Rating: 
Summary: Read it for Tiffany
Review: A regrettable sense of ennui permeates Diamonds are Forever, Ian Fleming's fourth novel featuring British secret agent James Bond. It is obvious that Fleming was starting to grow bored with his most famous creation and, as a result, Diamonds are Forever lacks the thrill-ride atmosphere that distinguishes the best of Fleming's books. For the first time, Bond deals with villians outside of the realm of the Soviet Union and the Spangled Mob, a rather anonymous group of American gangsters, never come across as worthy adversaries. While Bond, himself, is drawn with the usual finnesse (and displays a grimly cynical outlook that stands in stark contrast to his previous appearances), the rest of the characters -- with one important exception -- are rather forgettable and Bond's mission (to stop a jewelry smuggling ring) is rather pedestrian. However, this book does feature one truly exceptional feature and that is the character of Tiffany Case. A ruthless, yet at time touchingly vulnerable, smuggler, Case is one of Fleming's strongest female characters and her romance with Bond is the book's highlight. As opposed to the other women who populate many of Fleming's books, Case comes across as a truly capable heroine in her own right and it is easy to see why Bond ends up truly falling for her with an intensity to match his feelings for Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale and, later, Tracy in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Even if the book's plot is less than enthralling, it is impossible not to get caught up in the fate of Tiffany's and Bond's dangerous romance and to not hope the best for both of them. Fleming is often criticized as being a sexist but in Tiffany Case, he creates a fascinating female character who can proudly stand against the cardboard femme fatales that have populated so many Bond-influenced spy thrillers since. In the end, whatever the book's flaws, just the chance to make the acquaintance of Tiffany Case makes this book worth the read.
Rating: 
Summary: Compare to The Sapphire Sea, Madagascar
Review: After I read all the Wilbur Smith novels, I moved on to other african thrillers. This Bond book fits the bill, but John Robinson's The Sapphire Sea, was better.
Rating:
Summary: James Bond battles the Spangled Mob!
Review: Diamonds are Forever is the fourth James Bond novel, and is considered to be not as high of quality of the others 007 novels.
The main problem is peraps that Ian Fleming brought too many travel locales into the story and did not focus enough on developing the characters. Tiffiany Case is indeed very exciting, but the villians are a little lacking. Still, Diamonds are Forever is still a very exciting adventerous tale of 007.James Bond's assignment is to shut down an evil diamond smuggling operation that operates out of Africa. A smuggler, Peter Franks has been captured and Bond goes undercover to take his place. Bond learns of a Rufus B. Saye, who he suspects is part of this smuggling operation. bond also meets the mysterious Tiffany Case, who works as a smuggler and informs Bond that he has to take the diamonds to Shady Tree in New York. Before Bond leaves for America he is informed by M that Rufus B. Saye is actually a mobster called Jack Spang. Jack Spang and his brother Serrafimo Spang are the real men that control this smuggling pipeline. Bond goes to New York and delivers the diamonds and also meets up with Felix Leiter, to help him investigate. Bond also meets the hitmen, Mr. Kidd and Mr. Wint who almost kill Bond. Bond then travels to Las Vegas with Tiffany Case where he is captured and taken to a place called Specterville. Spectreville is a reconstruction of a Western town where Serrafimo Spang operates. Bond escapes and is chased by Spang by train. Tiffany helps Bond, and Bons shoots and kills Serrafimo Spang. Together, bond and Tiffany travel back to Britain overseas, where they confront one last time Wint and Kidd. Bond shoots and kills both of the hitmen. Bond learns that Jack Spang has gone back to Sierra Leone to kill all the smugglers, close the pipeline and mode on to other areas of crime. Bond gets the upper hand when he shoots down and kills Spang in his helicopter. Diamonds are Forever, while not the finest 007 novel is still filled with exciting, adventerous, thrilling action from the beginning to the end!
