The Man with the Golden Gun is the thirteenth and final James Bond novel written by Ian Fleming and posthumously published in the United Kingdom and the United States by Glidrose Productions, in 1965. A year later, it was followed by the short story collection, Octopussy and The Living Daylights. As the only novel posthumously published by Fleming, and, its stylistic difference from the previous novels, The Man with the Golden Gun is much debated amongst critics, afficionados, and researchers as to whether or not Ian Fleming solely wrote the novel. It was adapted, in 1974, as the ninth film in the EON Productions James Bond series.

The Man with the Golden Gun novel has been a controversial, speculative subject since its publication in 1965, the year after Ian Fleming died.

Plot summary: It has been nearly a year since James Bond disappeared, and was presumed dead during his mission to Japan. Then, a man claiming to be Bond appears in London and demands to see M. After much scrutinising and interrogation, the man’s identity is confirmed, but during his debriefing interview with M, Bond tries to kill him with a cyanide pistol; the attempt fails.

Meanwhile, the British Secret Service have learned that after attacking Ernst Stavro Blofeld’s castle in Japan (chronicled in You Only Live Twice), Bond suffered a head injury and subsequent amnesia. After living as a Japanese fisherman for several months, Bond headed north, into the Soviet Union, to learn his true identity. While there, he was brainwashed and programmed to kill M on returning to England.

Now deprogrammed, Bond is eager to prove himself worthy of again being a 00 agent. M assigns him to Jamaica, to locate and gain the confidence of one Francisco (Paco) “Pistols” Scaramanga, an assassin, known as “the man with the golden gun”, because of his golden .45 calibre revolver; Bond is assigned to kill him, because he killed several SIS agents.

In mid-assignment, Bond, who has managed to become Scaramanga’s temporary personal assistant under the name of Mark Hazard, learns that Scaramanga is involved with a syndicate of American gangsters and the KGB, who are working several schemes, including the destabilisation of Western interests in the Caribbean’s sugar industry, running drugs into America, smuggling women from Mexico into America and launching casinos in Jamaica. Initially unaware of Bond’s presence in Jamaica, Felix Leiter has also been recalled to duty by the CIA and assigned to Scaramanga’s hotel staff.

Bond kills Scaramanga during a train journey, with the assistance of Felix Leiter and his former secretary, Mary Goodnight, now assigned to the Kingston station of the Service. Leiter goes one step further and liquidates Scaramanga’s gangster allies. In the process of all this, both Bond and Leiter are badly wounded, but they survive. Bond is offered a knighthood (KCMG — Bond already has CMG) for services past and present to Britain — but he turns it down because of his love for anonymity.

See also:

• Bond novels: Ian Fleming