Casino Royale
Ian Fleming
Penguin
213 pages
Read in 2011

James Bond is on a mission to neutralize a lethal, high-rolling Russian operative called simply "Le Chiffre" - by ruining him at the baccarat table and forcing his Soviet spymasters to "retire" him. It seems that lady luck is taken with James - Le Chiffre has hit a losing streak. But some people just refuse to play by the rules, and Bond's attraction to a beautiful female agent leads him to disaster and an unexpected saviour...