The Man With the Golden Gun by Ian Fleming

The Service learns that after destroying Blofeld's castle in Japan, Bond suffered a head injury and developed amnesia. Bond's identity is confirmed, but during his debriefing interview with M, Bond tries to kill him with a cyanide pistol the attempt fails as M releases a bullet proof glass shield above his desk in the nick of time.

In 1974 the book was loosely adapted as the ninth film in the Eon Productions James Bond series, with Roger Moore playing Bond and Fleming's cousin, Christopher Lee, as Scaramanga.Īlmost a year after James Bond's final confrontation with Ernst Stavro Blofeld during a mission in Japan, a man claiming to be Bond appears in London and demands to meet the head of the Secret Service, M. The novel was serialised in 1965, firstly in the Daily Express and then in Playboy in 1966 a daily comic strip adaptation was also published in the Daily Express. Publishers Jonathan Cape passed the manuscript to Kingsley Amis for his thoughts and advice on the story, although his suggestions were not used.

Much of the detail contained in the previous novels was missing, as this was often added by Fleming in the second draft. The first draft and part of the editing process was completed before Fleming's death and the manuscript had passed through the hands of his copy editor, William Plomer, but it was not as polished as other Bond stories. After being 'cured' by the MI6 doctors, Bond is sent to the Caribbean to find and kill Francisco Scaramanga, the titular 'Man with the Golden Gun'. Bond returns to Britain via the Soviet Union, where he had been brainwashed to attempt to assassinate his superior, M.

The story centres on the fictional British Secret Service operative James Bond, who had been posted missing, presumed dead, after his last mission in Japan. Despite that, the book was a best-seller. The novel was not as detailed or polished as the others in the series, leading to poor but polite reviews. It was first published by Jonathan Cape in the UK on 1 April 1965, eight months after the author's death. The Man with the Golden Gun is the twelfth and final novel in Ian Fleming's James Bond series and thirteenth Bond book overall.

The Man With the Golden Gun by Ian Fleming