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Sir Hugo Drax may be brash and arrogant, but he is funding the British Moonraker project out of his own pocket. On the other hand, when he may be contributing to Britain's independent nuclear capability, there is a little dilemma that can't be overlooked he cheats at cards.

Yet, he is cheating members of Blades, the private club of which M is a member. As Drax is so imperative it is critical to prevent a scandal at all costs M brings in James Bond in a private capacity to function out how Drax is carrying out it - and warn him off with a shot across his bows.

Small did they realise that when one of Drax's workers shoots himself in a pub that James Bond would be sent to investigate and would soon uncover Drax's real intentions.

Following the success of the first two books, Moonraker, which was 1st published in 1955, was perhaps a small disappointing. This time the action took location in London and the Kent coast in the south east of England, another region that Ian Fleming knew nicely.

Lacking the exotic places of the previous two books, which drew comments from contemporary readers, Bond does not even get the girl, as it turns out she's engaged to an officer from Unique Branch. Having said that, in spite of that the book does have some worthwhile moments and we do learn a lot more about what Bond gets up to when he's on his property turf.

One of the best sections of the book is when 007 joins M at Blades. They share an exquisitely described meal that these days could possibly appear really mundane - Bond orders lamb cutlets with potatoes and peas - but was written though Britain was at the end of post-war rationing and nevertheless out of reach for countless consumers.

Afterward the meal Bond is partnered with M in a game of bridge against Drax and his partner, and a lot like the game of baccarat in Casino Royale it is vividly described.

As well as the meal and the cards, there is also a wonderful vehicle chase. Bond tails Drax's Mercedes from London to Dover and his vehicle - the old supercharged Bentley - is wrecked when Drax's henchman climbs onto the back of a lorry transporting rolls of newsprint and releases them into Bond's path.

Although Fleming received correspondence from readers who had been disappointed at the novel's setting, it was also noted by O.F. Snelling in his book 007 James Bond: A Report (1964) that a person pointed out to him that the submarine that appeared towards the end of the book would have had to travel at impossible speed for it to be in its final place. Yet, the book moves so swiftly you don't have time to question specifics such as that and so it does not genuinely matter anyway.

It is also fascinating that in the prior two novels Bond's foe had been SMERSH and the Russians. Having said that, this time the foe turns out to be German, wreaking their revenge for Britain's part in the destruction of Germany in the Second Globe War.

Whilst Moonraker does disappoint in some respects, the book nonetheless has its admirers and whilst it lacks the travelogue element found in so numerous of Fleming's other books it nonetheless has some amazing Flemingesque moments all the exact same.