Ian Fleming's greatest creation, James Bond, has had an enormous and ongoing impact on our culture. What Bond represents about ideas of masculinity, the British national psyche and global politics has shifted over time, as has the interpretation of the life of his author. But Fleming himself was more mysterious and subtle than anything he wrote.
A monumental edifice of a book that at first glance seems somewhat daunting ... Entire eras materialize in artful sketches while the portrait of Fleming acquires texture and shade with each trial and triumph.
Huge, immensely detailed ... A dazzling, even dizzying achievement, despite that ludicrous-sounding subtitle ... Shakespeare has produced one of those books you can happily live in for weeks. It will deservedly become the standard life of Ian Fleming.
