The critic for the London Evening Standard observed that "for once, the claim on the cover, Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian Fleming is more than just publishers effrontery, it's a genuine strategy". The critic went on to note that Faulks had "not attempted to modernise Bond one whit" and that he had "delivered in convincing fashion too, in plain prose." Writing in the "Financial Times", Christopher Hitchens complained that although Faulks claimed to be writing 'as Fleming', it fell short of doing so: "This pot-boiler takes several times as long as most Bond classics. There is almost no sex until the very last pages. There is almost no torture – an absolute staple of a Bond narrative – until the very last pages." Hitchens admitted that Faulks had referred to elements of Fleming's novels, so that "those who have a canonical attitude to Fleming will be able to collect their share of in-jokes and cross-references"; similarly, "wispy fragments of Vesper Lynd and Honey Ryder drift in and out of shot and memory in much the same way". Hitchens concluded his review of the novel by considering that Bond had been "cheapened" in the novel.