Moonraker

If you've forgotten how wonderful Fleming's books are as books, you are in for a huge treat. Bill Nighy's James Bond is a man who knows he can fail, a man who might not get the girl. That quality marries beautifully with Fleming's high-octane plotting, Cold-War style. There's a duel between Bond's souped-up Bentley and the ghastly Sir Hugo Drax's Mercedes, which Nighy makes hair-raising. Even better is a veddy British scene in which Bond must catch Drax cheating at cards at a London gentlemen's club. Drax and his crypto-fascist henchmen are cartoonish, red meat to Nighy; the voice he creates for the loathsome Krebs is particularly entertaining. Most impressively, Nighy convinces you that this Bond is a real human being. B.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

Starred review from December 22, 2008
One of Ian Fleming’s most notable Bond novels, and one of the worst film adaptations of the series, the story of Sir Hugo Drax and his apocalyptic Moonraker missile program is revisited in this spirited reading by Simon Vance. With his classical yet smooth British dialect, Vance is more reminiscent of Timothy Dalton than any other Bond actor. His delivery is strong and commanding; Bond has never been more debonair than he is here. Vance creates compelling and realistic characters aside from the protagonist, leading to a thrilling listen that will captivate fans of the genre and newcomers alike as the film never could. A Penguin paperback.

At the first words of this production, listeners can immediately imagine every James Bond movie they ever saw. Robert Whitfield sounds like all the characters rolled into one, but particularly Bernard Lee, who played the British mastermind "M." Whitfield's rendition of the villain Hugo Drax is also inspired in its earthy blusterings. The book has some similarities with the spectacular 1979 Roger Moore movie but stands on its own because of Whitfield's effortless movements among the characters and plot, which has to do with a secret missile attack intended for London. D.R.W. (c) AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine