Page "Casino Royale (novel)" Paragraph 22

Writing for The New York Times, Anthony Boucher wrote that the book belongs " pretty much to the private-eye school " of fiction.

He praised the first part, saying that Fleming " manages to make baccarat clear even to one who's never played it and produced as exciting a gambling sequence as I've ever read.

But then he decides to pad out the book to novel length and leads the weary reader through a set of tough clichés to an ending which surprises nobody save Operative 007.

You should certainly begin this book ; but you might as well stop when the baccarat game is over.