Rating:
Summary: A flawed gem
Review: DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER marks the point in the James Bond series where Ian Fleming begins to tinker with the absurd. Later in the series, Dr. No is killed by falling guano, and Blofeld holds up on a Japanese "suicide island." In DAF, Bond takes a mud bath and fights a gangster who dresses up like a cowboy. Fleming writes that the gangster "should have looked ridiculous, but he didn't" in his western regalia. Funny, his description reads like he looks ridiculous. All of Fleming's Bond books are worth reading, and DAF is no exception. But this isn't his strongest work. The theme switches from gangsters to western to Agatha Christy-esque cruise-ship drama. It doesn't really all hold together. Fleming also keeps introducing new villains. He is most effective with Wint and Kidd, who have an ominous presence throughout the book. Fleming perfects the ominous presence with Donovan Grant in his next book, FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, but Wint and Kidd are adequately eerie and threatening. Less effective are the Spang brothers. The Spangs seem to be the embodiment of Fleming's inability to make up his mind about who his villain was going to be. What little personality these characters have (along with appearance and even one of their names) changes almost every time they are mentioned. They don't catch on as other Bond villains do, which is perhaps why they didn't translate even in name into any Bond movie. Another flaw of the book, and to some degree the series, is that Bond seems to be going along for the ride in DAF. He forgets or doesn't notice the most obvious clues (and is surprised by Wint and Kidd), lets his guard down at the mud baths, and generally doesn't prove why he's so special. He and the girl, Tiffany Case, come close to falling in love...but why? The relationship seems very shallow. Finally, DAF is not really a spy novel. Bond is acting more like a detective than a spy. The reader is continuously reminded that these gangsters are just as tough as Russian spies and whatnot, but the reminder is only repeated because the story just isn't played out on as grand a stage as the cold war. DAF has its strengths. Ian Fleming could have probably written a description of the contents of his refrigerator in an interesting way. For me, the settings of this book are familiar as well - it was neat to read about Bond staying at a hotel that I also stayed at. There's less 1950's atmosphere in this book than the others (another selling point for the other books), but DAF remains a genuine Bond novel, better than anything then non-Fleming Bond authors could produce. While not the best, Diamonds are Forever is at least enduring.
Rating:
Summary: A flawed gem
Review: DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER marks the point in the James Bond series where Ian Fleming begins to tinker with the absurd. Later in the series, Dr. No is killed by falling guano, and Blofeld holds up on a Japanese "suicide island." In DAF, Bond takes a mud bath and fights a gangster who dresses up like a cowboy. Fleming writes that the gangster "should have looked ridiculous, but he didn't" in his western regalia. Funny, his description reads like he looks ridiculous. All of Fleming's Bond books are worth reading, and DAF is no exception. But this isn't his strongest work. The theme switches from gangsters to western to Agatha Christy-esque cruise-ship drama. It doesn't really all hold together. Fleming also keeps introducing new villains. He is most effective with Wint and Kidd, who have an ominous presence throughout the book. Fleming perfects the ominous presence with Donovan Grant in his next book, FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, but Wint and Kidd are adequately eerie and threatening. Less effective are the Spang brothers. The Spangs seem to be the embodiment of Fleming's inability to make up his mind about who his villain was going to be. What little personality these characters have (along with appearance and even one of their names) changes almost every time they are mentioned. They don't catch on as other Bond villains do, which is perhaps why they didn't translate even in name into any Bond movie. Another flaw of the book, and to some degree the series, is that Bond seems to be going along for the ride in DAF. He forgets or doesn't notice the most obvious clues (and is surprised by Wint and Kidd), lets his guard down at the mud baths, and generally doesn't prove why he's so special. He and the girl, Tiffany Case, come close to falling in love...but why? The relationship seems very shallow. Finally, DAF is not really a spy novel. Bond is acting more like a detective than a spy. The reader is continuously reminded that these gangsters are just as tough as Russian spies and whatnot, but the reminder is only repeated because the story just isn't played out on as grand a stage as the cold war. DAF has its strengths. Ian Fleming could have probably written a description of the contents of his refrigerator in an interesting way. For me, the settings of this book are familiar as well - it was neat to read about Bond staying at a hotel that I also stayed at. There's less 1950's atmosphere in this book than the others (another selling point for the other books), but DAF remains a genuine Bond novel, better than anything then non-Fleming Bond authors could produce. While not the best, Diamonds are Forever is at least enduring.
Rating:
Summary: Bond, Detective Bond
Review: For his fourth 007 novel, Fleming drew inspiration from a real-life international diamond smuggling ring which would also be the subject of a non-Bond book, The Diamond Smugglers, a year later. The premise here is that an American mafia family is running an elaborate operation to smuggle diamonds out of the British colony of Sierra Leone (it didn't win independence until 1961), the British don't like it, and Bond is inserted as a courier to try and discover who's behind the scheme. While this setup remains exceedingly topical almost 50 years later (indeed, the latest Bond flick features the laundering of diamonds from Sierra Leone), however it's not likely to engender much enthusiasm in the contemporary reader. Hmm, someone is smuggling diamonds out from the under the noses of the imperialist colonizing British, gee, that's too bad... so why does this warrant sending a government assassin into the mix? However, if one is willing to overlook the rather small potatoes of the setup, there's a decent enough potboiler to found if you don't examine it too carefully. The pages turn quickly enough as Bond is partnered with the hard-boiled beauty Tiffany Case (like so many of Fleming's women, an underdeveloped character with lots of potential), and then heads to the horse races at Saratoga, the casinos of Las Vegas, a desert ghost town, and the staterooms of the Queen Elizabeth. There are some nice set pieces (especially the mud bath scene and the casino action), but Bond seems to be distracted the whole time. One could mark it down to his being overconfident about his Mafia adversaries, but he's throughout the book he's missing clues, botching basic spycraft, and most importantly, impatient and sloppy. In several places it's hard not to think that if he were this bad an agent, he'd have been killed long ago. It also doesn't help that the Mafia dons Bond is up against are totally generic and unmemorable, and more than a little ridiculous as major villains. The semi-climactic railroad chase scene is borderline farcical for example. Nor are matters aided by Felix Leiter rather improbably crossing Bond's path as a Pinkerton's agent. Still, the homosexual hitmen, Wint and Kidd are memorable characters who bring a great deal of menace and (for the time) exoticism to the story. More of a detective story than a spy thriller, it's not your normal Bond book.
