STEVE CARROLL WRITES

The following column originally appeared in Justin Marriott's PAPERBACK FANATIC #50 (sadly the final edition of this fine publication), which was published in August of 2025. You can buy a copy of it  HERE . That article has been slightly expanded upon for this blog. Anyone   who knows me or has been following my columns here in Paperback Fanatic knows   that I have a real soft spot for spy thrillers. While I can certainly appreciate the cerebral rewards of   reading some John le  Carré or Graham Greene, my tastes   have always drifted toward the more visceral and action-oriented end of the   fiction spectrum. Cold war in the shadows is fine (and well   represented by my   top pick), but give me a megalomaniac bent on world domination if possible with   a little sci-fi thrown into the mix and I’m in like Flint (pun intended). With   all that said, here is your manly man’s guide to my personal favorite picks for   top 10 best s...

This review requires a bit of context and backstory. Apologies for my long- windedness as this unexpectedly turned into an essay on my love affair with   Ian   Fleming’s gift to espionage fiction literature. If you prefer, scroll down f or the review proper without enjoying my trip down memory   lane. It's marked where to start reading... I was raised on James Bond and I don’t mean that in a loose, metaphorical   sense. My father was a bona fide 007 aficionado who went out of his way to   proselytize   me into the ranks while still a very young boy. I’m told I was taken to the theater   to see Thunderball on its first theatrical run at the age of 3; I   have zero   memory of this, of course. I have a slight memory of seeing You Only Live Twice   as a 5-year old. However, seeing a double-feature rerelease   of those two films   as a 6-year old is vividly in my memory, as is a double-feature of Dr. No and   From Russia Wit...