines.

No surprise, but "Octopussy" bears no resemblance to the terrible Roger Moore movie, except that there is (very briefly) an octopus in the story. Bond himself is also an afterthought, appearing in just two brief scenes to ask a couple of questions about events that happened in Germany at the end of World War II. Similarly, while (thankfully) never made into a movie, "Property of a Lady" involves a Faberge egg, which as I recall was also a plot point in the Octopussy film. There's a more direct book/film connection with "Living Daylights," as the whole story is basically the first 15 minutes of the movie, (again, as I remember - don't hold me to it).

None of the stories have aged well - in fact, they're more "vignettes" than full-on stories - and so are really only for hardcore fans, (which I am not).

[Elsie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is three stories: Octopussy, The Living Daylights and Property of a Woman. I like the short stories. Bond isn't always the main character in them and if he is there's more about him as a character.

[ocicat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Octopussy is an entertaining read to sit and enjoy on a sunny afternoon. Three stars.

[Don Bennie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short little adventure….Bond gains some humanity to his character that is not close to the movie persona. Adequate length for a small idea to be suitably fleshed out.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three very short stories, with not much spy action, but with so many elements that appear across a number of the subsequent films. Octopussy is a bit flat, Property of a Lady and the Living Daylights are much better.

[Frederick Tan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read a while ago.

[Lukas Bradford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short story 3: The Living Daylights
4 ⭐️

Easily the best of the 3 short stories. Having seen the movie I already knew how this would end, but it was still really good nonetheless.

[Alex Gherzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

After being bored to tears, I finally gave up on Dune and it's dull characters, simplistic dialogue, and rushed narrative. And when you need a jolt of energy, who better than James Bond to deliver? So I ended my Ian Fleming re-read with Octopussy, the final collection of short stories published after Fleming's passing. I enjoy the short story format for Bond quite a bit, and these three stories work quite well in painting a picture of 007's more mundane missions.

*Spoilers*

"Octopussy": Bond has a relatively minor role in this initial story, the recounting of a British soldier's murder and theft as World Word II wound down, his profiteering of his crime, and his contentment at getting away with his crimes... until a British spy shows up at his estate in Jamaica, identifying himself as "Bond, James Bond." Not only is Bond there on official business, but the murdered German was a friend of his, a man who was kind to a young boy who needed a hand when he lost his parents. Still, Bond gives the officer, a Major Dexter Smythe, the opportunity to save face and take his own way out. The glimpse into Bond's past sheds some light on his sense of loyalty, as he's experienced kindness when he was at his lowest, and as a man he'll do that for others, be they the boss he respects, a colleague in need, or even a traitor who faces disgrace. The irony is that the mercy Bond allows Smythe was taught to him by the man Smythe murdered, the man Bond is there to avenge.

"The Living Daylights": My favorite of the three stories finds Bond in Berlin with a sniper rifle, tasked with eliminating a KGB assassin sent to kill a double agent trying to escape to the west. As he awaits the moment of truth, Bond tries to come to terms with a mission where he's expected to kill in cold blood -- something he finds distasteful. He attempts to take joy in life, which usually comes easy to him, but the dark cloud of his looming murder hangs over him, and he can't shake it... until he sees a pretty girl with a cello. Bond falls in love with her -- well, not really, but he is intoxicated. Likely, he is clinging to the promise of happiness, of the greatest pleasure in life, in the face of his rendezvous with death. When he discovers that the beautiful cellist is the assassin, he makes a split-second decision that may surprise anyone who hasn't seen the movie. Why Bond doesn't kill her is likely a mix of different factors. First, his well-established weakness is women and his drive to protect them. But more than that, the cellist was Bond's tether to life, the assurance that he was more than just a killer, and now he's being asked to kill her, and effectively kill the last shred of humanity in himself as he does. So Bond flips everyone the bird and spares both her life and his own soul, settling for scaring the living daylights out of her.

"The Property of a Lady": A Russian spy has been discovered in British Intelligence. Actually, she was discovered as soon as she decided to sell out to the commies. But the British have been stringing her along, using her to deliver disinformation to the Russians. Now, they believe that she's about to be pulled out and paid off with a Fabergé egg at a Sotheby's auction. While M is prepared to just write it off, Bond sells him on using this opportunity to identify the KGB's top agent in London, the guy who runs all their doubles. This one isn't as deep as the other two, but I like the setting of the auction, and the way Bond has to observe the crowd to smoke out the spy. But the real joy was in the passage where Bond runs into the traitor in the halls of MI6 and takes stock of her. His description applies so well to Antifa that it's hard to believe this was written in the 60s. I find that comforting; what's going on now is nothing new, nor are these awful people, and they were always the same easily identifiable mutants. Le Carre probably would have been symapthetic, but Fleming saw them for exactly what they are.

These are all fun stories, and elements of them -- or, in some cases, their entireties -- have shown up in the films over the years. It's a nice, light way for Fleming to have finished his Bond saga, with a bit more development of the world's most famous spy.

