Casino Royale

Casino Royale by Ian Fleming

The first of the Bond books.  James Bond is sent to bring down a Russian agent at Casino Royale.  Of course, nothing is as it appears.  There's no master villain determined to take over the world, but there's plenty of gambling, car chases, kidnapping, torture, and women.  I've never seen an entire Bond movie, and I'm hoping they improve over this beginning.  Bond is such a chauvinist that he's stupid.  I thought he was supposed to have a razor sharp mind, but in order to move the plot along, he's totally oblivious. Ugh