Thank you, friend and fellow author Ian McDowell for pointing me in the direction of 007 Reloaded on Audible. Not long ago, Ian posted positive sentiments on the audio production of Moonraker, Ian Fleming’s third James Bond 007 novel (1955), specifically actor Bill Nighy’s narration. Intrigued, I decided to purchase the audiobook on Audible. In the past year or so, due to my all-too-frequently overtaxed eyes giving out on me when attempting to read for any length of time, I’ve taken to heart my wife’s suggestion to listen to audiobooks. Having lately been putting in far more than customary mileage on my automobile, audiobooks have been just the ticket to make driving considerably more pleasant.
I’ve been a 007 fanatic since I caught Diamonds Are Forever at
the theater in January 1972 and then proceeded to read all of Fleming’s
novels, most of which lurked in my dad’s den bookcase at the time (and have
recently been somewhat ceremonially returned to that hallowed spot). During my teens and early
twenties, I read all the books at least twice, some far more than that. My
favorites of them are From Russia with Love and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (of the movies,
both of those rank highest as well). Although I’ve read the later 007
offerings of Kingsley Amis, Christopher Wood,
John Gardner, Raymond Benson, Anthony Horowitz, and
others, I’d not read any of the original Fleming novels in decades, so the
prospect of experiencing a reputedly excellent audio production appealed to
me.
Ian McDowell did not err in his praise. Although
Moonraker doesn’t occupy the highest tier on my personal
favorites list, narrator Bill Nighy — whom I rate most highly as an
actor — kills the performance, and in fact readily elevated my appreciation of
the source material. At that time, I knew nothing about the audio series. By
way of a little research, I learned it came out in 2014 and featured a
host of accomplished actors as narrators, including
Dan Stevens, Damian Lewis, Hugh Quarshie,
Hugh Bonneville, Jason Isaacs, David Tennant,
Martin Jarvis, and Kenneth Branagh, as well as veteran 007 film
actors Rory Kinnear, Rosamund Pike, and Toby Stephens.
Happily, on the most recent Amazon Prime Day, the audiobooks were made available at wonderfully discounted prices. So, I purchased most of the series, excepting the story collections For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy & The Living Daylights and Other Stories — which I most certainly will once I have finished listening to the novels. I suspect that won’t be very long, since I’m currently nearing the end of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
There’s not a clinker among these. Each narrator brings his (and her) unique vocal interpretation of the prose. In the enjoyable interviews that follow each production, many of the actors profess to have never previously read the books they narrate, and many apparently consciously avoided mimicking the vocal styles of the actors who played the characters they're reading in the movies. My personal favorite narrators are probably Nighy, Damian Lewis, Jason Isaacs, and Rosamund Pike. I still look forward to the vocal performances of Martin Jarvis and Kenneth Branagh (as well as Samuel West in For Your Eyes Only and Tom Hiddleston and Lucy Fleming in Octopussy & The Living Daylights and Other Stories).
The merits and shortcomings of Fleming’s original material aside, I’ve found these performances consistently invigorating treats. The audio form can be dicey in less-accomplished hands (or voices, as the case may be); it took me a while to warm to audiobooks in general largely because some of the narrators I’d experienced never seemed to hit all the marks. That is anything but an issue with this collection of Bond novels, so these, individually as well as a bunch, rate five out of five Damned Rodan’s Dirty Martinis. If you’re even marginally interested in the world of James Bond 007, whether books or films, I would say this audio series is absolutely for you.
