Dr No was the sixth installment in the James Bond book series. Four years later it would be the first movie in the series and my third favorite Bond movie. This is the third James Bond book I’ve ever read. The first two were the short story collection, Four Your Eyes Only and From Russia with Love which is my second favorite of the movie series, the first being Thunderball. Now that all the math is done let’s get to Crab Key Island and the diabolical Dr. No whom according to the interweb is based off Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu stories.
It’s just another average day in Jamacia for British agent Strangways. He’s playing cards with his buddies at the local rich guy resort. On his way out he passes by three blind “Chigroes.” Ert! Hold on, stop the review. Chigroes?? What in the fuck is a Chigro, Mr. Fleming?
Oh, you know, a Chinese Negro biracial person. HAHA! At first when I read this I thought, was this a real term at one point? And then I imagined that Ian Flemming possibly just made it up, thinking himself clever, and was hoping if he put it in the book a bunch of times it would catch on.
Anyway, the three blind guys are actually assassins, sent to kill Strangways and his lovely partner/assistant. Though Strangways has a cooler name, he is no Bond and is taken out with ease.
Back in rainy London, James is called into M’s office. He’s just back from medical leave and raring to go. M tells him of this easy assignment in Jamaica to investigate the running off of two of his agents. He also makes Bond trade in his old gun for new ones just like in the movie but unlike the movie, Bond isn’t cheeky at all.
Off to Jamaica. He lands and meets up with his old friend, Quarrel. Together they put together the mystery of what happened to Strangways. It all seems to involve the island of Crab Tree and some mysterious rich Chinese German guy (a Cherman?) who forbids anyone from landing on the island. There is a small backstory that an endangered group of birds live only on this island and some of them liberal bird animal preservations, also referred to as “old ladies” have met with strange deadly accidents when they arrive to check on their small bird sanctuary they own on part of the island.
I’m sure anyone who is reading this has seen the movie so let’s just point out how it’s different. Just as previously stated in my Bond reviews, he’s not as superman as in the movies. He’s human. He’s imperfect. He has a serious conscious and cares about the welfare of others. Quarrel in the movie isn’t as tough and independent as Quarrel in the book. Though Honey Rider is pretty much the same, the book really brought her as a person to life. Her background, her personality. She’s actually pretty badass. The actress in the movie, Ursula Andress, nailed it though. The way she talks, her mannerisms, defiant and innocent. So yeah, she’s hard not to imagine in the book when you are reading it. Let’s see, trade out the spider in the movie for a giant centipede. No double-crossing scientist in the book. In the movie we have Bond kicking around Kingston for quite some time while in the book we actually get to Crab Key Island pretty quickly. It’s a much longer survival adventure. The ending of the book is way more epic. It blows away the movie for sure.
So far, this has been my favorite Bond book. It was total Men’s Adventure style. The spy stuff was second chair. I’m telling you, that ending was everything.
Originally published in 1958
My copy is: PAN Books 1972 23rd printing
Review by Nick Anderson
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