Point of View

The novel has a third-person semi-omniscient narrator and is told mainly from the point of view of James Bond. The reader is able to get inside of James Bond's head, hear his thoughts, and understand his point of view. Bond is stricken with conscience as he waits to assassinate von Hammerstein and his men. Bond is tempted to advise Liz Krest to kill her husband, knowing no jury would convict her. The reader sees these deadly events through Bond's point of view. For Bond, death is an everyday occurrence, but killing also has its ethical rules and moral restrictions.

The story of Phillip Masters in the third chapter, though, has a secondary narrator. Although the point of view is still James Bond's, the story is told by the character of the governor. The governor becomes the narrator for this chapter, filtering the story of Phillip Masters...