Casino Royale: James Bond #1

Ian Fleming

Jan 2015 · HarperCollins

About this ebook

A high-stakes baccarat game turns deadly as British secret agent James Bond attempts to take down Le Chiffre, paymaster for the Soviet counterintelligence organization SMERSH. Aided by stalwart CIA agent Felix Leiter and the beautiful but duplicitous Vesper Lynd, Bond battles the odds to bankrupt Le Chiffre, lay waste SMERSH’s cashflow, and escape alive.

Influenced by author Ian Fleming’s own experience as naval intelligence officer, Casino Royale is the first title in the James Bond spy series. It has been adapted several times for television and screen, including the 2006 film starring Daniel Craig as James Bond.

Ratings and reviews

This book is by far my most favorite bond book out of them all

As good as it gets

About the author

Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British journalist, naval intelligence officer, and creator of the fictional British spy, James Bond. Educated at Eton, Sandhurst, and at universities in Switzerland and Germany, Fleming’s failure at the Foreign Office entrance exams led to brief careers with Reuters and as a stockbroker before he joined British Naval Intelligence in 1939. As personal assistant to the director, Fleming excelled, and his wartime service provided ample background for his later Bond stories.

Fleming’s Bond novels and short-story collections are among the best-selling books of all time, and serve as the basis for the highly-successful movie franchise, which has starred such acclaimed actors as Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig as James Bond. In addition to the Bond series, Fleming wrote the children’s classic Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang: The Magical Car. He died in 1964 of heart disease.