What do you think?
Rate this book
James Bond - Extended Series #16
James Bond: The Authorised Biography
Like most of the world, John Pearson assumed that James Bond was nothing more than a character in Fleming's highly charged imagination. Then he began to have his doubts. He finally became convinced that James Bond was not only real, but actually alive.
This book must be one of the most extraordinary biographies of our times - the authorised life of a myth, the official biography of James Bond. Here Pearson reveals amazing adventures, situations and incidents only hinted at in Ian Fleming's books. This promises to show a side of Bond never seen before.
This book must be one of the most extraordinary biographies of our times - the authorised life of a myth, the official biography of James Bond. Here Pearson reveals amazing adventures, situations and incidents only hinted at in Ian Fleming's books. This promises to show a side of Bond never seen before.
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1973
57 people are currently reading
841 people want to read
About the author
John George Pearson
30 books24 followersJohn Pearson was a writer best associated with James Bond creator Ian Fleming. He was Fleming's assistant at the London Sunday Times and would go on to write the first biography of Ian Fleming, 1966's The Life of Ian Fleming. Pearson also wrote "true-crime" biographies, such as The Profession of Violence: an East End gang story about the rise and fall of the Kray twins.
Pearson would also become the third official James Bond author of the adult-Bond series, writing in 1973 James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007, a first-person biography of the fictional agent James Bond. Although the canonical nature of this book has been debated by Bond fans since it was published, it was officially authorized by Glidrose Publications, the official publisher of the James Bond chronicles. Glidrose reportedly considered commissioning Pearson to write a new series of Bond novels in the 1970s, but nothing came of this.
Pearson was commissioned by Donald Campbell to chronicle his successful attempt on the Land Speed Record in 1964 in Bluebird CN7, resulting in the book Bluebird and the Dead Lake.
Pearson wrote the non-fiction book, The Gamblers, an account about the group of gamblers who made up, what was known as the Clermont Set, which included John Aspinall, James Goldsmith and Lord Lucan. The film rights to the book were purchased by Warner Bros. in 2006. He also wrote Façades, the first full-scale biography of the literary Sitwell siblings, Edith, Osbert and Sacheverell, published in 1978.
Pearson also wrote five novels:
Gone To Timbuctoo (1962) - winner of the Author's Club First Novel Award
James Bond: The Authorised Biography of 007 (1973)
The Bellamy Saga (1976)
Biggles: The Authorized Biography (1978)
The Kindness of Dr. Avicenna (1982).
Pearson passed away on November 13, 2021. He was ninety one at the time of his death.
Pearson would also become the third official James Bond author of the adult-Bond series, writing in 1973 James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007, a first-person biography of the fictional agent James Bond. Although the canonical nature of this book has been debated by Bond fans since it was published, it was officially authorized by Glidrose Publications, the official publisher of the James Bond chronicles. Glidrose reportedly considered commissioning Pearson to write a new series of Bond novels in the 1970s, but nothing came of this.
Pearson was commissioned by Donald Campbell to chronicle his successful attempt on the Land Speed Record in 1964 in Bluebird CN7, resulting in the book Bluebird and the Dead Lake.
Pearson wrote the non-fiction book, The Gamblers, an account about the group of gamblers who made up, what was known as the Clermont Set, which included John Aspinall, James Goldsmith and Lord Lucan. The film rights to the book were purchased by Warner Bros. in 2006. He also wrote Façades, the first full-scale biography of the literary Sitwell siblings, Edith, Osbert and Sacheverell, published in 1978.
Pearson also wrote five novels:
Gone To Timbuctoo (1962) - winner of the Author's Club First Novel Award
James Bond: The Authorised Biography of 007 (1973)
The Bellamy Saga (1976)
Biggles: The Authorized Biography (1978)
The Kindness of Dr. Avicenna (1982).
Pearson passed away on November 13, 2021. He was ninety one at the time of his death.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
November 16, 2019
5 STARS. Simply put, the greatest non-Fleming Bond book ever written. I cannot believe I only just discovered it as a result of reading Raymond Benson’s Bond Bedside Companion. He mentioned this book multiple times and I decided to check it out.
The premise: James Bond was a real man who knew Ian Fleming. The author, John Pearson, stumbles upon this fact and is eventually permitted to write a biography of Bond as follow-up to his Fleming biography.
James Bond is in his early fifties and weighing his next move: to resign from the Service or continue on. Not only do familiar faces pop up, but during the interviews of Bond for the book, 007 recounts his entire life story.
Having read the Young Bond novels, all of the Fleming’s, and all of the post-Fleming novels, this book reads like a greatest hits. It very perfectly weaves the tapestry between the stories all the while adding brand new stories in-between. It’s unbelievable. Bond’s early days, his relationship with his parents, his multiple meetings with Fleming, his first two kills, his first meeting with M, the friends, foes and females, and everything that happens in-between what we’ve read before is all included. The new stories Pearson has created display the capture and climax scenes and add even more depth to the character and his relationships with others.
It progresses and ends perfectly.
5 stars
The premise: James Bond was a real man who knew Ian Fleming. The author, John Pearson, stumbles upon this fact and is eventually permitted to write a biography of Bond as follow-up to his Fleming biography.
