Octopussy/The Living Daylights

By Ian Fleming

I only remember the gist of each story in Octopussy. For most of the Ian Fleming books I wrote a short synopsis to help me remember the book after reading it i didnt’ do so for this one. I’m not sure why.

This second collection of short stories from Ian Fleming includes two, three or maybe even four stories. Depends on when your book was published. The stories are Octopussy, The Living Daylights, Property of a Lady, 007 in New York. The last two were not published in the original book. The version I read only has the first three stories in it.

The stories are interesting as they show a different side of James Bond. They are short scenes in which we see the variety of cases that he is assigned. And his mission is not always to kill.

When compared to the movies, elements of the first and last story briefly make an appearance in the movie Octopussy. The Faberge egg at auction and when Maude Adams mentions a little bit about her father. As for the book; Octopussy I don’t remember much about the story. A body in found in the mountains and James is sent to take out the killer who is in the Caribbean.

In Property of a Lady, James is sent to try and flush out the Russian seller at an auction for a Faberge egg. It is interesting to note that his goal is to ID the man.

The Living Daylights is pretty much the same as the scene in the movie with the sniper and the defector. The story shows the harsh side of James, all business. It is interesting to note how James goes and trains for the mission. In many of the other books his only work at work is to read documents, and his training during many missions is to swim, run a bit and get massages. In the end he doesn’t kill the agent but scares the living daylights out of her.

Overall they are interesting stories but I think that I like the stories in For Your Eyes Only more.