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dexter Smythe is a retired intelligence agent drinking himself near to death in Jamaica. Note irony in that Ian Fleming was doing the same. When Smythe gets a visit from James Bond, he sort of knows it is trouble, as Major Smythe has been keeping a big secret since the end of WWII.

Story #2 is better, James Bond needs to get to the East/West Berlin border for a Cold War gunfight with a twist ending.

Story #3 kind of pointless, Commander Bond infiltrating the international jewelry biz.

I have now completed all of the Ian Fleming Bond books, and read them in order! It is basically not necessary to read them in order, though it helps a little. Each book stands on its own, with the exception of Thunderball, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and You Only Live Twice, which function together as a trilogy.

Best of the lot? Moonraker, From Russia With Love, and Goldfinger. Worst? The Spy Who Loved Me.

Was Fleming a racist misogynist? Yup. Nobody's perfect.

The books are easy and fun to read. They are a consumption fantasy as much as a mystery suspense series. Bond drives cool cars, eats gourmet food, drinks constantly, and gets lots of chances to enjoy beautiful women. All while saving the world from super-villains. My life exactly, except that I don't get hot cars or gourmet food, I don't drink anymore, I am limited to just one beautiful woman, I have very little adventure, and James Bond does not spend a lot of time reading and posting reviews on GoodReads.

[Ash Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In these shorter works, Fleming's mastery at creating suspense even without a complex plot or much action is on display.[return][return]"Octopussy" is the story of a British major who stole some Nazi gold during the war, committing murder in the process. Bond is sent to investigate, and basically shows up in the story just to inform the major that the jig is up. The story is basically a morality tale about how crime doesn't pay, truth will out, and all those sorts of clichés...but Fleming does an excellent job of showing why they are actually true---and more profoundly, how good ends cannot be achieved by evil means, and an action such as this results not in happiness but misery, even while one may (temporarily) "get away with it". A really interesting character study, and quite philosophically and psychologically astute.[return][return]In "The Living Daylights", Bond is sent to snipe a sniper...an assignment about which neither he nor M is thrilled. It's not quite murder, he knows, but almost...close enough from his perspective as the man who has to do it, at any rate. Lots of interesting characterization of Bond himself in this story.[return][return]"The Property of a Lady" is about a triple agent---a Soviet spy turned double, but actually still working for Moscow---being used by British intelligence to unwittingly pass on false information to her Russian spymasters. This part of the story is hardly fictionalized, and was much more interesting to read after learning about similar real-life espionage activities (see, for example, Agent Zigzag by Ben Macintyre). But when an unusual payoff reveals her true allegiance, Bond sees an opportunity to uncover her boss, the head of Soviet espionage activities in Britain. Again, for a story with basically no action (in the form of physical peril to Bond), this is surprisingly suspenseful.

[John Reis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I decided to read this in light of recent news that all of Ian Fleming's works are to be rewritten for these more sensitive times. I must have bought it more than a decade ago.

This book consists of three short stories:

1) Octopussy
2) The Living Daylights
3) Portrait of a Lady

In the first story, Bond is investigating an an irregularity involving Major Dexter Smythe, who lives in Jamaica and toys with a local octopus, he calls “Pussy”. 15 years earlier, at the end of the war, Smythe was a member of a unit gathering up stray Nazis. Bond has arrived to ask him what he recalls about one particular event. Bond is acting as a cop or someone in internal affairs in this story. He is not a spy.

In the second story, a Soviet scientist is planning to defect through Berlin one day next week. The KGB is aware of this and has sent their most accomplished sniper to Berlin. Bond is given the assignment of killing the sniper. He is not an he is not comfortable with this despite his double O status. This is very reminiscent of the Timothy Dalton movie.

In the third story, a clerk within MI-6 who has been sending information to the KGB is being paid off with a Faberge egg. M is fully well aware of what this clerk has been doing and has made sure over the last three years that they never pass on sensitive authentic information. Bond concludes that since the agent is selling the egg at a Sotheby's auction, the local resident director at the embassy will attend the auction and hunts him down.

The first story is reminiscent of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. The book is illustrated with pointillist drawings of a scuba diver, a pistol, a rifle, a car and many other objects. The books are not at all like the movies. I do not know if this would get a re-write, as there is nothing to offend in it. But I might be wrong.

[Rich]

Not sure about this one really. The last novel written by Fleming about his suave secret agent, James Bond, in fairness does get off to a good start. A decent plot with an odd octopus obsession. The second, again fairy good - the chase for a Russian infiltrator whilst on a pursuit for a fabulous piece of jewellery. This one, in my opinion, shows Bond at his best. Mechanically thinking and acting as he has been described through the series. The last two I'm not so keen on. The Living Daylights is bizarre and I feel too much time is taken with minute details such as the fascination with a girl he only caught a glimpse of. The final one, 007 in New York, I really did not enjoy. It wasn't the Bond I know and love but a monologue for Fleming - difficult to pick a plot and came across to me as clumpy. All in all, fairly good and still an essential part of the series. Here's to Bond and Fleming.