James Bond is in his early fifties and weighing his next move: to resign from the Service or continue on. Not only do familiar faces pop up, but during the interviews of Bond for the book, 007 recounts his entire life story.
Having read the Young Bond novels, all of the Fleming’s, and all of the post-Fleming novels, this book reads like a greatest hits. It very perfectly weaves the tapestry between the stories all the while adding brand new stories in-between. It’s unbelievable. Bond’s early days, his relationship with his parents, his multiple meetings with Fleming, his first two kills, his first meeting with M, the friends, foes and females, and everything that happens in-between what we’ve read before is all included. The new stories Pearson has created display the capture and climax scenes and add even more depth to the character and his relationships with others.
It progresses and ends perfectly.
5 stars
Read
April 30, 2019DNF @ 15 %
I may re-try this sometimes, but it totally failed to grab me now. What if James Bond was real and boring?
I may re-try this sometimes, but it totally failed to grab me now. What if James Bond was real and boring?
July 4, 2016
I'm very fond of this sort of fictional non-fiction, and this one is particularly meta. Pearson handles it very well, and it was fun to read the extended adventures of James Bond and hint at his past. Although much of it has been subsequently over-written in the Young Bond Series, it is more than we got in the original series. So overall a great and fun read.
April 3, 2011
I'm on record as being officially grumpy when publishers and public see fictional characters and settings as somehow independent of their creators. You know the sort of thing I mean - Eoin Colfer being retained to knock out a new Hitch Hiker novel, the children of famous writers writing 'official sequels', based on a conversation they vaguely recall having 35 years ago. And so in order to maintain my integrity I suppose I should dislike this book, what's effectively a James Bond novel not written by Ian Fleming.
Bond is somehow different, though, isn't he? As a character he has burst free of his original context and loomed large in the popular consciousness for half a century (mainly due to the movies), and other people have been writing 'new' Bond novels since the Sixties. Some of these have been pretty distinguished writers (Kingsley Amis, Sebastian Faulks, Charlie Higson), some haven't. Jeffery Deaver is publishing a new one this summer.
This odd independence of Bond from Fleming is sort-of acknowledged in Pearson's book, which purports to be... well, the narrator of the book is a fictionalised version of Pearson, who wrote a well-received of biography of Ian Fleming. In the novel, he receives some odd correspondence suggesting Fleming knew a real man named James Bond - a man of whom there is no official record.
His investigation is pulled up sharply by MI6, but then the service relents and admits that Bond is real, and the books (excepting Moonraker, for reasons anyone who's read it will appreciate) are fictionalised versions of actual events. He is invited to visit Jamaica, where Bond is currently on a sabbatical, in order to collaborate on his memoirs.
The rest of the book is an account of Bond's life from his birth in 1920 through to the early Sixties, when Fleming died - although the very first of the non-Fleming Bond novels, Amis's Colonel Sun, is mentioned in passing. The events of the books are not gone into in detail, and this is largely an exercise in filling in the gaps between them.
Prior to this is a lengthy account of Bond's youth and career before the early Fifties, which is in many ways the most interesting part of the book (needless to say, Charlie Higson's Young Bond books do not adhere to this). I should say that this book is almost completely concerned with the literary Bond, not the big-screen version (Bond is aghast when Sean Connery starts appearing as him in cinemas), a harder, crueller, more complex character by far. I would recommend the books to anyone who enjoyed the films, and I suspect fans of the Fleming books will respond to this one in one of two ways.
Some people will probably find it a rather superfluous exercise in I-dotting and T-crossing. What's the point of trying to give a credible background to, and explain the psychology of, someone who's famously a bit of a cipher anyway? I can kind of see where this criticism is coming from.
On the other hand, Sherlockians have been doing roughly similar things for ages and no-one seems to complain about it. As a game, it's quite good fun, even if the central conceit of the novel never quite convinces. One of the things about Bond as a character is that the nature of the stories dictates that we're never going to learn that much about him as a person. The chance to do so is the appeal of a book like this (it may also explain the success of the last movie version of Casino Royale, but that's another topic).
Pearson does a good job of reanimating Fleming's Bond and explaining quite why he's as messed up as he is, and he inventively sustains his narrative. Not all of it quite rings true to Fleming, however - which Pearson would doubtless explain by saying that he's sticking closer to the truth than Fleming did in his account of Bond's career. And it sort of fizzles out - there's no actual climax, but then, as we all know, Bond is immortal and his life story can never end.
My understanding is that, when the book was written in the early Seventies, Pearson was in the frame to become the official chronicler of Bond's adventures, and this book was intended to lead in to that. Of course, it didn't happen (John Gardner eventually took the role in the early Eighties), and on the strength of this book I don't think we missed much - the novel concludes with Bond off to do battle with irradiated mutant man-eating rats, something I couldn't even imagine the people at Eon thinking a good idea for a Bond plot.
The rest of Pearson's book remains a fun and comprehensive pastiche of Fleming's style - on this occasion, suggesting that the author didn't create his greatest character is, in a strange way, a definite compliment. Still, probably really only one for fans of the Fleming novels.
Bond is somehow different, though, isn't he? As a character he has burst free of his original context and loomed large in the popular consciousness for half a century (mainly due to the movies), and other people have been writing 'new' Bond novels since the Sixties. Some of these have been pretty distinguished writers (Kingsley Amis, Sebastian Faulks, Charlie Higson), some haven't. Jeffery Deaver is publishing a new one this summer.
