Diamonds Are Forever - Audio Book Review 

Another Bond audio book, this time an abridged adaptation of Diamonds Are Forever, read by Rufus Sewell in 2002. I quite like the simplicity of these adaptations and they are fairly pleasant if you need something to listen to when you are walking somewhere, sitting on a bus, or waiting for a train with nothing much to do. They don’t demand too much concentration, which is part of their charm, and they capture enough of the atmosphere of the original novels to remain engaging. Diamonds Are Forever was the fourth book in the famous series by Ian Fleming and published in 1956, at a time when the Bond character was still being shaped into the cultural icon he would eventually become. It isn't regarded as one of the most inspired things Fleming ever wrote, especially when compared to later entries that introduced more iconic villains and grander stakes, but it does have some genuinely strong moments scattered throughout.

The story revolves around a highly efficient diamond smuggling ring that is snaffling diamonds from Sierra Leone (at the time still a British colony) in Africa on a large scale and secretly transporting them to the United States through an elaborate and well-organised pipeline. This operation is costing the British government a significant amount of money, which naturally draws the attention of MI6 and prompts them, as usual, to send James Bond to New York to look into this crooked scheme. Bond is warned early on that the culprits are most probably the mafia - specifically a brutal crime organisation known as “The Spangled Mob,” led by Jack and Seraffimo Spang. This immediately sets the tone for a more grounded, crime-focused narrative rather than the extravagant espionage plots the series is often associated with. Allied with the beautiful and somewhat enigmatic Tiffany Case, Bond must investigate and infiltrate the diamond smuggling operation, navigating a web of deception while tangling with a range of very dangerous and often unpredictable characters who are deeply embedded in the criminal underworld.

One problem that many have with the story here is that the villains lack the grand nefarious schemes, sophistication, scope, and larger-than-life appeal of the more memorable baddies in the 007 series. The villains in Diamonds Are Forever are essentially American mobsters. They aren't trying to hold the world to nuclear ransom, stealing Vulcan bombers or living on a sun-drenched private island with elaborate lairs. They are just criminals trying to make money, albeit on a large and organised scale. While this perhaps makes the story more grounded and believable than some of the more far-out Bond plots, it also means the narrative can feel like it is missing that classic, theatrical adversary for our martini-guzzling hero. Seraffimo Spang, for instance, is basically a mob boss with an obsession for the Old West, which gives him a slightly eccentric edge but never quite elevates him into the ranks of the truly iconic Bond villains. He’s not a bad creation by any means but he’s hardly Ernst Stavro Blofeld.

Fleming’s depiction of these American mobster types isn’t always terribly convincing either and it’s one Bond book where he sometimes doesn’t quite seem sure of his footing or fully comfortable with the cultural setting he’s writing about. It’s not quite so noticeable in an audio version as it is when reading the whole novel but it is still detectable if you’re paying attention. Fleming is definitely more convincing when dealing with some urbane SPECTRE-type figure swanning around Europe in casinos and luxury hotels than he is with these period Tony Sopranos. There’s a certain stiffness or lack of authenticity at times that slightly undercuts the immersion. Diamonds Are Forever is a slightly strange Bond novel at times and therefore never works quite as well as an Audio CD as some of the other books in this series.

Another thing about this novel is that it has quite a languid, almost jet-lagged atmosphere at times, as if the narrative itself is drifting along without ever fully accelerating into something urgent or gripping. This quality is slightly reined in by the abridged format, which trims some of the slower passages but also removes a bit of the texture that Fleming was known for. He was famously a very descriptive writer and this was both a strength and a weakness. On the one hand, he could paint a wonderfully vivid picture of a certain place or location, immersing the reader in fine details and sensory impressions. On the other hand, he could also waffle on far too much when describing something technical or focusing in excessive detail on a particular object, which could slow the pacing. In Diamonds Are Forever though Fleming's descriptive obsessiveness is often a strength and the audio version loses something by trimming his more elaborate flourishes and scene setting at times.

The narrator Rufus Sewell is quite good at the low-key stuff and although there is a good sense of time and place here, just a bit more of the dreamlike atmosphere of the novel would have been nice. What descriptive passages there are that dwell on some of the locations Bond visits are amongst the best things for Sewell to read. 'The first thing that struck bond about Saratoga was the green majesty of the elms, which gave the discreet avenues of colonial-type clapboard houses some of the peace and serenity of a European watering place. And there were horses everywhere, being walked across the streets, with a policeman holding up the traffic, being coaxed out of horse-boxes around the sprawling groups of stables, cantering along the cinder borders of the roads, and being led to work on the exercise track alongside the race-course near the centre of town.'

I like the unobtrusive nature of these particular adaptations and while this is not one of the strongest stories for Sewell to read to us it still becomes very absorbing even if you've read the novel a couple of times. There are some decent supporting characters too, even if the villain isn't that great. Tiffany Case is a good Bond girl with some decent lines ('I don't often date a good-looking Englishman and the dinner's going to live up to the occasion!') and Wint & Kidd make memorable henchmen for Spang. Wint & Kidd are obviously supposed to be gay but Fleming's more dated flourishes around this are negated and excised in this audio version. A mention too for Felix Leiter who makes a welcome return and is now a Pinkerton detective. This is a competent adaptation on the whole but suffers a little from not being one of Fleming's tighter and more memorable novels. I would say it's worth a look (or listen as the case is here) if you saw it really cheap like most of the Audio CDs in this series.

- Jake

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