MOONRAKER: 3

Meet James Bond, the world’s most famous spy, in these landmark 70th anniversary reissues of Ian Fleming’s classic series. As the super patriot and war veteran who’s bankrolling Britain’s top-secret Moonraker rocket program, Sir Hugo Drax should be above reproach. But there’s more to this enigmatic millionaire than he lets on. When M suspects Drax of cheating at cards in an exclusive gentleman’s club, he sends Bond in to investigate. But exposing the deception only enrages Drax - and now 007 must outwit an angry man with the power to loose a nuclear warhead on London. The mysterious death of the head of security at Drax’s missile base gives Bond the perfect opportunity to go undercover to find out the secret agenda of the supposed British war hero. With the help of another agent, the lustrous Gala Brand, 007 learns the truth about Drax’s battle scars, his wartime allegiances - and his murderous plans for the deployment of Moonraker. The reader though does not need the film to see a Moonraker like this in the mind’s eye. Try it and you begin to understand what a magnificent, dark and disturbingly serious novel Ian Fleming wrote. Susan Hill