This odd independence of Bond from Fleming is sort-of acknowledged in Pearson's book, which purports to be... well, the narrator of the book is a fictionalised version of Pearson, who wrote a well-received of biography of Ian Fleming. In the novel, he receives some odd correspondence suggesting Fleming knew a real man named James Bond - a man of whom there is no official record.
His investigation is pulled up sharply by MI6, but then the service relents and admits that Bond is real, and the books (excepting Moonraker, for reasons anyone who's read it will appreciate) are fictionalised versions of actual events. He is invited to visit Jamaica, where Bond is currently on a sabbatical, in order to collaborate on his memoirs.
The rest of the book is an account of Bond's life from his birth in 1920 through to the early Sixties, when Fleming died - although the very first of the non-Fleming Bond novels, Amis's Colonel Sun, is mentioned in passing. The events of the books are not gone into in detail, and this is largely an exercise in filling in the gaps between them.
Prior to this is a lengthy account of Bond's youth and career before the early Fifties, which is in many ways the most interesting part of the book (needless to say, Charlie Higson's Young Bond books do not adhere to this). I should say that this book is almost completely concerned with the literary Bond, not the big-screen version (Bond is aghast when Sean Connery starts appearing as him in cinemas), a harder, crueller, more complex character by far. I would recommend the books to anyone who enjoyed the films, and I suspect fans of the Fleming books will respond to this one in one of two ways.
Some people will probably find it a rather superfluous exercise in I-dotting and T-crossing. What's the point of trying to give a credible background to, and explain the psychology of, someone who's famously a bit of a cipher anyway? I can kind of see where this criticism is coming from.
On the other hand, Sherlockians have been doing roughly similar things for ages and no-one seems to complain about it. As a game, it's quite good fun, even if the central conceit of the novel never quite convinces. One of the things about Bond as a character is that the nature of the stories dictates that we're never going to learn that much about him as a person. The chance to do so is the appeal of a book like this (it may also explain the success of the last movie version of Casino Royale, but that's another topic).
Pearson does a good job of reanimating Fleming's Bond and explaining quite why he's as messed up as he is, and he inventively sustains his narrative. Not all of it quite rings true to Fleming, however - which Pearson would doubtless explain by saying that he's sticking closer to the truth than Fleming did in his account of Bond's career. And it sort of fizzles out - there's no actual climax, but then, as we all know, Bond is immortal and his life story can never end.
My understanding is that, when the book was written in the early Seventies, Pearson was in the frame to become the official chronicler of Bond's adventures, and this book was intended to lead in to that. Of course, it didn't happen (John Gardner eventually took the role in the early Eighties), and on the strength of this book I don't think we missed much - the novel concludes with Bond off to do battle with irradiated mutant man-eating rats, something I couldn't even imagine the people at Eon thinking a good idea for a Bond plot.
The rest of Pearson's book remains a fun and comprehensive pastiche of Fleming's style - on this occasion, suggesting that the author didn't create his greatest character is, in a strange way, a definite compliment. Still, probably really only one for fans of the Fleming novels.
September 22, 2009
The book has an interesting idea behind it: What if James Bond were real. What things would have happened to him?
As with most of us who grew up with the 007 movies, we forgot that they started out as excellent novels by Ian Fleming. Pearson uses the bits and pieces of Bond's personal history available in Fleming's books to construct an authentic feeling biography which details how Bond got his physical and emotional scars. Pearson gives some depth to Bond and gives us insight into why 007 behaves as he does.
As a bonus, Bond's history is bracketed in the "present" giving the reader one version of what might have happened to Bond had he not been the ageless agent of fiction and film that he remains today. The future of several classic bond women is also revealed with Bond sailing off with one of his former flames.
It is excellent literature and is recommended for anyone who wants to read a good book and, at the same time, fill in the blanks about our favorite spy, 007. I was amazed. I wasn't sure if Bond was real or not, the plot was completely believable. When I finished it I still wasn't sure then I found that it was a fictional work. Apart from being slightly gutted, I was impressed.
Book Details:
Title James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007
Author John Pearson
Reviewed By Purplycookie
As with most of us who grew up with the 007 movies, we forgot that they started out as excellent novels by Ian Fleming. Pearson uses the bits and pieces of Bond's personal history available in Fleming's books to construct an authentic feeling biography which details how Bond got his physical and emotional scars. Pearson gives some depth to Bond and gives us insight into why 007 behaves as he does.
As a bonus, Bond's history is bracketed in the "present" giving the reader one version of what might have happened to Bond had he not been the ageless agent of fiction and film that he remains today. The future of several classic bond women is also revealed with Bond sailing off with one of his former flames.
It is excellent literature and is recommended for anyone who wants to read a good book and, at the same time, fill in the blanks about our favorite spy, 007. I was amazed. I wasn't sure if Bond was real or not, the plot was completely believable. When I finished it I still wasn't sure then I found that it was a fictional work. Apart from being slightly gutted, I was impressed.
Book Details:
Title James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007
Author John Pearson
Reviewed By Purplycookie
May 13, 2020
Finally, the truth must come out. Cmdr James Bond, famously brought to life in the works of Ian Fleming, is a real officer of what we know as MI6.