[David]

As with most of the 007 short stories, there is less emphasis on action, and less stereotypical Bond bedroom antics, with more attention given to quirks of human psychology, Bond sometimes more a witness than a participant in the main events. The title story bears only a fragmentary relation to the movie made under the same name in the 1980s. A plot component of the second story has more to do with the actual events of the Octopussy film. The final story in the collection, "The Living Daylights," does provide a reasonable foundation for the opening of the film of the same name, but again as is common with James Bond short stories, the relations they bear to the film was made under their names are few. Readers who are more interested in the literary Bond character than the cinematic Bond character may find the stories intriguing, at the very least again in to the extent that Bond is often an observer rather than a principal participant in what's going on.

[Vieno Savo · Rating 4 out of 5]

So this was my first time reading James Bond stories and I was pleasantly surprised by them. Not nearly as lurid and gun happy as the movies would have believe. Generally, I just like the sad Bond of the written stories more than movie Bond. Although some stories didn't quite land for me, I didn't hate them either.

A note I must add is about the women - and the men. In this whole collection, there are only two women Bond talks about being attracted to. Both have negatives attached to them. But men, I think there were at least three men who are described as "good-looking", in a single story. There is, of course, one man in the same story who is described as a likely homosexual, but this is mainly because he is effeminate and his passing inclusion feels more like and attempt to diffuse the appraisal of the other men by presenting the reader with a "true Other".

Because as we all know, it ain't gay if you do it with manly men.

[Libby Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

For years I have wanted to read all of the James Bond novels. So I started, with this one by fluke actually. you know, that TickTock. show me a book, that was written by a man. yeah this one. You can just tell.

Holy racism, homophobia, sexism, and, many other things Batman. However, despite that it is extremely. well written shockingly well written actually. Even with like every fourth line, me wanting to throw the book across the room. still I want to read the rest of the books

With the racism homophobia sexism. Which I cannot under emphasize how frequently those things happen

To give you a view into how sexist these books are. James Bond, makes Kirk, from the original series look like a gentleman. maybe even a Duggar, in how he treats women. there’s a lot of racism and a decent amount of homophobia

[Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Billed as four short stories but it's really only three. The fourth is all of ten pages (a very short story perhaps). Octopussy, The Property of a Lady and The Living Daylights. All three are entertaining. For those of us who know the films better than the books, the storyline of Property of a Lady was rolled up into the film version of Octopussy (more or less). I've made this observation before but it's interesting how the James Bond of the books is so different to the James Bond of the films. Much less slick and more fallible in the books, and therefore far more interesting in my view. I sense that all of Fleming's Bond books will get a solid 3 out of 5. They're fun to read but not great literature.

[Literati · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps the best Bond stories there are. This collection is composed of short vignettes of Bond, and they contain these dense, captivating stories that invoke Fleming's best. One concerns Bond hiking through Vermont to set up an assassination, another about a man waiting for Bond to kill him. They perfectly include the best parts of Fleming's stories; the grimness of it all, the love affair with the outdoors and the inevitability of Bond. Especially compared with the almost farcical stories that borrow the names of these stories, this collection demonstrates why Bond remains such a key part of modern culture- the ability to slightly modify tropes into this early antihero, this combination of traits we revere and loathe. This collection sums all that up into a tidy package.

[Harry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ian Flemings final Bond adventures. Three very entertaining short stories:

Octopussy - a man's past catches up with him when Bond is sent out to the West Indies to find the truth.

Property Of A Lady - Bond sets out to find the Soviet spy master in London during the sale of a Faberge egg.

View To A Kill - Bond is sent to Berlin to assassinate a Soviet sniper.

For once no love interest with a strange name.

James Bond will return in Colonel Sun.

[Michael P. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Three Bond short stories. The first is a character study of the villain. Bond's involvement is negligible and it isn't much of a story. The second is an improvement with Bond dealing with a moral dilemma, but the conflict with the station chief is as tiresome and it is predictable. Not much happens in the final story, but there is not much wrong with it as well. I enjoyed it the most. I leave Ian Fleming with a sense of relief.

[Motherbooker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read my full review on my blog

Ian Fleming was always much better when writing novels and this short story collection is further proof that Bond didn't really work in short form. There are some interesting ideas at play and a couple of good moments. The titular story is the standout but also the one with the least Bond. Overall, it's a pretty forgettable collection.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

#14 in the James Bond series. Although James Bond continues to exist in print and on film, these short stories are the final ones penned by original author Ian Fleming.

James Bond series - Short stories - The collection originally contained "Octopussy" and "The Living Daylights". More recent editions also include "The Property of a Lady" – added in 1967 and "007 in New York" – added in 2002

[Richard · Rating 2 out of 5]

As usual with Fleming's Bond books, they are nothing like the Bond films. Octopussy and the Living Daylights appear in these short stories and whilst they are literally very good, there is no action, no suspense and no enjoyment. I think I have now read all his Bond books and with the odd exception, I have found them distinctly average. Sorry to all Fleming fans, bit that’s just my opinion.