The Man with the Golden Gun (novel) assassination attempt, not only does M not press charges against Bond, he sends him out on further missions. According to Benson, the main adversary of the novel, Francisco Scaramanga, is more a henchman than a major adversary and "a second-rate, smalltime crook who happens to have gotten lucky with his shooting." Comentale, Watt and Willman note that Scaramanga had the same character profile as Herr von Hammerstein, the former Gestapo officer who is the chief of counterintelligence for the Cuban secret service in "For Your Eyes Only". There are two main themes in the novel. The first involves Scaramanga providing
The Man with the Golden Gun (novel) published in the UK on 1 April 1965 by Jonathan Cape, was 221 pages long and cost eighteen shillings. Cover artist Richard Chopping undertook the cover design again and was paid 300 guineas for the artwork. "The Man with the Golden Gun" was published in the US in August 1965, was 183 pages long and cost $4.50. Even before the US edition was published, "The Man with the Golden Gun" was ninth place on the best-seller lists, with 80,000 pre-orders for the hardback version. Critics did not praise "The Man with the Golden Gun", although much of the criticism was