Fleming was hired by Sir Miles Messervey to fictionalise real missions by a real 00 agent in order to discredit a SMERSH attempt on Bond's life.
And now Bond revisits his life in a biography, comparing the truth with Fleming's fiction.
An interesting metatextual interpretation of the Bond legacy, excellently written by Pearson to be a general analysis of the Bond books and films framed through the eyes of the 'real' Bond.
Fleming was hired by Sir Miles Messervey to fictionalise real missions by a real 00 agent in order to discredit a SMERSH attempt on Bond's life.
And now Bond revisits his life in a biography, comparing the truth with Fleming's fiction.
An interesting metatextual interpretation of the Bond legacy, excellently written by Pearson to be a general analysis of the Bond books and films framed through the eyes of the 'real' Bond.
Read
January 24, 2021Always fun. Plays with the premise that Bond was real and that Fleming’s novels were a massive disinformation plot arranged with British Intelligence to fool the Soviets and take some heat off the real Bond. Combines précis of the Fleming works with many short stories filling in “the blanks” of Bond’s career. The “real” Bond turned 100 last Armistice Day! Explains all the changes in the post-Fleming books and films. Obviously the “new 007” rumoured in No Time to Die is not the first new one ...
September 8, 2024
Honest to God this is better than any of the original Fleming novels.
August 10, 2018
A must read for fans of James Bond. Supposedly a writer is persuaded to interview the 'real' James Bond partly to give positive publicity to British intelligence, and supposedly to help an aging Bond deal with the possible end of his service. The first half of the book is Bond's back story before the British secret service, the other half sort of a behind the scenes of what really happened compared to Ian Fleming's novels. Pearson does an excellent job of mixing fictional characters and real persons throughout the book. Pearson seems to be the world's leading Bond expert--and for a good reason. He worked as Ian Fleming's assistant at the 'Sunday Times', and went on to write the first biography of Ian Fleming, 'The Life of Ian Fleming'. Some of the reasoning on why the Bond novels seems a little shaky, but otherwise an interesting and fast read.
August 12, 2023
This treats Ian Fleming not as a writer, but more of a Watson detailing the exploits of Bond (Sherlock Homes reference). James’ parents unhappy marriage, a brother!
He is close to an aunt through the book.
Familiar names come up like Mathis, Honeychile Ryder, Oberhauser, and Tanner. The author tells us what happens to Tiffany Case and Honeychile Ryder after the adventure ends. Bond even sees Bond movies in the course of this. Small vignettes of adventure.
The book doesn’t offer synopses of Fleming books, but he alludes to them. A fair amount of adventure.
He is close to an aunt through the book.
Familiar names come up like Mathis, Honeychile Ryder, Oberhauser, and Tanner. The author tells us what happens to Tiffany Case and Honeychile Ryder after the adventure ends. Bond even sees Bond movies in the course of this. Small vignettes of adventure.
The book doesn’t offer synopses of Fleming books, but he alludes to them. A fair amount of adventure.
April 4, 2013
I never knew, or even believed that James Bond was a real character until I read this book.
Many of the Ian Flemming novels are largely based on the real life of James Bond, as hard as that is to believe.
For anyone who loves James Bond, this book is a must read. You won't be able to put it down.
Many of the Ian Flemming novels are largely based on the real life of James Bond, as hard as that is to believe.
For anyone who loves James Bond, this book is a must read. You won't be able to put it down.
June 10, 2022
1st read in 1973 40 years ago. Fun book for a Bond fan.
Read
May 20, 2017A fun read for 007 fanatics. The conceit explaining how the 'real' Bond became fictional I have always found amusing.
December 29, 2020
Love it!
What a wonder idea! It is a most welcome twist to the Bond saga! I thorough enjoyed it. It did get a little bit long close to the end but it picked up again and ended well.
What a wonder idea! It is a most welcome twist to the Bond saga! I thorough enjoyed it. It did get a little bit long close to the end but it picked up again and ended well.
July 18, 2019
James Bond is alive. At least he was for the general public, and by 1973 he’d been crafted into an international icon through books, film, and other merchandise. Writer John Pearson kept him alive in another way, with one of the more obscure entries in the series.
At the time JAMES BOND: THE AUTHORISED BIOGRAPHY OF 007 (henceforth JAMES BOND) was released, Pearson was known for his non-fiction. In fact, his previous works included a biography of Bond’s creator with The Life of Ian Fleming (1966), and The Profession of Violence: The Rise and Fall of the Kray Twins (1972), for which he was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe Award.
Pearson approaches JAMES BOND with a biographer’s eye. However, unlike fellow Bond writer Kingsley Amis’ James Bond Dossier (1965), this is less an analysis of the character than it is of the man behind the character. Not Ian Fleming, of course, but the real James Bond who inspired the character. Wait…what?
The strange conceit sees Pearson track down James Bond, who in this metafictional biography turns out to be a former colleague and friend of Fleming and the inspiration for the books. The character of Bond was created to throw enemy agents off the scent, and there’s the suggestion that both Fleming and Bond came to benefit from and ultimately loathe the creation they shared.
