Dr. No

It was a naked girl, with her back to him. She was not quite naked. She wore a broad leather belt round her waist with a hunting knife in a leather sheath at her right hip. The belt made her nakedness extraordinarily erotic. She stood not more than five yards away on the tideline looking down at something in her hand. She stood in the classical relaxed pose of the nude, all the weight on the right leg and the left knee bent and turning slightly inwards, the head to one side as she examined the things in her hand.

M called this case a soft option. Bond can’t quite agree. The tropical island is luxurious, the seductive Honey Rider is beautiful and willing.

But they are both part of the empire of Dr. No.

The doctor is a worthy adversary, with a mind as hard and cold as his solid steel hands.

Dr. No’s obsession is power. His only gifts are strictly pain-shaped.

‘Masterful...beautifully written.’—Raymond Chandler, The Sunday Times.

‘The essence of a James Bond thriller is its speed, its knowingness...Dr. No has a full quota of every ingredient. Bond is better than ever.’—Evening Standard.

‘Wildly thrilling, packed with convincing technical detail.’—C. Day Lewis, BBC World of Books.

‘Pace, brilliant descriptive powers, superb imagination...sheer entertainment.’—Spectator.