Rating:
Summary: James Bond is Forever!
Review: Not nearly as high-tech as the movie, but an excellent novel. Of the five Fleming Bond novels I've read so far, this one seemed to be (from a technical point-of-view) the best written. Wint and Kidd were much more of a threat in the novel than you would suspect after watching the movie. Picture the way Fleming describes the action when reading about Bond and Tiffany Case trying to survive a locomotive chasing them at about 60 miles an hour while they are out of petrol. I'm looking forward to reading From Russia With Love and the Penguin release of the other classic Bonds. Nobody does Bond better than Fleming!
Rating:
Summary: 007 meets the Mob
Review: The fourth novel in the 007 series is a step back in a certain way, being a straight action/adventure Police story with certain familiar elements of the Bond world and some links to the spy genre. Maybe the American Mafia isn't quite an atractive adversary (the Spang brothers don't look so menaceful, even if they are, and the idea of a chief disguised as ABC is not used at its full potential). The early chapters, placed in London, and the Saratoga scenes are sometimes boring. The reappereance of Felix Leiter is one of the highlights, but the scene is more dialogue than else. The situations aren't as gripping as those of the previous novels, save some fine moments (the mud bath, the final sequence on the cruise ship, the Spectreville western scenario, the car chase in Las Vegas). The final is excellent, but the action there too brief. All in all, it's still the best 007 adventure in the US and is on the whole much better than the film. It also has the first appearence of the word "Spectre" in any form in a Bond book (Spectreville).
Rating:
Summary: Fleming finding his groove
Review: This is the fourth of the Bond books. This book shows why it is best to read the books in their order of publication. There are too many references to earlier stories that would puzzle the reader and lessen the appreciation for the book. This book was best known for being turned into the last of the Sean Connery traditional Bond movies. As other reviewers mentioned, the book is far superior to the movie. The movie introduced the kind of comical sequences that Roger Moore was to make his trademark Bond. The book, however, is of interest to me since it seemed to have been Fleming's first attempt at a lengthy Bond novel. The other books maintained central figures and were easier to follow the action. This book was actually overburdened with the author's attempt to become more complex. Lacking in this book was the kind of chief, evil character that was found in Live and Let Die, and to a lesser extent the Moonraker character. The evil characters in the Diamonds' book were several, and the final guy was barely known. This probably reflected Fleming's attitude toward the American Mafia. However, his characterizations of the two expert hit men more than made up for this oversight. I understand that he returned to a central evil character in his next book From Russia With Love. I was also pleased to see that Fleming displayed better self control over his racial attitudes. I hope this reflected a personal enlightenment, rather than wanting to avoid criticism that most likely accompanied his Live and Let Die book. Finally, the character, Tiffany Case, had more of a significance in this story than the women in the previous books. It seemed to me that Bond so strongly reacted to Tiffany Case because she was a strong, self sufficient personality. She also gave the author an opportunity to better expose Bond's intimate side. I suppose that the author will inform the reader in the Russia with Love book as to what became of Ms. Case.
Rating:
Summary: Fleming finding his groove
Review: This is the fourth of the Bond books. This book shows why it is best to read the books in their order of publication. There are too many references to earlier stories that would puzzle the reader and lessen the appreciation for the book. This book was best known for being turned into the last of the Sean Connery traditional Bond movies. As other reviewers mentioned, the book is far superior to the movie. The movie introduced the kind of comical sequences that Roger Moore was to make his trademark Bond. The book, however, is of interest to me since it seemed to have been Fleming's first attempt at a lengthy Bond novel. The other books maintained central figures and were easier to follow the action. This book was actually overburdened with the author's attempt to become more complex. Lacking in this book was the kind of chief, evil character that was found in Live and Let Die, and to a lesser extent the Moonraker character. The evil characters in the Diamonds' book were several, and the final guy was barely known. This probably reflected Fleming's attitude toward the American Mafia. However, his characterizations of the two expert hit men more than made up for this oversight. I understand that he returned to a central evil character in his next book From Russia With Love. I was also pleased to see that Fleming displayed better self control over his racial attitudes. I hope this reflected a personal enlightenment, rather than wanting to avoid criticism that most likely accompanied his Live and Let Die book. Finally, the character, Tiffany Case, had more of a significance in this story than the women in the previous books. It seemed to me that Bond so strongly reacted to Tiffany Case because she was a strong, self sufficient personality. She also gave the author an opportunity to better expose Bond's intimate side. I suppose that the author will inform the reader in the Russia with Love book as to what became of Ms. Case.
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