The series had already taken its first steps post-Ian Fleming with Colonel Sun , and Roger Moore was about to begin his 12-year tenure as the third official screen Bond. Yet this book is more backwards-looking and introspective in its outlook, partially acting as an excuse to go back through some of Bond’s greatest hits but also to explore some of that connective glue in between the novels. The brief biographies Fleming includes in You Only Live Twice and Octopussy are fleshed out, often contradicting and sometimes complementing the original works.
Pearson’s style mirrors Fleming to some extent, with nods to both Bond and his creator’s particular obsession with food. Yet Fleming’s short and punchy style gives way to a catalogue of facts and dates, and occasionally descriptive vignettes of dalliances between known adventures. Old friends and foes turn up again, the most interesting of which is appearance of Honeychile Schultz, the widowed Honey Rider who was on the prowl for husband number three. This partly contradicts Fleming’s own contention that she married a surgeon named Wilder and moved to Miami.
All of which means that the canonicity of JAMES BOND is dubious at worst, and part of a Bond Multiverse at best. It’s far more interesting to see how Pearson analyses Bond through the women in his life, suggesting that he’s inadvertently let his guard down around Honey to the point that they are basically a de facto married couple at this point. Pearson also explores Bond’s romances with Vesper Lynd and Tracy di Vicenzo, scratching under the surface of his indifferent exterior.
Which is where JAMES BOND is at its most intriguing, an extended character profile that shows the secret agent as a fragile human being. Fleming occasionally touched on Bond’s desire to leave the service, and tiring of the relentless killing, although it was usually cut off by M. calling him a “lame brain” and sending him off on another assignment. That fractious relationship serves as a dangling thread all throughout Pearson’s biography, even if it wraps up anticlimactically.
True to form, just as we deal with “the truth about M,” Bond is called back into duty to hunt down giant rats in Australia, promising to return to Honey after the adventure. (Now that is a book I’d happily devour). One can assume that the semi-retired Bond stayed in the life, although the idea of him settling down with Honey in domestic bliss has a certain romanticism to it. Meanwhile, Pearson would go on to repeat this experiment with fictional tie-ins to Upstairs, Downstairs (in The Bellamys of Eaton Place) and Biggles: The Authorised Biography (1978). Perhaps, like Bond and his fictionalised Fleming, Pearson was unable to escape the worlds he’d created.
James Bond will return in…James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me (redux).
NB: This review originally appeared on The Reel Bits.
At the time JAMES BOND: THE AUTHORISED BIOGRAPHY OF 007 (henceforth JAMES BOND) was released, Pearson was known for his non-fiction. In fact, his previous works included a biography of Bond’s creator with The Life of Ian Fleming (1966), and The Profession of Violence: The Rise and Fall of the Kray Twins (1972), for which he was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe Award.
Pearson approaches JAMES BOND with a biographer’s eye. However, unlike fellow Bond writer Kingsley Amis’ James Bond Dossier (1965), this is less an analysis of the character than it is of the man behind the character. Not Ian Fleming, of course, but the real James Bond who inspired the character. Wait…what?
The strange conceit sees Pearson track down James Bond, who in this metafictional biography turns out to be a former colleague and friend of Fleming and the inspiration for the books. The character of Bond was created to throw enemy agents off the scent, and there’s the suggestion that both Fleming and Bond came to benefit from and ultimately loathe the creation they shared.
The series had already taken its first steps post-Ian Fleming with Colonel Sun , and Roger Moore was about to begin his 12-year tenure as the third official screen Bond. Yet this book is more backwards-looking and introspective in its outlook, partially acting as an excuse to go back through some of Bond’s greatest hits but also to explore some of that connective glue in between the novels. The brief biographies Fleming includes in You Only Live Twice and Octopussy are fleshed out, often contradicting and sometimes complementing the original works.
Pearson’s style mirrors Fleming to some extent, with nods to both Bond and his creator’s particular obsession with food. Yet Fleming’s short and punchy style gives way to a catalogue of facts and dates, and occasionally descriptive vignettes of dalliances between known adventures. Old friends and foes turn up again, the most interesting of which is appearance of Honeychile Schultz, the widowed Honey Rider who was on the prowl for husband number three. This partly contradicts Fleming’s own contention that she married a surgeon named Wilder and moved to Miami.
All of which means that the canonicity of JAMES BOND is dubious at worst, and part of a Bond Multiverse at best. It’s far more interesting to see how Pearson analyses Bond through the women in his life, suggesting that he’s inadvertently let his guard down around Honey to the point that they are basically a de facto married couple at this point. Pearson also explores Bond’s romances with Vesper Lynd and Tracy di Vicenzo, scratching under the surface of his indifferent exterior.
Which is where JAMES BOND is at its most intriguing, an extended character profile that shows the secret agent as a fragile human being. Fleming occasionally touched on Bond’s desire to leave the service, and tiring of the relentless killing, although it was usually cut off by M. calling him a “lame brain” and sending him off on another assignment. That fractious relationship serves as a dangling thread all throughout Pearson’s biography, even if it wraps up anticlimactically.
True to form, just as we deal with “the truth about M,” Bond is called back into duty to hunt down giant rats in Australia, promising to return to Honey after the adventure. (Now that is a book I’d happily devour). One can assume that the semi-retired Bond stayed in the life, although the idea of him settling down with Honey in domestic bliss has a certain romanticism to it. Meanwhile, Pearson would go on to repeat this experiment with fictional tie-ins to Upstairs, Downstairs (in The Bellamys of Eaton Place) and Biggles: The Authorised Biography (1978). Perhaps, like Bond and his fictionalised Fleming, Pearson was unable to escape the worlds he’d created.
