For what it's worth I don't really think of James Bond as
hard-boiled (cue lengthy debate), mainly because for me he
rests firmly in the spy genre. However, the novels are much
tougher than the films. I read them all a long time ago, like
most British school boys I should imagine, and enjoyed them.
I don't think they would suffer from reading out of order but
in the time honoured fashion I seem to remember the early
ones being better. I haven't read them for a long time but I
do remember enjoying Diamonds Are Forever and Dr No the most.
I have never read any post-Flemming or film novelisations so
I can't pass comment on them. I do remember as an
impressionable adolescent being slightly stung by the
critical assesement of James Bond as, "A 14-year-old boy's
idea of sophistication and cool," I was at least 16 I think!
Perhaps that's why I didn't pursue them??? I know they took a
lashing for their politics - particularly gender politics in
the last couple of decades. I would sa!
y definitely entertaining but neither really hard
boiled nor noir - boys own adventures. Cheers Colin
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