James Bond will return in…James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me (redux).
NB: This review originally appeared on The Reel Bits.
February 4, 2023
Pearson had written a biography of Ian Fleming. He received many letters about his book, when one in particular from a woman in Austria caught his attention. She claimed that in the 30s she had known Fleming and once even met the real James Bond that he based his novels on. Pearson dismissed her as a quack, but later received another letter with a picture of a teenager who looked remarkably like Bond. This piqued his interest, and he started doing some investigating. He checked with Eton where Bond supposedly went to school and got nothing, and then expanded his search. He was getting nowhere when he received a surprise correspondence from MI6. They offered him an astounding opportunity.
It turned out that James Bond was real, and they wanted him to write his biography. They told him that many other people had been looking into Bond and the truth was bound to come out, so they wanted him to write the real story that could be sanitized by the Service and released. The idea was that if an official biography was released that the Soviets would be convinced that the whole story of Bond was fiction, and that Bond really didn't exist but was a collection of different events made to look like one super-agent was responsible for all of them. He quickly agreed.
Pearson goes to Bermuda a meets the real James Bond, in his early fifties and currently on extended leave from the service expecting to be forcibly retired. Bond reluctantly agrees to tell his life story.
What follows is an interesting story. There are innumerable tales of Bond's exploits starting from the beginning. They don't have the flair of Fleming, being more condensed and factual but still entertaining. Pearson tries to explain the personality of Bond and how it came to be, with his early life being one of a well-traveled youth, including stays in Germany, France, and Russia. His parents build his character, especially his mother, and their deaths mark him for life. It seems unlikely that a teenager was recruited by MI6 and that he started killing people before he was 20, but the rest flows nicely. It's not much of a Bond story but is fine as a biography as it's meant to be. There's lots of action, with battles with various criminals, SMERSH, SPECTRE, and a gorilla. Not exactly what I would expect from James Bond's life story, but a nice look at an aged Bond facing retirement and a life without constant threat and the excitement he required.
It turned out that James Bond was real, and they wanted him to write his biography. They told him that many other people had been looking into Bond and the truth was bound to come out, so they wanted him to write the real story that could be sanitized by the Service and released. The idea was that if an official biography was released that the Soviets would be convinced that the whole story of Bond was fiction, and that Bond really didn't exist but was a collection of different events made to look like one super-agent was responsible for all of them. He quickly agreed.
Pearson goes to Bermuda a meets the real James Bond, in his early fifties and currently on extended leave from the service expecting to be forcibly retired. Bond reluctantly agrees to tell his life story.
What follows is an interesting story. There are innumerable tales of Bond's exploits starting from the beginning. They don't have the flair of Fleming, being more condensed and factual but still entertaining. Pearson tries to explain the personality of Bond and how it came to be, with his early life being one of a well-traveled youth, including stays in Germany, France, and Russia. His parents build his character, especially his mother, and their deaths mark him for life. It seems unlikely that a teenager was recruited by MI6 and that he started killing people before he was 20, but the rest flows nicely. It's not much of a Bond story but is fine as a biography as it's meant to be. There's lots of action, with battles with various criminals, SMERSH, SPECTRE, and a gorilla. Not exactly what I would expect from James Bond's life story, but a nice look at an aged Bond facing retirement and a life without constant threat and the excitement he required.
October 3, 2024
Lo último que dije de este libro fue que es exactamente lo que esperarías de un señor británico hablando del súper-señor- británico por excelencia.
Pasando esos capítulos (Que no son malos, simplemente predecibles y que eso no los hace aburridos) nos empieza a mostrar una cara de 007 que no sabias que existía, bueno si, pero nunca lo habías leído, nos enseña a James Bond enamorado y con el corazón roto, que tiene responsabilidad afectiva, que a pesar de ser un “Hombre duro” es muy vulnerable, que se rinde en más de una ocasión. Le abren las puertas a una generación más actual, con esta narrativa de un hombre duro, pero que se enamora bien recio, con historias de celos, de desamor, de muerte, de tristeza, de duelo nos hacen entender que James Bond no es un súper hombre que tiene mucho sexo por tenerlo y que mata gente por que puede, con todo eso, nos hacen entender que el súper hombre no es el que hace esas cosas, el súper hombre es un individuo que tiene responsabilidad afectiva, que tiene amigos respetables, que hace su chamba, que es leal, que se consciente con un cochecito a la medida, que tiene cuida de su familia, que se enamora, que le rompen el corazón, que tiene celos, pero antes que todo eso, el súper hombre es aquel que si comete algún error, intenta hacer enmiendas.
Ian Fleming nos enseñó a James Bond, pero Pearson son enseñó a ser mejores personas a través de James Bond.
“When it’s too late you realize what you’ve done”
Pasando esos capítulos (Que no son malos, simplemente predecibles y que eso no los hace aburridos) nos empieza a mostrar una cara de 007 que no sabias que existía, bueno si, pero nunca lo habías leído, nos enseña a James Bond enamorado y con el corazón roto, que tiene responsabilidad afectiva, que a pesar de ser un “Hombre duro” es muy vulnerable, que se rinde en más de una ocasión. Le abren las puertas a una generación más actual, con esta narrativa de un hombre duro, pero que se enamora bien recio, con historias de celos, de desamor, de muerte, de tristeza, de duelo nos hacen entender que James Bond no es un súper hombre que tiene mucho sexo por tenerlo y que mata gente por que puede, con todo eso, nos hacen entender que el súper hombre no es el que hace esas cosas, el súper hombre es un individuo que tiene responsabilidad afectiva, que tiene amigos respetables, que hace su chamba, que es leal, que se consciente con un cochecito a la medida, que tiene cuida de su familia, que se enamora, que le rompen el corazón, que tiene celos, pero antes que todo eso, el súper hombre es aquel que si comete algún error, intenta hacer enmiendas.
Ian Fleming nos enseñó a James Bond, pero Pearson son enseñó a ser mejores personas a través de James Bond.
“When it’s too late you realize what you’ve done”
September 29, 2025
Firstly, I wasn't expecting this to be as good as it was. In the original Bond novels, the strength lies in the plot and descriptions rather than Bond's character, so a book about who James Bond is as a *person* didn't seem too promising of a premise. But Pearson really didn't shy away from some compelling analysis. The occasional recounting of missions new to the canon is interesting, particularly since they are intentionally more monotonous than a typical Fleming plot, but where this book really shines is in exploring Bond's personal relationships: with his parents, relatives, coworkers (especially M and Maddox), and many, many lovers.
The meta premise of the book, that Ian Fleming wrote the Bond novels to convince SMERSH that the "James Bond" they had been trying to kill was in fact a hoax by British Intelligence, isn't very plausible, true, but my enjoyment of the book didn't hinge on the fictional justification the author made up in order to write it. I care about how the character of Definitely Not Fictional James Bond is constructed, which again, is excellently done. The original novels paint a less glamorous view of Bond than the movies do, and this book presents an even less glamorous one. I saw a negative review on here saying that the Bond of this book is pretty boring, and I agree--
but that's what makes him interesting!
The meta premise of the book, that Ian Fleming wrote the Bond novels to convince SMERSH that the "James Bond" they had been trying to kill was in fact a hoax by British Intelligence, isn't very plausible, true, but my enjoyment of the book didn't hinge on the fictional justification the author made up in order to write it. I care about how the character of Definitely Not Fictional James Bond is constructed, which again, is excellently done. The original novels paint a less glamorous view of Bond than the movies do, and this book presents an even less glamorous one. I saw a negative review on here saying that the Bond of this book is pretty boring, and I agree--
but that's what makes him interesting!
August 27, 2022
Fun premise: James Bond was a real person and frenemy of Ian Fleming, and this is his "real" biography - ie, the man behind the inspiration for the Fleming novels. Sadly the concept and the book just never quite come together, and it turns out that John Pearson really isn't a very good writer. The reason that the Secret Service goes along with the fictionalization of Bond's life is convoluted and implausible. The narrative focus switches inconsistently between Bond and the "biographer". Certain details are dead wrong: for example, the long-time CIA director is J. Edgar, not Herbert, Hoover. Maybe Pearson (or his editors) get a pass for this since they are British, but only a few pages later, he gets classic Bond villain Goldfinger's first name wrong! (It's Auric, not Arno. Unless the idea was that Ian Fleming changed the name slightly in the "fictional" writeup of the Goldfinger affair. In which case, there's a point where you're just too far down the meta rabbit hole for me to care.) This one was pretty dumb and disappointing.
November 8, 2023
What if James Bond is a real spy, compromised. And M has his friend Ian Fleming turn Bond's life into storybook in order to re-anonymise Bond? This is the intriguing premise of this book.
As with all autobiographies, I found the childhood aspect dull; I'm not a fan of WW2 stories so found that aspect dull too. This isn't to denigrate the book, rather to say it fits in with all other autobiographies I've read. I never become engaged until the subject enters their chosen profession, whether it be actor, politician, author. Similarly, this book becomes engaging to me as soon as M gives Bond the 007 code name.
The clever part is how it weaves the Fleming stories into the biography. We meet Tiffany Case and Honeychille Rider; we relive the Royale gambling and US Mr Big episodes (both amongst others) but all with a twist.
If fictional people like Sherlock Holmes and Romeo and Juliet can become real, why can’t real people become fictionalised? 8/10
Scoring: 0 bad; 1-3 poor; 4-6 average; 7-9 good; 10 excellent.
As with all autobiographies, I found the childhood aspect dull; I'm not a fan of WW2 stories so found that aspect dull too. This isn't to denigrate the book, rather to say it fits in with all other autobiographies I've read. I never become engaged until the subject enters their chosen profession, whether it be actor, politician, author. Similarly, this book becomes engaging to me as soon as M gives Bond the 007 code name.
The clever part is how it weaves the Fleming stories into the biography. We meet Tiffany Case and Honeychille Rider; we relive the Royale gambling and US Mr Big episodes (both amongst others) but all with a twist.
If fictional people like Sherlock Holmes and Romeo and Juliet can become real, why can’t real people become fictionalised? 8/10
Scoring: 0 bad; 1-3 poor; 4-6 average; 7-9 good; 10 excellent.
November 28, 2017
Novela biografica ficticia, basada en la premisa de que James Bond existió realmente. Este es un recurso ya utilizado ampliamente con otros personajes de ficcion. En este caso, nos relatan de primera mano los primeros años de Bond, a traves de una entrevista a el mismo, donde nos enteramos de que las novelas de Ian Fleming realmente ocurrieron y que todas ellas responden a una estrategia del MI6 para proteger a Bond y enaltecer al mismo Servicio Secreto Britanico. Tambien se nos cuentan someramente otras misiones menores, su relacion con otras mujeres, sus visiones sobre la vida, su trabajo y sobre si mismo. Hago hincapié que es una biografia oficial del personaje, autorizada por los herederos de Fleming. Que yo sepa no existe una version en español de este libro, y ocasionalmente es reimpresa en su idioma nativo ingles. Entretenida y por momentos reveladora, este libro del Bond literario- no del filmico- es lectura obligada a cualquier fan del personaje.
February 14, 2019
After having read (and in some cases re-read) the entire Fleming JB library in order (and then subsequently watching each corresponding film in order of the books just for giggles) I have begun to tackle all of the "official" post-Fleming Bond books. This, the first of more than 30, is a hoot. Pearson treats Bond as a real individual whom he tracks down and is then allowed to interview. The books ends up being a string of mini-adventures that tie up any loose ends the original novels may have left. In many ways I enjoyed this book more than most of Flemings as the writing style was a bit looser (it was published in the early '70s) and the ending is completely bonkers absurd, making one wonder why Pearson didn't (or wasn't allowed/able to) write a follow-up.
November 6, 2025
Ian Fleming died in 1964 and his final Bond stories (published in “Octopussy and The Living Daylights”) were released posthumously in 1966. The first bond pastiche, Kingsley Amis/Robert Markham’s “Colonel Sun” appeared in 1968. After that a long time passed with no news from the world of 007 until a long series of multi-author pastiche publishing was initiated by John Gardner with Licence Renewed. During that gap, Pearson wrote this exploration of the life of Bond via a series of imaginative interviews with the possibly retired Bond. While certainly not part of the official canon, this is a fun—if sometimes goofy—visit to the private life and biography of the world’s best known “secret” agent.
February 8, 2025
A fictional biography of James Bond as if he were an actual person that inspired the Fleming novels. The author, having written an actual biography of Ian Fleming, does a great job of creating a Bond that inspired, but was different from the character that appears on the Fleming novels. I enjoyed the clever mixing of the missions that appear in the novels along with additions that separated Pearson's fictional Bond from the Bond in Fleming's stories but incorporated most of the material from the books. The differences between his life and that of the books along with commentary of this on the books, movies, and even Fleming were great fun and made this a very entertaining read.
April 25, 2025
I honestly don't know what to think of this book, Mixing reality with fiction. There were moments where I felt a little bored but for the most part it was an interesting read.
treating the events of the Ian Fleming books as though they actually happened is wild, also wild is that James Bond was a real person that knew Ian Fleming. Along with the likes of M, Bill Tanner and the other characters in the main book series.
The book does feel like it was asking for a sequel that never came though, as I wouldn't mind a part two to this bizarre book.
treating the events of the Ian Fleming books as though they actually happened is wild, also wild is that James Bond was a real person that knew Ian Fleming. Along with the likes of M, Bill Tanner and the other characters in the main book series.
The book does feel like it was asking for a sequel that never came though, as I wouldn't mind a part two to this bizarre book.
Read
October 18, 2025007 is as familiar as any other character whether a fictionalised or real. Sean Connery to Daniel Craig his flawed relationships with women and men such as M but not Felix of course. Pearson explores the character build from young age, the villains & gangsters we dont see develop in the movies. The exploration of his relationships with women - girlfriends & mother which enables to enjoy his experiences but also see how the mood can darken quickly. I would also suggest this is a review of Ian Fleming too.
April 12, 2018
I read this when it first came out in 1973 (45 years ago when I was still at school) It is a real must for any Bond enthusiast. It fills in quite a few gaps in Bonds life nicely woven round a current story. Was Bond real or a figment of Flemming's imagination at the time of reading I was not sure a all am I now?? Nice to see reference to some old characters and girlfriends. I really enjoyed and am so pleased it is now available in kindle version so I could read again.
January 6, 2022
A clever work of fiction with a few added details of the fictitious life of the James Bond character. If you want all of Fleming's stories tucked neatly away, this is the book for you. My only complaint is that I don't feel Tracy Bond was given her due credit. Too much time spent on Tiffany Case and Honeychille Rider, and Mrs. Bond is briefly mentioned, and I feel like we don't really get the gist of her impact on Bond.
December 12, 2024
I am a casual fan of Bond. Seen most all the movies, read most of the original books. This is a very odd one. A fictional biography written as if James Bond was real and "invented" as part of his spy cover. Very Meta before it became a trend. It is a boring. Was shocked with hearing how Bond had to take a mental health holiday as being a spy is hard work. It is a unique story but not a very interesting one.
February 13, 2020
This was a nice, cozy trip down memory lane. Hearing about ("the real") Bond's favorite cars, breakfast requirements, and modest successes with but also unadulterated views on love were like revisiting an old friend.
The premise of this book is what really sets this off though, and it's a fun device.
The premise of this book is what really sets this off though, and it's a fun device.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews